 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: calvinc
Date: 2003-09-26 04:06
Advantages, and disadvantages, and also, which one in your mind, is the best brand? thanks. =D
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Author: GBK
Date: 2003-09-26 04:52
In the early 70's I selected a pair of Vandoren crystal mouthpieces from about two dozen samples. I still use them today as some of the primary mouthpieces I play with.
Crystal mouthpieces vary greatly. Within the same facing you will find that not only will no two play alike, you will wonder if they are even the same brand. This is common, due to the lack of control of the cooling of the raw material during production.
Once you find a crystal mouthpiece that you are satisfied with, the facing should last indefinitely. Hard rubber mouthpieces can change over time, and will often need to be touched up.
Vandoren made some very fine crystal mouthpieces, but unfortunately they are no longer producing them. The older Pomaricos were also excellent - the GG series in particular were outstanding. I have one and like it very much. O'Brien also made crystal mouthpieces, but I never found one that I cared for. To me, they all felt very stuffy. I do know some players who use O'Brien's and they find them excellent. I believe at one time Jon Manasse used an O'Brien.
The newer Pomaricos (ruby, emerald diamond, etc..) have had mixed reaction from players. Some find them to be dark with a nice covered sound. Other players find them a bit too covered with not enough projection.
My advice, which should be obvious, is to try as many samples as you can find. I went through close to 30 before settling on my pair of Vandorens.
Crystal mouthpieces can be refaced. There are contributors to this bulletin board who do such work.
The biggest drawback to crystal mouthpieces is that when they are dropped, they do not bounce ...GBK
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Author: Markus Wenninger
Date: 2003-09-26 07:43
I play a Zimmer crystal mouthpiece, and the sound is marvellous indeed. Very clear and direct (very un-jazzy so to say), a unparallelled pureness (if You forgive me this fallback into metaphysiscs, but this is what comes to mind if one thinks of the sound). You might want to add those pads on top of the mouthpiece for the protection of Your upper front teeth, because a crystal one reverberates even less than any ebonite...mouthpiece - I never minded, but my wife says, it would feel irritating for her. To my view, what a carefully selected metal mouthpiece is for the saxophone, a crystal one is for the clarinet (and I didn´t have to try a lot of them, I found mine after 4 or 5 tries).
Markus
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Author: Ralph Katz
Date: 2003-09-26 11:25
Crystal mouthpieces need not be dropped to be ruined. If you bump one too hard with a front tooth you can take big chip out of it.
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Author: GBK
Date: 2003-09-26 11:34
Ralph Katz said:
> If you bump one too hard with a front tooth you can take big chip out of it.
I've had a few minor collisions between mouthpiece and front tooth. All parties, happily survived with no damage.
When one of my old O'Briens made contact with the edge of the music stand, the winner of that confrontation was the music stand...GBK
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Author: William
Date: 2003-09-26 15:17
Disadvantage--they break easily.
Advantage--once you find one that you like, it will never change (unless bumped or dropped, of course) (and usually, just before the gig)
My reality--I've tried crystal VDs,Fountains, Selmers, Pomericos, no-names and (most recently) an O'Brien, but have never found one that plays like my better hard rubber models. But I always remember the wonderful sound that a fellow 1969 International Music Camp clarinet instructor, James Calvert, from Indianapolis, produced ib his O'Brien. His "big" sound had a "ring"--or I should say, clariety--to it, and the articulation was as crisp as any I have ever heard. But he also said that you have to find a "good one" (we've all heard that before, right). His particular crystal was custom made to his specs by O'Brien. The O'brien that I recently aquired has that "clariety" in it's sound and has remarkably even response and tone quality in all registers. The disadvantage, compared to what I am used to, it is rather "stuffy". It worked best with Legere 3.5 and a V12 4.0 reed, so perhaps if I invested "the time" to find the proper reeds and get used to it, I could learn to play it. Anyhow, it is now resting on my desk for occassional trial--which is one step anyway from my accessories "junk" drawer (which is currently overflowing).
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Author: Alphie
Date: 2003-09-26 17:22
I use a Mitchell Lurie crystal MP for my Eb-clarinet. It's the best MP I've ever had for orchestra playing. The sound is dark, solid, with a good projection without being edgy at all.
For chamber music it feels a bit stuffy and heavy so for that I use a normal Mitchell Lurie.
Alphie
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Author: john gibson
Date: 2003-09-27 05:02
Funny thing is....most all crystals.....vandoren...Selmer...GG....etc., are/were all made by the Pomarico family in Italy. Matter of fact....everyone talks about O'brien....they were glass not lead crystal. Big difference. Both in construction and play-ability. O'brien is really over rated as far as I can tell.
Pomarico is the LEADER in crystals and in my opinion....the best in wooden MPCs as well...I have a couple of their grenadilla MPCs and they are excellent players. Ricardo Clericci is the guy to talk to about all their MPCs, and a great guy who "knows' his stuff. POMARICO.COM.
John Gibson
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Author: sömeone
Date: 2003-09-27 15:34
http://www.pomaricompieces.com
to be exact
never tried any sounds great to me.........
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2003-09-27 16:33
As I've said before [elsewhere?], my Pom [GG] BASS cl mps are the best I've found, superior to a Bay, a B45, and even a ?slightly? refaced Sel C* and its similar Bundy 3. For sop cls, I have several old O'Briens, one refaced to a 5RVL, a good "classic" but ?resistant? , a [good] Sel clarion, but usually play on H R's, a VD 11.6 or for jazz, a BG "Benny Goodman". Do have a couple of older Woodwind G8's, OK! My "stable" . Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2003-09-27 18:36
Posting to this thread motivated me to again try out the O'Brien/5RVL. On a "big bore" LeBlanc Dynamic 2 [15.0 mm, a poor man's Pete F!], it plays very easily, ?possibly? due to more-nearly matching this large sized glass mp [ID] with the stock barrel ?? Very much like my LeB L7! I used a LaVoz [better grade Rico!] medium [3?] with an INVERTED Rovner [ala Bonade] lig. Try it, works for me! Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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