 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: JonAugie
Date: 2003-01-27 02:01
Hello-
I was thinking about purchasing a grenadilla Zinner mouthpiece blank and having it refaced by Richard Hawkins. My professor said to go ahead and try it, but i was wondering if anyone here has any thoughts or expierience with wooden moutpieces.
Thanks
-JonAugie
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Author: Peter
Date: 2003-01-27 02:54
I don't have personal experience with them, but I know people who own and use them sometimes.
They really like them, but the wood requires much thoughtful care and the use of a good bite pad.
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Author: Bob
Date: 2003-01-27 13:34
I have one that came with an old eBay purchase. Cleaned it up a bit and tried it....played great. Geez, before plastics maybe all were wood....or ivory!!
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Author: David Spiegelthal
Date: 2003-01-27 14:16
I regularly play on two wood Bb clarinet mouthpieces (a Pomarico and an old Couesnon Monopole), both of which I've refaced and both play just fine. The occasional oiling with almond oil seems helpful, and of course they should be thoroughly dried after each use (like a horse, they shouldn't be put away wet!). It remains to be seen how well they maintain their dimensional stability (i.e. freedom from warpage) over time and with climate changes, but so far in the year or two I've been using them, no problems noted. Check with Greg Smith, a woodwind.org sponsor, for more on wood mouthpieces --- he makes them and they are highly regarded. He has also discussed the 'care and feeding' of wood mouthpieces on this bulletin board in the past, I believe ---- do a search and check on this. And by all means use a plastic mouthpiece patch on the beak -- not only does it prevent bite marks but I think you might like how it attenuates vibrations from going into your teeth and up through your jaw --- provides the player with a more realistic perception of the sound coming out of the instrument.
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Author: Brenda Siewert
Date: 2003-01-27 15:30
I've a ton of money on mouthpieces in my search over the years for the "Holy Grail." After owning every type of Kaspar, several crystal and tons of hard rubber and ebonite, my Grenadilla wood Greg Smith is the one I use all the time for almost everything--from classical to jazz. The tone is smooth and rich and it has wonderful intonation.
Greg sent me several Rosewood and several Grenadilla wood mouthpieces to try. Mine is about a year and a half old now and it's still in wonderful condition with almost no special care. I have to say I'm really glad I got the wooden mouthpiece. It was worth every penney.
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Author: John gibson
Date: 2003-01-27 16:52
I have an old (maybe 100 years old) Buffet wooden MPC with the original wooden cap. It is probably the best MPC I have. AND I'm a crystal MPC nut! I have had no problems with it warping, losing it's facing or anything, and it blows very freely and intonation is excellent. Of course I'm using it on an R-13 so maybe the "match up" is not surprising.
John
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Author: d dow
Date: 2003-01-27 17:52
The few wooden mouthpieces I have tried (pomarico) have always felt strange or behaved oddly after abut 2 solid hours of playing(ie the reed behaves strange or tone loses flexibility). This is my very limited experience...
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Author: David Spiegelthal
Date: 2003-01-27 19:14
David Dow,
I think I know what you're talking about --- I felt something like this when my Pomarico was new --- my theory is that the mouthpiece hasn't fully 'broken in' and is still absorbing a lot of moisture while you're playing it, and perhaps swelling during the session. I've found that effect to gradually disappear with time, playing, and occasional oiling. Perhaps if you keep working with the mouthpiece a while the 'effect' will disappear for you also.
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