Klarinet Archive - Posting 000632.txt from 2000/08

From: "Karl Krelove" <kkrelove@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] Mouthpiece boring?
Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2000 11:13:56 -0400

I've only skimmed this thread casually, but I think one caveat needs to be
thrown in. Messages that say in essence "<Fill-in-the-name-and-model>
mouthpieces made today aren't the same as the one I <or my teacher> have
from <number-goes-here> years ago...." kind of slinks past the possibility
that the old example wasn't completely typical. I assume for the sake of
discussion that the old mouthpiece was not refaced or altered in any other
way.

When I buy a mouthpiece, I try to choose from several even after I've
decided which make/model I want, because the sample variation is
significant. The same was true 30 years ago. The mouthpieces my teachers had
to pick from were even, I suspect, more varied within a specific model than
they are now. The 5RV that I chose for a student in 1975 was picked from a
batch of 7 or 8. The other 6 or 7 didn't play the same way the one I picked
did. Chances are that neither will most new 5RV's today. So the differences
you find between the old _selected_ example and a batch of new ones may be
due more to the old one's uniqueness than a generic change in the model's
specs. I'd be interested to know if judgments about changes in mouthpiece
characteristics can be supported by measurements, which would still require
several old samples, not just a single one, to be available.
>
> I believe Vandoren has done the same thing with their clarinet
> mouthpieces.
> I think (but I am not sure) that they have done it twice. A 5RV
> bought back
> in hte 60's is not the same as a 5RV bought today.
> James Marioneaux
>
James, out of pure curiosity (not wanting to argue with your observation),
how are the ones from the 60's different from the new ones? I haven't bought
a 5RV in some time.

Karl Krelove

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe from Klarinet, e-mail: klarinet-unsubscribe@-----.org
Subscribe to the Digest: klarinet-digest-subscribe@-----.org
Additional commands: klarinet-help@-----.org
Other problems: klarinet-owner@-----.org