Klarinet Archive - Posting 000015.txt from 1998/01

From: "Lane White" <lanewhite@-----.com>
Subj: Re: Mouth pieces
Date: Thu, 1 Jan 1998 13:46:25 -0500

>There has been much discussion abt clarinet mouth pieces and a few hv
been
>mentioned..
>Kaspars, Chedevilles, A. Lelandais and Gregory Smith.
>Are these custom mouth pieces as I hv never heard of them in Singapore.

More or less. These are all rare and/or custom mps. Kaspar developed a
particularly popular mouthpiece style that works well with Buffet R13s,
so many of the current mouthpieces in mass production are more or less
copies of the Kaspar, with some mods here and there.

>
>Does anyone still use Selmer P (HS*) or Vandoren mouthpieces (B45,
5RV).
>These are the few that I hv tried before and are the more common ones
over
>here.

I used a B45 in jr. high, and still have it after all these years. There
are better mps, but it's about as basic middle-of-the-road in all its
specifications as you can get, so I recommend them to my students. I had
one student who couldn't get a tone out of her generic student mp at all
who has just blossomed since getting a real mp.
>
>Does anyone use a crystal mouthpiece? any comments?

I have an O'Brien 3* that I got when I was in high school. I still use
it with a #2 reed on dance band jobs, because that setup seems to
respond better after sitting on the stand for hours while I play bari
sax. It's kind of an open mp, and the thin reed seems to a) wake up fast
and b)give me a bright tone and c) work okay when my embouchure is
temporarily wonked out from playing bari.

Crystals in general run such a wide gamut in quality and, just like
other materials, are available in so many lay/rail combinations that
it's hard to generalize. Their theoretical advantages are that the lay
won't get worn over time (practically) and the high density material
*should* give you a different tone quality.

People say they're fragile, and I guess they are, but I never saw a
rubber mouthpiece survice a collision with a stand or even teeth and
come out the winner, either...

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