Klarinet Archive - Posting 000335.txt from 1996/07

From: Dave Lane <davelane@-----.NET>
Subj: Re: Bass clarinet mouthpiece
Date: Wed, 17 Jul 1996 03:33:02 -0400

Dan:

The clarinet you have would these days be termed a "pre R-13 Buffet". The
R-13 was introduced I believe in 1949 and is considered to be a much better
horn than it's predecessors. Yours may be identical visually to an R-13 but
the bore is considerably different.

The Selmer C* (c-star) bass clarinet mouthpiece is widely thought to be the
only mass production mpce. worth investing in. Many handcrafted Bass
clarinet mouthpieces are made, and some of those craftsmen are on this list.
Charles Bay is probably the most significant contributor to the Bass
Clarinet mouthpiece business, since he didn't stop at the mouthpiece, and
makes an excellent series of custom necks.

I believe the Selmer sells in the $140 range; Bay gets well over $200 for
his. Both are worth the money.

Best Regards

Dave Lane

At 12:23 AM 7/17/96 -0400, you wrote:
>I am the de facto bass clarinet player for the Tufts Wind Ensemble and as
>things look now will be. Though the choice of instrument I'm playing on
>is out of my hands, but I figure it might be a good idea (I'd also been
>advised by the previous bass clarinet player) to get a new mouthpiece. I
>confess that though I've played "regular" clarinet for some 11 years now,
>I'm new to the instrument and don't know all *that* much about musical
>hardware anyway. Could someone suggest some bass clarinet mouthpiece
>models? (with prices maybe? :) ) I fairly certain I don't need / can't
>afford something really nice but at the same time somethign completely
>generic of course won't be much better than the one that came with it.
>
>Also, I have a Buffet B flat clarinet which I bought used about 4 years
>ago. According to Buffet (I emaild the the serial #) it was made in 1946.
>Is there a way I can easily tell what model of clarinet it is? Do today's
>model type apply? Never really occured to me to be curious until I
>started reading the group recently..
>
> Thanks,
>
> -Dan
>
> /// Daniel Jay Abramovich dabramov@-----.edu
> . . Residential Computer Consultant @-----.edu
> | http://www.tufts.edu/~dabramov @-----.edu
>
>