Klarinet Archive - Posting 000021.txt from 2004/09

From: "Ken Wolman" <kwolman@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] All mouthpieces great and small
Date: Thu, 2 Sep 2004 09:13:20 -0400


D. Blumberg wrote:
> Ken, I don't consider the Pyne Polycrystal to be in the same league as
> the 5RV as the polycrystal is a student mouthpiece. I could compare it
> with the fobes debut or the hite premiere, but not a Professional
> Mouthpiece (I do have 1 to show students their breath vapor ;) I
> bought it at a festival).

Ah, but I am not a professional player, either. I've got both the
Premiere and Debut, they're very nice indeed. But you are absolutely
right: settling for half is an inadequate substitute for what you want.
Right now I've got a Vandoren 5JB (nice with soft reeds), a Gennusa
Excellente GE* that is reputed to be pretty good Chedeville adaptation
and plays that way, that Selmer HS* which is a far fall from the HS*'s
made years ago, and even a Pomarico Diamond (very open, also great with
a soft reed, my homage to Giora Feidman in lieu of a religious statue)
for when I want to play like a blues harper, i.e., with the bends.
Shouldn't that be enough? Really now: how many clarinet players own
ENOUGH mouthpieces?:-) But once upon a time.... My comment about the
cookie jar was to demonstrate my way back. I had to sell two
mouthpieces via DrekBay: a Pyne-Clarion Signature I bought in 2000, and
a Chadash/Hill 1.04 which Chris Hill made for me after some phone
conversations in which I told him the instrument I was playing on and
the kind of sound and resistance I wanted (laser-focused and minimal).
I have NEVER played a better mouthpiece than the Hill--after that,
everything else may as well come from WalMart or Costco. This sounds
like adopting out a favorite cat, but then again I believe musical
instruments have souls too: my only consolation is that the Hill mpc
went to a real good home where it is being played and loved. Selling it
may have been necessary but it hurt as badly as selling the Centered
Tone in 2002, another thing I did strictly in the name of the bubble
Survival (no income for a month), and that I indeed survived to regret
because the Series 9 is really fine but the CT was magic.

So you're right. I need another low-end mouthpiece like I need warts.
Anyone want to buy a used car?:-)

Ken
--
Kenneth Wolman
Proposal Development Department
Room SW334
Sarnoff Corporation
609-734-2538

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