 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2004-04-23 20:18
I recently got some money so out of curiousity I tried out the Roger Garett Bb mouthpieces. He has three models, the K is based off the Ann Arbor kaspar. They are also handfaced. I tried them through WWBW.
I tried them all out (K, DL, and D facings). The K is supposedly the closest to the Ann Arbor Kaspar mouthpieces. The D has a larger tip opening than the K and also has a deeper baffle and a longer table (I found it too resistant). The DL is a combination of the first and second with the same facing as the K and the baffle of the D.
I found two of the three to be virtually unplayable for me (they all take about 3.5 V12 reeds, which is what I use on my other mouthpieces so I figured I should be ok to test them, but two seemed WAY too resistant and stuffy). The third wasn't that bad to me at all. Good sound, good controllability, good all around, except it seemed to lose it's controllability and had a very harsh sound in the low chalemeau.
But for 50 bucks, I'd say it's definitely worth trying out along with those inexpensive vandorens. If you're willing to shell out fifty bucks to test a B45, I'd say there's no reason not to put THESE on that try-out list.
However Roger Garrett himself doesn't allow returns so if you want to test them with the option of being able to return them, I'd use a mail order catalogue. But in order to BUY them I'd suggest going to him (since the WWBW might have used mouthpieces that possible could have been damaged or refaced and maybe WWBW didn't see it after the return. Then they might try to sell you this as "new" since noone has officially bought it in all this time). I'll make another post on this as well to clarify this statement.
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
Post Edited (2004-06-10 21:56)
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Author: glin
Date: 2004-04-26 04:03
Just another reminder that not all mpcs are the same and folks may react to a mpc differently. Some may want that extra resistance, for example.
In one of my community bands, a very good clarinetist plays on a Garrett and he sounds great. I also know of a clarinetist that plays the Buffet mpc that came with her R13. She doesn't seem to need a new mpc from the way she plays. Go figure.
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Author: icecoke12
Date: 2004-04-26 04:35
glin wrote:
> In one of my community bands, a very good clarinetist plays on
> a Garrett and he sounds great. I also know of a clarinetist
> that plays the Buffet mpc that came with her R13. She doesn't
> seem to need a new mpc from the way she plays. Go figure.
Who knows... maybe they may sound even better on other mouthpieces... =p
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2004-04-26 14:50
Quote:
> In one of my community bands, a very good clarinetist plays on
> a Garrett and he sounds great. I also know of a clarinetist
> that plays the Buffet mpc that came with her R13. She doesn't
> seem to need a new mpc from the way she plays. Go figure.
Who knows... maybe they may sound even better on other mouthpieces... =p lol. That's the beauty/curse of the mouthpiece! You just NEVER KNOW!!!!!
There are professionals who use the same mouthpiece forever (Mr. Stanley Drucker), and there are probably professionals who try new ones EVERY week always trying to find that 'perfect' one. Those who will record something in the morning on one mouthpiece and play a concert that evening on another!
What a blast it is to try them out and have fun, right?
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2004-06-10 22:02
I'm sort of "bumping" this thread since I was contacted by someone who read it and took it the wrong way. I then realized that I made a few crucial mistakes in the 'facts' presented above and also used a wrong choice of words. So I edited the above review to make it clearer and to correct the incorrect information I had previously presented. Plus, if anyone had read this and taken it the wrong way, now they KNOW that it's been corrected.
Brief list of corrections
1) Corrected some dimensions
2) Corrected that the K is the ONLY mouthpiece based off the Ann Arbor Kaspar.
3) Tried to make sure that it was not intended as a negative review as I don't view these mouthpieces negatively. I think they're nice. I just didn't like them better than my primary and secondary.
4) Changed comparing them to "cheap" vandorens to "inexpensive" vandorens. I realizes after the email that 'cheap' was taken in the way of "quality" instead of "cost" as I meant.
Thanks for listening (again). Hope I've righted the wrongs that I previously wrote.
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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