 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Meredith H
Date: 2000-08-23 06:13
I have an oldish (15+ years) B&H Emperor clarinet that one of my students uses. When I purchased this instrument it did not have a mouthpiece and I used a Vandoran B45 mouthpiece with it for years. I have since been told that as it is a large bore clarinet it really should only be played with the mouthpiece it came with or intonation problems could result (it is terribly sharp in the low register). As this is not possible can any one suggest another mouthpiece that may suit this clarinet.
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Author: beejay
Date: 2000-08-23 12:21
Peter Eaton, who advertises on these pages, might be able to help. I understand that devotees of the old B&H 1010, which sounds like the instrument you have, turn to him.
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Author: David Spiegelthal
Date: 2000-08-23 13:47
I'm not so sure that the bore mismatch between mouthpiece and instrument is entirely to blame. I've restored and played on a number of B&H large-bore clarinets (all "Edgware" student models, however) and I've used a number of mouthpieces, all with standard bores, on these clarinets. I haven't found a common intonation deficiency (such as sharpness in the low register), nor have the intonation problems I have found been correctable merely by switching mouthpieces. Just as an experiment, Meredith, have you tried pulling out between the two long center joints? Also, you might try a number of different standard-bore mouthpieces to see if any of them help --- you might not need to get a mouthpiece with a bore specifically matched to your horn. I realize I'm going to catch a LOT of flak from the mouthpiece makers on this, but there are so many factors in mouthpiece design that affect the results, that I think varying the bore diameter alone may not provide the desired result.
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Author: Bill
Date: 2000-08-23 14:43
The 1010 has the widest bore, and the 926 is a slightly narrower bore. You can't play a 1010 without a bored-out mouthpiece (I have several made by Daniel Bangham in U.K.). Not sure about the 926. If you have a few bucks laying around, I second the advice to get a mouthpiece from Peter Eaton. Just specify that's it's for a 926, not a 1010.
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Author: Graham Elliott
Date: 2000-08-23 15:53
The Emperor is a 926 design instrument and would not play well with a 1010 mouthpiece. What you need is a 926 mouthpiece, but they may be rare, A British maker could make one for you, but that might be expensive.
As said above, the intonation problem probably lies with the instrument anyhow. The quality control of the later Emperors was risible, although they sounded nice, but the tuning was hopeless on a large number of them. They were not as good as early Emperors or the Edware which preceded them. My guess is that it is unlikely to be worth much effort or experimentation.
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