Klarinet Archive - Posting 000231.txt from 1996/11

From: "William D. Edinger" <wde1@-----.EDU>
Subj: buy new mouthpiece or horn first?
Date: Mon, 11 Nov 1996 11:41:17 -0500

Here's a circular question: I'm now in the market for a new
instrument, such as a Buffet R-13, LeBlanc Concerto, etc., no longer
willing to share my beloved old Noblet with my 10-year-old daughter.
But I've also been using the same old mouthpiece (Selmer B-star) for
around 25 years, and would like to look for a new mouthpiece or
mouthpiece + barrel combination (I finally got a new ligature). The
question is, do I look for a new horn with the old mouthpiece, or
find a new mouthpiece first, get used to it for a few weeks, and
then go looking for the horn. I can see it both ways, and don't
want to blow any more money than I have to, of course. At the center
of this is the question: can mouthpieces be switched from one horn
to another, or is there potential for finding that a mpc+barrel that
works on one horn is a disaster on another? Should I be on guard
for things like internal diameter conflicts? Any suggestions and
opinions, public or private, are very welcome.
Perhaps I should point out that as a player, I am strictly an
amateur, but a very active and (as far as is possible) dedicated
one.

Bill Edinger