 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: RefacerMan
Date: 2023-06-04 00:07
Has anyone tried the new Backun Signature clarinet mouthpieces? I see there are 2 models.
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Author: ACCA
Date: 2023-06-06 11:59
It's a bit frustrating that there's not more info. The Shifrin one looks interesting, but the specs are limited to: "a medium/long facing", "Tip Opening: 1.04mm." and most enigmatically "a unique A-Frame baffle exit". Interesting. I thought a-frame referred to the sidewalls, not the baffle, or is that just the sidewalls at the end of the baffle.
More detailed specs and few shots showing the actual baffle and chamber/ sidewalls would be nice.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2023-06-06 15:03
I've seen a lot less provided information.......for example the Vocalise.
The Kessler page also claims a 19mm long facing. To me that is a long facing. You could say 17mm is more a medium with 15mm being short.
As for the baffle, my visit last year with Clark Fobes may explain that. The late great Zinner mouthpiece maker had a version called the A-model. That blank featured the A-frame which you see in the bore image (tone chamber angling out toward the baffle) AND a particularly deep baffle. This causes another specific response (for me, it allows a freer blowing note that holds the center better). It was the blank Hawkins used a lot many years ago for his custom mouthpieces. Fortunately for me, Fobes has a blank from Wesley Rice that is very similar.
............Paul Aviles
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Author: donald
Date: 2023-06-06 15:37
Hi Paul, the Zinner "A model" was not the A frame model that was sold as a blank. The two most popular Zinner blanks, "A" and "E" were most obviously differentiated by the baffle (A= double concave, E=flatter profile with much less concavity widthwise). The "A frame" model, I don't know if that had another designation or was just called the "A frame". But a Zinner "A blank" had a parallel throat configuration, as did the "E blank".
I ask Clark to confirm if you like- it's a bit confusing so likely you misunderstood him, as none of the Fobes mouthpieces I've seen were made from anything resembling the Zinner A frame blank (with sidewalls as angled as a typical German mouthpiece).
Jerry Hall used the "A frame" blank for his abominations, but most makers were already finding the "A blank" too lacking in "sparkle" (the upper register sounded very sweet, but the lower register lacked definition) and so only used the A FRAME blank on request.
I can remember Dan Paprocki saying this about the Zinner A blank in 1998, that it was lacking in sparkle/projection/ring and I thought he was being a bit too much of a Chedeville snob at the time, but within a few years had come to agree with him more or less. (didn't stop me playing on Zinner A blanks pretty much exclusively from 1996 to 2016).
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Author: donald
Date: 2023-06-06 15:43
Just looked at that Shifrin model, the angled sidewalls are about half as severe as the Zinner A frame blank, but considerably more angled than the "A blank".
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Author: LostConn
Date: 2023-06-06 17:40
Any comments on the O-rings? I realize that these are not the first clarinet mouthpieces to use O-rings instead of cork, but it's still a pretty rare practice. It appears that the Backun Signature pieces come with multiple O-rings of different sizes (which I assume means thickness, not diameter), and it will be up to the player to use the ones that best fit the barrel opening.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2023-06-06 20:16
Donald,
Thank you for correcting that difference in the A Blank designation! I just looked and you are absolutely right. I think I was so pleased with the "A-blank" that I stopped paying attention to how the configuration looked..........and then promptly went back to German mouthpieces by Gleichweit. I assumed a massively angled wall for those as well (like my much earlier Wurlitzers). However, for a German mouthpiece the Gleichweits only have a quite moderate angle to their tone chamber........radical for a German design I'm sure.
LostConn,
The o-rings are neither better nor worse than cork, just a different set of pluses and minuses. Being able to change the sizes of the o-rings makes moving to different barrels much easier than having to change cork for sure. However if you are changing a lot, it is easy to break an o-ring and it makes it better to have a bunch on hand. You feel the three bumps as you put an o-ring mouthpiece on the barrel but if the fit is right, it is pretty tight and just as secure. I still find myself applying some cork grease to make a tighter fit move more easily.
.................Paul Aviles
Post Edited (2023-06-06 20:18)
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2023-06-07 19:26
Oops,
That leaves the query about the A-Frame Baffle unanswered. I guess that it is reasonable to claim A-Frame Baffle since the baffle is enlarged going through the tone chamber.
A further clarification about the response of the Zinner A-Model is that the "problem" that I was having with the Fobes mouthpieces as I tried them seemed to me to just be an issue with the facing not lining up with my expectations. That's how it felt, yet Clark had imposed the precise dimensions from a old Hawkins that I have. The mouthpiece became a whole new animal once he used those facing dimensions on an A-Model copy that he has. It was quite informative to find that a baffle difference could make that big a difference in HOW the mouthpiece played!
................Paul Aviles
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Author: Ed
Date: 2023-06-08 04:59
"It was quite informative to find that a baffle difference could make that big a difference in HOW the mouthpiece played!"
It is fascinating how all of those elements have to work together. Often two mouthpieces can share the same facing but play so differently because of variations in baffle, bore, chamber, etc
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Author: sonicbang
Date: 2023-06-09 13:30
The look of the design is quite interesting. The rails are very thick and the tip rail's contour is unusually curved.
It's impossible to tell just from looking at the pictures how the mouthpiece plays, also don't judge a book by its cover, etc. but these are factors I usually have to correct when I work on mouthpieces. I wonder to what extent was Shifrin involved in the development of this model.
Mark
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