VintageMutes.com

02/11/2025

[ correction it’s Shastock Song mute]
This photo of Roy Eldridge turned up in another music group. He apparently is playing a non-Harmon Wawa mute. Reid Made some thing like this, but these are a little different. We have a couple of them in the collection. I have no idea who made them because they have no mark on them. The most notable scharacteristic is that the half of the mute which the stem goes into is hemispherical.
Has anyone seen a period advertisement for these?
[Update: Thanks to Nando for properly identifying this as a Shastock Song. The picture was a little unclear and at first glance I thought this had a stem. It does not. I’ll have to post a photo of the unmarked wahwahs I was talking about later]

01/16/2025

There’s been some buzz( ahem) about kazoo mutes. So I thought I would chime in.
The first player documented along these lines was King Oliver, who was known to keep a small bucket of dimestore kazoos on the bandstand, grab a handful of them and hold them up to the bell as he played to get a buzz. In Oliver‘s late letters to his sister, he speaks about not being a very good businessman, and not patenting “that mute”. Jazz historians have mistakenly written Oliver was referring to the Harmon mute, AKA Harmon Wa Wa (patented by Chicago promoter Paddy Harmon and machinist George Schlossberg -I need to check that last name).
But in fact Oliver was talking about the “Humes Jazzer” patented in 1922 by Guy B. Humes (see upper right corner in the illustration below.). It’s basically three dime store kazoos held apart by a hard felt(?) spacer and some felted spring metal fingers to hold it in the bell. Humes later came out with several variations of this that more resemble a straight mute with grill work. Some even had a lever so you could control how much “Jazz” came out! We have a couple of these in the collection.
I found an article in at least one periodical which basically says if you put a kazoo in your horn “you are now playing jazz”!
In the 1930s Shastock came out with a Henry Busse “Fussy” mute. It was basically a stubby straight, mute with a perforated cap, and a vibrating diaphragm behind it.
And of course, somewhere probably in the late 1930s Humes & Berg came out with the Buzz-Wow mutes.

(I’ll have more comments on the origins of the Harmon mute later)

12/10/2024

The rumors you may have heard are true.

https://www.facebook.com/share/15cuKdM321/?mibextid=LQQJ4d

Shastock® is now a registered trademark of KD Music Products. We are bringing back some of the great mutes from the 1910s to 1940s.
And the new Shastock® Mute designs have improved playability & intonation. We have some new mute ideas too !

08/12/2024

Alex Jackson’s Plantation Orchestra
Circa 1927?
Interesting selection of mutes, including a con Brilliante for Trombone on the left, and a Humes Jazzer (1922) fourth from right. There also appears to be a Shastock WoWow in there.

06/17/2023

I know many of you are familiar with the Magosy & Buscher “Non Pareil” aluminum straight mutes for trumpet and trombone. But like other makers today (Mutec for example) many of these manufacturers made other metal products.
Here’s a real rarity that found me a few years back, a Magosy & Buscher bronze cast paperweight about 4” long, nicely made.

06/02/2023

There is one more box to locate, but I think this is the final accounting of all the brands in the Vintage Mutes collection.
110 different makers plus unknown which could probably account for another 30 or so.

Vintage Mutes Inventory:
1. Aloiset, F(?)
2. Art-Kraft
3. ASBA
4. Autocrat
5. Bach
6. Besson
7. Boston
8. Bremner
9. BRH Triple A Product
10. Buckeye
11. Calicchio
12. Clay, Sherman
13. Conn
14. Couesnon
15. Crown, Tom
16. Crown Tone Modulator
17. Davies (Copperhead)
18. Davis, Lew
19. Echo Mutes
20. El-co
21. Elton
22. Emo
23. Facet
24. Florio, S.
25. Frisco
26. Giardinelli
27. H M (???)
28. Harmon
29. Hoffmann
30. Holton - LeBlanc
31. Hopf, Original
32. House of David
33. Huber
34. Humes, Guy B.
35. Humes & Berg
36. Hungerford, C. G.
37. Hush Hush
38. Inez Del Milan
39. Jazzeroo
40. Jenco
41. Jettone
42. Jo Ral
43. KD Mutes
44. Keyes
45. Kidder, W. C.
46. King David
47. Korri
48. L-War
49. LePage
50. LeBlanc
51. Lignatone
52. Lyon & Healy
53. Magin & Mayer
54. Magosy & Buscher
55. Mahillion
56. Majestic
57. Maruyoshi Schonst
58. Master
59. Medley, Don
60. Metalite
61. Metzler
62. Missenharter
63. Mitylite
64. MHT ( Mutec?)
65. Multi-Mute
66. Mutec
67. Navach
68. Neumann
69. Nuss
70. O’Leary
71. Olds (by Rapauno?)
72. P & H (Ray Parkyns)
73. Parduba
74. Pennino’s Glass Lined
75. P.E.S.
76. P.E.T.E.
77. Pinard’s
78. Q/P
79. R & S, 219-277-7604
80. Randall, Charles K.
81. Ransalear by R-Kay
82. Rapauno
83. Ray Robinson
84. Reid
85. Rico Strate
86. Robertson
87. Sansone
88. Selmer
89. Shastock
90. SMH
91. SMS
92. Sordillo-Gardiner
93. Soulo
94. Specialty Artist Paris
95. Stratton
96. Stomvi
97. Swingster Premier( not Shastock)
98. Tennessee Tech (unmarked Tuba mute)
99. Tripleton
100. Trumcor
101. Universal Telescoping
102. Unknown (very prolific 😎)
103. Uulven
104. Vega
105. Whisper (not Whispa)
106. Wick, Denis
107. Wonder (textured cardboard)
108. Wondertone
109. Yamaha
110. Zanetti
111. Zenith (Henry Keat)

