Bach / Schilke Custom made 1985 - Silver plated

The Bach 1C / Schilke 1CH Hybrid — Built to Adolph Herseth's Specifications

Let me start with the piece that probably carries more historical weight than anything else in the collection. This is a Bach 1C screw rim mouthpiece with a rim machined by Schilke to 1CH specifications — reportedly built to match the setup favored by Adolph "Bud" Herseth, the principal trumpet of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 1948 to 2001.

If you know trumpet history, you know that name. Adolph Herseth is not simply a great trumpet player — he is arguably the defining voice of American orchestral trumpet in the second half of the 20th century. He held the principal chair in Chicago for over fifty years, a tenure that is almost impossible to comprehend in the modern era of orchestral auditions and rotating personnel. His sound was enormous, centered, and authoritative. It could fill a hall without effort, sit perfectly in tune under any conductor, and project over a full symphony orchestra with a clarity that left no doubt about who was playing.

The Bach 1C is one of the larger-diameter, deeper-cup mouthpieces in the Bach catalog. It is not a forgiving mouthpiece. It requires a strong, well-developed embouchure, excellent air support, and the physical strength to sustain long phrases in the upper register without the efficiency tricks that shallower cups provide. Playing on a 1C is, in a sense, playing without a net. The tone is either there or it isn't.

The Schilke 1CH rim brings a different contact point into the equation — Schilke's manufacturing precision is widely regarded as superior to Bach's in terms of rim consistency and surface finish. The combination of a Bach 1C cup and body with a Schilke-machined rim is the kind of thing that only happens when someone with deep knowledge of both manufacturers decides to build their ideal tool rather than accept an off-the-shelf compromise.

This piece was built to his specs. I can say is that having it in my hands is a reminder of what the instrument is capable of at the highest level. I don't play this mouthpiece every day — the demands are significant — but I do play it, and it teaches me something every time I pick it up. There is a quality of focus it demands that no shallow-cup piece ever will. It insists on proper air, proper support, and a kind of commitment to the sound that changes how you play even after you put it down.

For those who want to explore Herseth's playing, recordings of the Chicago Symphony from the 1950s through the 1990s document his sound at every stage of his career. The benchmark is set. This mouthpiece is one small tangible link to that legacy.