Klarinet Archive - Posting 000839.txt from 2004/01

From: "Forest Aten" <forestaten@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Mouthpiece blanks
Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2004 10:05:55 -0500

> In an ideal world, CNC sounds like it should work. A few years ago a
> writer on KLARINET said that their friend was a draftsman and attempted
> to do a CCAD/CAM3d drawing of the external and interior of a clarinet
> mouthpiece. Apparently it was extremely difficult to do.
>
>
> Dave

>
> Dr. David McClune
> Professor of Woodwinds
> Director of Bands
> Union University-1862
> 1050 Union University Drive
> Jackson, TN 38305
>

Dave,

Your observation is consistent with every mouthpiece maker/artist that I've
talked to.

The late Elmer Aiello, from Leblanc U.S.A......(and force behind Woodwind
mouthpieces for years), once told me that it was very difficult to "measure"
all of the critical dimensions related to a clarinet mouthpiece. He often
had very interesting comments:

1 "the radial curves in the baffle areas of a mouthpiece make for infinite
combinations" (He felt that the baffle areas of a mouthpiece was where the
real magic of a mouthpiece could always be found....having all other
manageable aspects of the mouthpiece in place; i.e. table, facing, bore,
etc.)
2 "different players like different mouthpieces" (no one combination was
"perfect" for everyone) This was a problem for a guy building machine made
mouthpieces. He and Leblanc tried to resolved this issue by introducing many
models.
3 "knowing what the dimensions were and then being able to duplicate
them....is a real challenge." He worked a lifetime with Woodwind trying to
develop machines that would/could build a more consistent product. He made a
lot of progress....but he or his assistant(s) always spent time at the
mouthpiece bench when things weren't just right.

Forest Aten

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Klarinet is a service of Woodwind.Org, Inc. http://www.woodwind.org