Klarinet Archive - Posting 000432.txt from 1998/02

From: reedman@-----.com
Subj: Mouthpiece tip rail shape
Date: Tue, 10 Feb 1998 13:52:16 -0500

My experience in making mouthpieces indicates (for me) that the reed and
mouthpiece should match as identically as possible at the tip rail and side
rails. There is one French maker (name deliberatley not mentioned) that
consistently has very hard corners at the tip. I use V-12 reeds and the
corners on these particular mouthpiece generally protrude beyond the reed
corners of V-12's.

I find that matching the corners and tip shape (profile) to the reed
optimizes response.

The area that I call the vent on a mouthpiece consists of the tip to
approximately .5" below the tip. This is the area of maximum reed activity
and I believe the exterior shape of the mouthpiece has a great influence on
tone and response as does the interior shape. If the side rails are too
narrow at this point and the reed edges protrude beyond the rails a
mouthpiece can have an undesirable resistance and lacks stability. Squeaks!
Also, if a mouthpiece is finely crafted so that the reed matches the tip
rail you will have a much easier time lining the reed up on the mouthpiece.

I have learned almost everything that I think is valuable in
mouthpiece making from my own experimenting and from making close
observations of a few good Kaspar mouthpiece that I own. A common trait of
some of the good Kaspars is a narrowing of the side rails precisely at the
point that I just mentioned. I did not give this much thought until a
friend pointed out this on his 3 Kaspar mouthpieces and asked me "Why?".

I really could not give him an answer and it was not until about 2
yeas ago that I took this into consideration. If you look at several
mouthpieces from the tip end with the facing up you will encounter a
variety of shapes coming away from the side rails. Some mouthpiece sides
(outside) are rather steep as they depart from the rails and others roll
away very gently. In the mouth these may be peceived as narrow beaked or
wide beaked. Most of the old Kaspars are rather wide but I believe they
were narrowed by hand at this vent point and as a result created this
typical narrowing of the side rails. But why?

My blanks tend to be a bit wide in this area too, so I had room to
experiment. In the process of taking off material on the sides and play
testing I found that the mouthpieces became decidedly more responsive. I
can not define the aerodynamics of this phenomenon, but when you consider
that air is moving all around the mouthpiece as we play and interfering
with the reed vibration it makes sense that a reduction in material in this
ares would have a pronounced effect.

Clark W Fobes

Clark W Fobes
Web Page http://www.sneezy.org/clark_fobes

   
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