 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: echi85
Date: 2016-12-22 08:03
Has anyone tried these mouthpieces? I know they are the new fad item. I'm thinking about getting one but I understand that quality is variable.
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Author: Monocrotis
Date: 2016-12-22 08:54
My overall assessment is that Crystal mouthpieces aren't too different from your regular premium mouthpiece (May that be whatever brand you prefer), and generally their impact on your playing is negligible, and they're quite fragile. So from my experience they're just about good for not many things if you're reasonably responsible with them.
If you do happen on buying one, choose a reliable brand such as Vandoren or any other custom retailers that have good reviews or history.
That's just about it, but please take this with a grain of salt because someone else may say otherwise in accordance with their personal experience
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Author: GBK
Date: 2016-12-22 09:05
Monocrotis wrote:
> If you do happen on buying one, choose a reliable brand
> such as Vandoren or any other custom retailers
> that have good reviews or history.
Vandoren stopped selling crystal mouthpieces 30 years ago. You'll have to find a used one, and the odds of finding a great used one are very slim.
I rotate between 5 Vandoren crystal mouthpieces from the early 1970s, that were chosen from dozens of new ones at that time.
...GBK
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2016-12-22 12:14
Vandoren's crystal mouthpieces were made by Pomarico - they were only available in Eb. Bb/A and bass and in three facings (A1, A2 and A3).
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2016-12-22 19:34
1) Crystal mouthpieces are not fragile - as long as you don't drop them on a hard floor or bang them against something hard. As demonstrated by folks like GBK and myself playing on them for decades.
2) Despite what some people think, they can be refaced and it's not much more work than refacing hard rubber, though some special techniques are called for.
3) Sound-wise, darned if I can tell a difference.
4) The nice thing about crystal is, they are dimensionally very stable. Where they are, is where they stay.
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Author: Caroline Smale
Date: 2016-12-23 03:41
I agree with David on all his points apart from 3)
Of course sound impressions are very personal but I have been playing Vandoren Crystals (Mostly A1s) for about 40 years. The reason I stick with them, despite some shortcomings in articulation for me, is exactly because of their different (to me) sound quality.
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2016-12-23 09:00
Marcellus tried a crystal MP and Szell hated it. Szell told him not to use it for the upcoming recording session. Well Bob painted the mouthpiece black. At the airport, after the recording session, Szell walked up to Bob and said to Bob he can paint the mouthpiece any color he wants, but he better not ever play that mouthpiece in his orchestra again!
Yes crystal mouthpieces as with any mouthpiece all sound different.
Pomarico still makes them. They made them for Mitchell Lurie too. Most of them tend to be very bright sounding.
This could be why Backun wants to add a bright mouthpiece to a dead sounding horn? Maybe players are getting smarter and Backun is feeling some pressure?
Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces
Yamaha Artist 2015
Post Edited (2016-12-23 09:03)
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Author: ruben
Date: 2016-12-23 14:17
Does the old brand GG still exist? I used one when I was a teenager back in the days of Woodrow Wilson. I suppose they were Italian.
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: GBK
Date: 2016-12-23 15:41
ruben wrote:
> Does the old brand GG still exist? I used one when I was a
> teenager back in the days of Woodrow Wilson. I suppose they
> were Italian.
The old Pomarico GG mouthpieces were named for Efrain Guigui, (or Ephriam Gigi if you prefer the Americanized spelling).
The facings ran from -1 to 3
...GBK
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Author: ruben
Date: 2016-12-23 19:01
Bob: What mouthpiece did Marcellus normally use? I have a mouthpiece somewhere made by Woodwind that bears his name. It's awful. He can't have used anything like that.
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: Chetclarinet
Date: 2016-12-23 19:30
Marcellus was famous for playing Frank Kaspar mouthpieces, recorded the Mozart Concerto on one I think, and strongly encouraged his students to use them also. The legend of Frank Kaspar was greatly enhanced by this iconic clarinetist. There are also many hours of audio tapes, re-mastered from his summer master classes done at Northwestern University from 1979-1990 or so, available to all on the internet.
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Author: KenJarczyk
Date: 2016-12-23 21:54
To answer the original question -
The Backun CG is made by Pomarico in Italy, and is basically a copy of Backun Artist Corrado Giuffredi's Pomarico.
Try several, if you can. A good one is common, a great one takes a few. I have friends who play on them, and they do sound wonderful!
Ken Jarczyk
Woodwinds Specialist
Eb, C, Bb, A & Bass Clarinets
Soprano, Alto, Tenor & Baritone Saxophones
Flute, Alto Flute, Piccolo
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2016-12-27 09:41
Ruben - Marcellus used Kaspar's, mainly Cicero's with a large bore #13 and a fairly deep chamber/baffle. He used mainly 1.11 tip opening, but he messed around with mouthpieces a lot. Some may have been 1.10 mm's. One of them, the chamber was too deep and dark sounding, Szell complained and Bob who gave it to Steve as they were passing through the halls at the Cleveland Institute. Steve Barta owns that mouthpiece. I've measured it. I can see why Szell thought it was too dark for the hall, however it isn't as deep as the Zinners by far. Szell just had that special ear. Zinners are at least a 32nd of an inch deeper and duller.
I must say that Bob had a lot of guts painting the crystal mouthpiece black for that Capriccio Espagnol recording. He must have driven Szell nuts wondering what Bob would do next in the symphony. Bob did play on some Chicago Kaspar's, but to my knowledge he was pretty settled in with the Cicero's. #13 bore and a special baffle just for him. When I measured this baffle/chamber it was within just a human hair from Gennusa's favorite mouthpiece which I have, and very close to the old Bonade's mouthpiece. I would think that Harold Wright's is pretty close too. Hans Moennig tuned Bob's horns based on these Kaspar mouthpieces.
However for some reason he wanted to record Capriccio Espagnol on that crystal mouthpiece and he did. I don't know why. I never asked him, but I surely laughed at the story. A GREAT recording as we all know. But Szell wasn't a happy man! I'm sure Bob drove Geog Szell nuts sometimes. Two great musical minds going at it! Bob had a sense of humor. Smoking a cigar and sipping bourbon was really fun! He had a lot of stress too though with being a diabetic and fake teeth.
So there you have the true story. As with some of his students. Steve Barta for sure will back up this story, as will many others.
Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces
Yamaha Artist 2015
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2016-12-27 18:37
I had never heard the story about Marcellus painting his crystal mouthpiece black.
The story I did hear was that Szell asked him "Do you REALLY like the sound you get from, that mouthpiece?" and Marcellus took the hint.
Another Szell story from Kal Opperman. He made a bass mouthpiece for Alfred Zetzer. Szell began a piece with a BC part, stopped after two measures and said "Bass clarinet, those are the kind of reeds I like." Zetzer said "New mouthpiece Maestro." Szell said "So, get another one."
Alexander Williams played a crystal mouthpiece in the NBC Symphony under Toscanini. You can hear him in the Pines of Rome solo. He told me he put the mouthpiece away after he stopped playing in orchestras because it took too much effort to play.
My own experience with several crystal mouthpieces is that they really suck the air out of you. They feel much more open than the lay measures.
Ken Shaw
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