One beautiful day in June of this year I drove into the Catskill Mountains of New York to the quaint village of Phoenicia. Although I was in vacation country my destination was the residence of a man known in the double reed world as one of our most important sources of profilers and custom shapers, Freddie Pfeifer.
As I parked my car and walked to his door I could hear the roar of whitewater streams as they hurried from the mountains to the lowlands. I was greeted by his charming wife Elizabeth who showed me in to meet this man for the first time after years of cheery, chatty correspondence, usually including a color postcard of the mountains and streams he loves so well.
As we spent the rest of the afternoon in his shop he told me about his first career as a studio musician in Chicago during the depression playing for $1.02 per show and then with CBS Studios in New York City. His reminiscing was to be continued later when the three of us had dinner in a local steak house. There I heard about the show biz greats he had played for during his many years with the "Ed Sullivan Show."
His second career as a machinist began by happenstance when Wally Bhosys was unable to furnish him with an oboe gouging machine. Purchasing a lathe, milling machine, and a few smaller tools Freddie proceeded to make his own, and was soon making reed tools for Jack Linx (Linx and Long) including experimental models of his now-perfected bassoon profiler.
Desiring to get his family out of the city he moved to Phoenicia, only to return to New York a short time later (playing shows on Broadway) when there were not enough orders to get the business going.
After building his reputation and contacts with double reed players he returned to Phoenicia, enlarged his basement shop and filled it with a large and fascinating array of sophisticated equipment including the newest high-speed cutters which turn 240,000 RPMx.
As I watched him work and listened to his concise explanations, the vastness of his knowledge and the deftness of his skill left me in awe. Like the other great trades men we depend upon (repairmen, etc.) Freddie is dedicated to perfection in his work. Starting with long rods of steel he fashions complicated precision reed making tools that must be within one or two thousandths of an inch to be acceptable. To one who has barely enough know-how to keep my profiler operating, this was quite an educational experience.
I asked him, for the purpose of this article, what problems he thinks we (the reed makers, and users of his products) should be aware of. He responded with four points:
(1) Requests for his tools are very heavy so he is behind on orders even though he works long hours for a man of sixty-seven.
(2) The cost of his raw materials, particularly steel have gone up fifteen percent per year, making it difficult to hold the line on tool prices.
(3) He is quite distressed with the quality of most cane and tools he imports for resale, and is seriously thinking of curtailing that part of his business.
(4) It is often difficult to know exactly what a customer wants due to the sending of inaccurate or inconsistent measurements, differences in reedmaking techniques, cane, and other factors.
To help solve this problem with his shapers, Freddie has made a large variety of standard models, identified by number (oboe), and by players' names (bassoon). These may be ordered on approval to help each customer find the shaper that suits him.
If possible, it is best to visit him (as many do) to get exactly what you want. If you do go you will learn, as I did, how his tools are made and, most of all, you will make the acquaintance of a most gracious interesting and happy gentleman -- Mr. Freddie Pfeifer.