Klarinet Archive - Posting 000070.txt from 2000/01

From: GrabnerWG@-----.com
Subj: Re: [kl] klarinet Digest 2 Jan 2000 21:15:00 -0000 Issue 1947
Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2000 12:19:46 -0500

In a message dated 1/2/00 6:50:45 PM Central Standard Time,
100012.1302@-----.com writes:

<< However, I don't think you can always decouple the mouthpiece
as you suggest. I have certainly experienced mouthpieces that
were very good on one good instrument and poor on another
(eg a Hite was excellent on a Selmer bass but poor on a (better)
Buffet). >>

Keith -

I am finding out that this is very much the case, as I work one-on-one with
various players. I recently spent a lovely afternoon with Bonnie Davis, down
in Nashville, TN. (Incidently, Bonnie is a lovely lady, an adult amateur
clarinetist, who plays VERY nicely.).

We tried mouthpiece made from four different blanks on her LeBlanc clarinets.
Several mouthpieces which I had thought would work very well for her, did not
work out at all. I was glad that I had different blanks to try out.

We didn't do anything very scientific. We used the old trial-and-error
method. We were able to find a blank that worked well, produced a fine sound
for her, AND tuned well on both of her clarinets.

She had been playing on a student model mouthpiece that played quite well on
her Bb, but tuned very sharp on her A.

When we finished up adjusting the new mouthpiece for her Bb, we tried it on
the A. She (and I) were very happy to see that the new mouthpiece tuned dead
center on my tuner.

This leads me to believe that you cannot separate the instrument(s) from the
mouthpiece.

Data: The mouthpiece was made from a jj Babbitt 13-B blank.
I faced it to a very normal facing something like:

1.05
6
10
21
32

I worked quite a bit on the tip baffle to darken the sound.
I widened the area between the tip (side) rails to 11.8 mm.
Made sure that the window was 32 mm.
Smoothed the "ramp" area.
Narrowed the tip rails.

Walter Grabner
who is...........
ClarinetXpress
Mouthpieces & More!!!!
http://www.clarinetxpress.com

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