Klarinet Archive - Posting 000173.txt from 2001/11

From: "CLARK FOBES " <reedman@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Sulphur in mouthpieces
Date: Sun, 4 Nov 2001 19:03:20 -0500

My understanding (and I make no claims to being a chemist!) is that Sulphur
is used as a hardening agent and a "binder". I am not certain what causes
the sulphur to migrate out, but it clearly does - probably superficially
only. I notice the differences in aged rubber when I reface mouthpieces over
about 5 years old. How the transformed rubber works must have something to
do with the original rubber content, the mix of other fillers and how the
mouthpiece was molded. A lot of variables!

Aged rubber works differently than new rubber. Sometimes it comes off on the
paper very evenly and presents almost a "creamy" feel as you work it. These
mouthpieces tend to sound very good when refaced properly. The Zinner rubber
has this feel initially, but it feels even more agreeable under the hand
after a few years.

I have worked on some older mouthpieces that had become so soft that the
material seemed to "crumble" as I worked on the mouthpiece. One mouthpiece
in particular would change in a period of about 6 months. I refaced that
mouthpiece for a customer about 5 times and we finally had to give up on it.

There are fellows out there that do much more refacing than I do and may
have had similar experiences.

Hope that helps a little,

Clark

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