Klarinet Archive - Posting 000302.txt from 2005/05

From: GrabnerWG@-----.com
Subj: Re: [kl] Mouthpieces - Chedeville
Date: Wed, 18 May 2005 22:52:53 -0400

In a message dated 5/18/2005 5:52:52 PM Central Daylight Time,
jstackpo@-----.org writes:
<<Is there a danger of destroying a (reasonably good) mouthpiece?

Or presuming that the craftsman knows what he is doing, is it more
likely that the mpc. will be the better for it, and become a VERY good
one?

I suppose the answer to that question is that the final condition of
the mpc.is what tells you if the craftsman indeed does know what he is
doing.>>

Any time you take a tool to a mouthpiece, you run the risk of not only NOT
improving it, but making it less than it was. That's why, when you start, you
work on junk mouthpieces. I think I ruined at least 20 old mouthpiece before
I produced something that played at all.

I have a bone pile of a dozen PURCHASED mouthpiece blanks that will NEVER be
sold to a customer. That's part of the deal.

However, over time, you do build technique and know how. One of the hardest
things to learn is WHEN TO STOP - when you have reached the point where you
have the best you can reasonably expect to get from that hunk of material. That
takes experience and talent.

I will tell you right now, there is as much artistry (or luck) as there is
science in this whole mouthpiece thing. Hitting the measurements is just the
beginning.

Walter Grabner
www.clarinetXpress.com
World-class clarinet mouthpieces

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