06/02/2023

Instrument repair techs: Do any of you all use castor oil to lubricate tuning slides? It’s my go to: very inexpensive, non toxic, non corrosive, and won’t seize up for years.
[Backstory: I learned about it from Ray Kraemer. Ray was an old school band instrument and accordion repair man and trombonist in Orlando for many years. He also invented instruments including a slide French horn which I believe he patented. (Nicknamed the Funnybone, I have his personal one). When I moved to Florida in 1966 he was already well established in Pechin’s music store (old man Ernest Pechin had succeeded Herbert Clarke as cornet soloist in Sousa’s band). Ray passed away in 2014 aged 91. ]

05/25/2023

Here’s an old set of cork gluing guides that came up for sale about the same time a batch of unfinished straight mutes came up. If anyone knows what the left most piece is for let me know. The Shastock straight for trumpet is include merely for scale.

05/14/2023

The Magosy & Buscher “Non-Pareil” aluminum straight mute for trumpet and trombone is pretty well known. But did you know that mute is a model #5 and that they made other models?
In the photo below #5 on the left, #2 on the right. Only #2 I’ve ever seen.

05/11/2023

Have completed re-sorting of the VintageMutes collection by maker. Barring a few last minute surprises, the list below shows all makers represented in the collection. (This inventory also has revealed duplicates that will be available for sale. )

VintageMutes_com
Maker Inventory 5/12/2023

1. Aloiset,S (or Alviset, F(?))
2. Art-Kraft
3. ASB
4. Autocrat
5. Bach
6. Besson
7. Boston
8. Bremmer
9. BRH
10. Buckeye
11. Clay, Sherman
12. Conn
13. Couesnon
14. Tom Crown
15. House of David
16. Davies (Copperhead)
17. Lew Davis
18. Echo
19. El-co
20. Elton
21. Emo
22. Facet
23. S. Florio
24. Giardinelli
25. H M (???)
26. Harmon
27. Hoffmann
28. Holton - LeBlanc
29. Hopf, Original
30. Huber
31. Hungerford, C. G.
32. Humes, Guy B.
33. Humes & Berg
34. Inez Del
35. Jazzeroo
36. Jenco
37. Jettone
38. Jo Ral
39. KD Mutes
40. Keyes
41. Korri
42. W. C. Kidder
43. L-War
44. LePage
45. LeBlanc
46. Lignatone
47. Lyon & Healy
48. Metzler
49. MHT
50. Multi-Mute
51. Neumann
52. O’Leary
53. Olds ( by Rapauno?)
54. Parduba
55. Pinard’s
56. P & H (Ray Prkyns)
57. P.E.S.
58. P.E.T.E.
59. Magin & Mayer
60. Magosy & Buscher
61. Majestic
62. Maruyoshi Schonst
63. Master
64. Metallite
65. MHT (Mutec?)
66. Missenharter
67. Mitylite
68. Mutec
69. Navach
70. Neumann
71. Nuss
72. Olds (by Rapauno?)
73. Parduba
74. Pennino’s Glass Lined
75. Randall, Charles K.
76. Ransalear by R-Kay
77. Rapauno
78. Ray Robinson
79. Reid
80. Rico Strate
81. Robertson
82. Sansone
83. Selmer
84. Shastock
85. SMH
86. Sordillo-Gardiner
87. Soulo
88. Stratton
89. Stomvi
90. Swingster Premier( not Shastock)
91. Tripleton
92. Trumcor
93. Universal Telescoping
94. Unk. (very prolific 😎)
95. Uulven
96. Vega
97. Whisper (not Whispa)
98. Wick, Denis
99. Wonder
100. Wondertone
101. Yamaha
102. Zanetti
103. Zenith (Henry Keats)

05/08/2023

Have begun a complete re-sorting of the VintageMutes collection by maker. It is about 80% complete at this time. The list below shows the makers represented in the collection. (This inventory also has revealed duplicates that will be available for sale. )

VintageMutes_com
Maker Inventory 5/8/23

1. Art-Kraft
2. ASB
3. Autocrat
4. Besson
5. Boston
6. BRH
7. Clay, Sherman
8. Conn
9. Couesnon
10. Copperhead
11. Tom Crown
12. House of David
13. Lew Davis
14. Elton
15. Emo
16. Facet
17. S. Florio
18. Gardner Sordillo
19. Giardinelli
20. Harmon
21. Hoffmann
22. Huber
23. Hungerford
24. Humes, Guy B.
25. Humes & Berg
26. Jenco
27. Jo Ral
28. W. C. Kidder
29. L-War
30. LePage
31. LeBlanc
32. L______ Glass Lined
33. Neumann
34. O’Leary
35. Olds ( by Rapauno?)
36. Parduba
37. Pinard’s
38. P.E.S.
39. P.E.T.E.
40. Magin & Mayer
41. Magosy & Buscher
42. Majestic
43. Maruyoshi Schonst
44. Master
45. Metallite
46. Missenharter
47. Miteylite
48. Mutec
49. Olds
50. Parduba
51. Randall, Charles K.
52. Rapauno
53. Ray Robinson
54. Reids
55. Robertson
56. Sansone
57. Selmer
58. Shastock
59. SMH
60. Soulo
61. Stratton
62. Stomvi
63. Swingster ( not Shastock)
64. Trumcor
65. Universal Telescoping
66. Unknown (very prolific 😎)
67. Uulven
68. Vega
69. Wonder
70. Wondertone
71. Yamaha
72. Zanetti
73. Zenith ( Keat)

04/23/2023

Here’s a rarity. The only BRH Triple A Product mute we have seen. The “swollen” resonator end must’ve been spun using a puzzle mandrel.