Klarinet Archive - Posting 000067.txt from 2006/07

From: "danyel" <rab@-----.de>
Subj: Re: [kl] Alto Clarinet mouthpiece
Date: Sun, 09 Jul 2006 19:43:43 -0400

Hello,

I love the alto too, I have four instruments and collected quite a few
mouthpieces in search of a really good one. It's true, the alto is a
strange, yet very beautiful beast. I used to play on an old Buffet-Chedville
mouthpiece, very balanced and mellow tone, with focus, but a bit narrow,
like the Bb mouthpieces of those vintages (50s). Then I switched to a
vintage Selmer C** with more clearness and power. I currently play a
relatively new Couff that, even though it was quite good to begin with, I
refaced and internally reworked myself (after quite a bit of practice and
very carefully!!!) and I second the view that an alto mouthpiece should be
open. But the lay has to be long as well, otherwise the sound will turn out
lacklustre. The reworked Couff is brilliant, like you removed a curtain,
with a huge middle register and strong fundamentals. A friend of mine used
to play a Charles Bay very open, but I found it too shrill. He now plays one
of two pieces made by Alexander Wiltscher on his request, extremely open
(2.4mm!!). I like mine better, at about 1.7mm (0.067"). I have a very nice
very old (20s?) Selmer mouthpiece without facing designation, but it's far
too closed. The sound is very nice but too weak for my taste. I play jazz
and rather intimate chamber music (own compositions) on the alto. On the Bb
I play a Link Reso-Chamber 5*.
Bores of various brands differ drastically between 16.5 and about 18mm so if
you don't want to take the risk of awful intonation, check that first.
I would be prepared to part with a Pomarico crystal which I bought new some
years ago; if you are interested, let me know. It's good but it doesn't fit
the large bore of my instrument and it's also too closed for my taste. I
threw out a Bundy and a Woodwind which were good for nothing but tuning
rings.

Best wishes,
danyel
www.echoton.de/clar.html
(you can see my favourite alto here, a 1920s Moennig Bros in front, and hear
recordings made 2 years ago with the Buffet-Chedville, click on the Late
Wood cover)

----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris Ciarlariello" <cdc_1013@-----.com>
To: "Klarinet List" <klarinet@-----.org>
Sent: Sunday, July 09, 2006 4:18 AM
Subject: [kl] Alto Clarinet mouthpiece

> Hey everyone,
> I have an alto clarinet that I haven't gotten a chance
> to play because I do not have a mouthpiece for it. I
> was wondering if anyone knows where I might be able to
> find (preferably online) a mouthpiece for a cheap
> price (around $25 or $30). I do not care right now if
> it is just a stock mouthpiece because I just want to
> try it out, I'm not really in the market for anything
> expensive right now, otherwise I would be out testing
> them. If anyone has any suggestions for where I might
> find one (or if someone just has one laying around),
> let me know.
> Thanks,
> Chris
>
> http://mail.yahoo.com
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
> Klarinet is a service of Woodwind.Org, Inc. http://www.woodwind.org
>

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