Klarinet Archive - Posting 000161.txt from 2000/06

From: LeliaLoban@-----.com
Subj: [kl] Re: Mouthpiece mismatch
Date: Tue, 6 Jun 2000 16:48:20 -0400

Re. reeds that don't fit mouthpieces, Kenneth Wolman <kwolman@-----.com>
wrote of the soprano sax,

>The horn itself may be cheap, but the mouthpieces
>are anything but. All the same, the reeds do not necessarily line up with
>the rails (too wide or too narrow--it feels like life with the Three
>Bears), and there is often a noticeable lack of alignment between the reed
>and mouthpiece tips. I think ONE mouthpiece--a Dukoff #7--aligns correctly
>with the reed. The others--including an Otto Link, Vandoren, Yanigasawa,
>and 2 Selmer metal classical mps--have a nasty tendency to seem more or
>less mismatched. I hate to think I'd have to start screwing around with
>making my own reeds (I'm a WAY non-professional and I wonder if the effort
>is worth the aggravation and learning curve), but it may yet come to that.

>Is there really that much difference in reed dimensions among the various
>manufacturerers? I would figure they'd be cutting cane for mouthpieces of
>known, fixed sizes.

Doesn't that drive you bonkers? I have more or less the same problem. I
only own one soprano sax mouthpiece (the orginal for a 1924 King Saxello)
but, so far, haven't found *any* reed that fits without whittling. I have
the impression that soprano sax mouthpieces aren't uniform and that there's
more size variation between them than there is with soprano clarinet
mouthpieces. Maybe this is the source of the idea that soprano saxes are
comparitively hard to play. Mine's *impossible* to play if the reed leaks
air around the edges. A bad-fitting reed makes it extra-hard to blow and it
squeaks like Dick Vigorous. (Sorry about him, BTW -- thought I'd evicted him
for good last fall, but I guess I'd better get out the old Hav-A-Heart
trap....)

Lelia
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shameless Plug....
_Scarlet Street_ has placed another of my articles (from a back issue) on the
magazine's website. I wrote this one about the movie, THE CURSE OF THE
WEREWOLF:
http://www.scarletstreet.com/scarlet/curse.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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