 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: trampoline
Date: 2003-06-22 19:48
I have a bunch of worthless old mouthpieces that I've accumulated around here collecting drawer dust. And I thought it might be a fun project to try turning these generic duds into something worth using, or at least a learning experience. I'm not sure how/where to go about starting, though..
What kind of tools will I need in order to form a decent mouthpiece workshop type thing? Tip measuring gadgets, baffle doo-das, rail thingamajiggers, and various other thingamabobs? Just need a place to start a-lookin'.
Thanks, all = )
-Sam
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2003-06-22 21:21
If you really want to go into [scientific] mp refacing, I suggest you ask for help and discussion from the Yahoo group, Mouthpiece Work. For what I do in trying to improve the playing of "disposable" mps, I use fine emery cloth-paper on a FLAT surface to flatten the mp table, prob. shortening the "curve" and then put on a different [wider-open usually] lay curve, then polishing it on newsprint [paper], trying it out between "treatments". Good luck, Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: Synonymous Botch
Date: 2003-06-22 22:02
Turn back, before it is too late!
*****
Still determined, hmmm?
*****
A sheet of 1/4" thick plate glass (of 'float' glass) large enough to hold a full-size piece of sand paper.
Some fine 'riffler' files to adjust the inside of the mouthpiece - where the REAL sculpting of the sound happens.
400 through 1200 grit sand paper. I prefer the 'garnet' variety.
A Morgan measuring kit for checking your work.
Think of it like laying railroad track... you want both sides to point in the same direction, without deviation.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MouthpieceWork/
You'll need LOTS of mouthpieces and a good reed for play testing.
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2003-06-24 14:59
A flat piece of thick plate glass, and wet-or-dry silicon carbide sandpaper, grits 220, 400, and 600, always used wet. Maybe a very fine flat file also, for thinning the side rails initially. Some old discarded reeds, cut lengthwise into two or three strips, with sandpaper glued onto the flat side to use for working on the interior of the mouthpiece. A few thousand expendable mouthpieces and years of experimentation until you can get it right quickly and consistently! Good luck.
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Author: ron b
Date: 2003-06-24 16:22
Ferree's may still be selling their mouthpiece refacing kit. They re-introduced it a couple of years ago - maybe due to renewed interest in the craft (?). A bit on the expensive side for a beginner I suppose but, according to their catalog, it includes all the tools and instructions you'll need to get started.
- r![[cool]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/cool.gif) n b -
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Author: Arnold the basset hornist
Date: 2003-06-25 06:54
Hello,
computer based (CNC) moutpice refacing is done with numerical controled milling machines that can reproduce shapes within a few micrometers (0.001 mm = 1/25400 in) - a quite expensive hardware.
Arnold (the basset hornist)
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Author: Arnold the basset hornist
Date: 2003-06-26 08:38
Well,
you'll have to do your onw research,
I'm not sure the "Diastart 3400" at www.mutronic.de is exactly enough.
Especially I did hear, the bending of a millling tool of 6 mm diameter while cutting the lay can cause problems.
Moreover, do not forget to look for the programming tools you need.
Good luck
By the way, do you have a rich uncle? - I guess the prices for such an equipment you'll need will start with at a few thosand dollars - the first successfull mouthpiece copying was done with a machine that did cost approx. half a million dollar, someone told me.
Arnold (the basset hornist)
Post Edited (2003-06-26 08:44)
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Author: Mark Pinner
Date: 2003-06-26 11:46
A CNC mill with that level of precision would cost at least $100 000 US. You would have to reface every mouthpiece in the world biennally to make it pay. This not a particularly large field of endeavour.
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2003-06-26 13:14
And along with the precise CNC milling machine, you'd need an extremely accurate optical (laser) measurement of a "model" mouthpiece (the basis mouthpiece for duplication) using thousands of measurement points to accurately describe the facing curve; along with the software to load code into the CNC machine. Then, for every variant on that mouthpiece design (that is, every different facing type) you'd have to either re-do the optical measurement/recoding process with a different baseline mouthpiece, or develop the algorithms to modify the original code for the new facing curve. And we haven't even discussed making the interior of the mouthpiece yet (baffle, window, sidewalls, bore).
Until Wal-Mart starts buying mouthpieces by the millions, there probably isn't enough volume to do this, as Mark Pinner has pointed out. Guess I'll stick with my plate glass, sandpaper, and "calibrated eyeball" for a while longer!
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