Purviance Series
Carroll Purviance
Carroll Purviance came to Los Angeles in the 1930's after traveling for many years as a cornetist on the Chautaqua circuit. He was trained as a carpenter and studied machining with Dominick Calicchio (creator of the Calicchio trumpet), Roe Plimpton (Olds factory), Earl Strickler (great Besson repairman), and Earl Williams (creator of the Williams trombone). A few years after he arrived in Los Angeles he opened his shop and started working with players developing new mouthpiece designs. Bob continued working with Carroll right up until Purviance's death in 1969. Continuing the Legacy
Bob Reeves inherited all of the tooling from Purviance and we continue making the mouthpieces with the same specifications to this day. Having worked with Purviance for 10 years Bob was the only person able to continue making the Purviance mouthpieces. The only change has been in the exterior shape of the mouthpieces and the numbering system. Please be advised that if you try a very old Purviance mouthpiece it may not be what it says it is on the outside. This is because many times Carroll made a custom mouthpiece by modifying a stock model and did not change the markings. Therefore, if you are looking for a replacement, we often have to see and measure the existing mouthpiece to verify its specifications. |