Klarinet Archive - Posting 000207.txt from 2001/11

From: GrabnerWG@-----.com
Subj: Re: [kl] Re: Sulphur in mouthpieces
Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2001 14:38:58 -0500

In my "career" of mouthpiece technician, I have seen a lot of older mouthpieces.

Some of them are clearly discolored, with that "yellow- sulfurous" cast to them. Others, while not as shiny as a new mouthpiece don't seem to have the sulfur leaching out of them.

However, I have not observed much correlation between the discoloration and the "breakdown" of the material. It would seem logival that there would be, but I have NOT observed it.

I have seen, as Clark Fobes observed, rubber mouthpieces where the material has become "crumbly". These is do believe are way beyond any further possible use. Other than that, I have not found any visual inspection that would indicate to me that a mouthpiece is beyond further use.

What I have discovered, however, is that certain mouthpieces warp, in that, in some way, the table which should be flat or slightly concave, has become either convex, with a hump; or "twisted" so that the plane of the table is no longer on the original plane.

I have tried to "reface" these mouthpieces, although the work that has to be done goes beyond facing work.

Rarely have I been successful. Several of my most spectacular "defeats" have been with older bass mouthpieces. In several of these cases, I was unable to achieve a flat table, then make a facing where the two rails match each other.

This is VERY hard to measure in any meaningful way with hand held measuring devices, but it very much seems as if under the daily stresses of playing, the material has "twisted" so that it is virtually impossible to achieve a flat table and a satifactory facing.

Mouthpieces like this are usually sent to a technician because they have begun to chirp or squeak, or have an increasingly difficult attack on certain notes.

As far as I have been able to tell, there is no cure for mouthpieces when they reach this state.

I would be very interested in any comments or experiences that others have had along these lines.

Walter Grabner
www.clarinetxpress.com
Mouthpieces, etc.

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