Klarinet Archive - Posting 000354.txt from 2002/04

From: "Lena Torvald" <clarinet888@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Mouthpiece mystery
Date: Fri, 12 Apr 2002 18:02:33 -0400

I am yet to find two clarinetists that like the same mouthpiece, but it seems to me that Vandoren's B45 generates more complaints than any other mouthpiece. I personally played it for 5 years and could never get the sound I wanted. I switched to Gigliotti #P34, and what a difference! No squeaks, no flat notes, and beautiful sound. I still use Vandoren reeds, but had to switch to 4 or 4.5 to get the best results.
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On Fri, 12 Apr 2002 10:22:00 Jim Alguire wrote:
>Sometime earlier this year there was a post that said, in effect, 'forget
>the search for a perfect mouthpiece until you can play well enough to tell
>the difference.' Ah, I should have listened.
>
>I have a very nice Evette & Schaeffer I had my local music shop go through
>as a Christmas present. I just had an excellent technician fix what the
>local shop did, but that's another story. Since my mouthpiece was old and
>not in very good shape, I purchased a very nice Buffet mouthpiece on E-bay.
>It is working just fine.
>
>Then I got to noticing that the radius of the tip was just a hair larger
>than the radius of my reeds (I was using Rico and now I am using Vandoren
>traditional). This appeared to be the case for the several other mouthpieces
>I have. Since I was playing Vandoren reeds, I decided to purchase a Vandoren
>mouthpiece (B45) and give it a try. Interestingly, the B45 radius also seems
>a little larger than that of the reed.
>
>I don't have the tools or enough hands to really measure the differences
>between these mouthpieces, but the tip opening on the Buffet is just a hair
>more open than the B45 and the facing 'looks' the same. The windway in the
>facing also look the same, but I would swear the B45 flares out more at the
>tip although they measure the same.
>
>Well, here is my frustration. I can play a passage perfectly with the
>Buffet, but when I use the same reed and ligature on the B45, I can get
>nothing but squeaks. I can't help but feel I am missing something here, but
>I can't quite pin it down.
>
>Well, I don't see a question in there anywhere, but thanks for letting me do
>a little venting.
>
>Jim Alguire
>J A Design Studio
>Ketchikan, Alaska
>
>
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