 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: icecoke12
Date: 2004-04-27 05:22
Just wondering...
Does Eddie Daniels ever use the mouthpiece handcrafted by the Hans Zinner company with his name on it, or Larry Combs use the LC1/LC3 mouthpiece produced by the Woodwind company, or Pete Fountain use the Pete Fountain crystal mouthpieces....
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Author: OpusII
Date: 2004-04-27 06:30
I'm glad that there are other people who have this question... they claim to have great mouthpieces, but I’ve never seen a single one.. Does anybody play them actually?
I’ve just order some test models and will let you now what I thought of them..
Eddy
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Author: Synonymous Botch
Date: 2004-04-27 12:54
Does anyone believe endorsers on Television adverts actually use the product? Do you believe any of the Top Dogs just pull item X off the shelf?
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Author: msroboto
Date: 2004-04-27 13:41
No but I believe that these endorsers are paid and in the case of musical equipment you might reasonably expect that the person has seen and at least tried the gear. I understand they may not play it all the time.
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Author: icecoke12
Date: 2004-04-27 13:42
Actually, I will also be interested to know if mouthpiece makers actually play and perform on their own mouthpieces.
Do anyone knows what mouthpieces do those custom mouthpiece makers use? If they play on their own mouthpiece, it will be interesting to know which model they use too....
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Author: BobD
Date: 2004-04-27 14:23
Since when is anyone supposed to believe advertising? On the other hand, all great athletes eat Wheaties.
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Author: William
Date: 2004-04-27 14:44
Regarding Larry Combs, during his IMS clinic several years ago, he said he had discontinued playing his own signiture LeBlanc mpcs (LC 1,2 & 3s) because of "production problems". At that time, he said he was playing a mouthpiece that Richard Hawkins made "especially for" him on a Zinner blank. He may very well be currently playing a Greg Smith product given that they are collegues in the CSO and Greg's mouthpiecies are magnificient.
However, LC would most probably sound the same no matter whose mouthpiece was on his clarinet--and this has been covered extensively before so....
Greg Smith, BTW, says that he plays on one of his own mouthpiecies.
Santy Ruynon told me in Chicago that he "never played on a mouthpiece that he didn't make".
And I have personal knowledge that Charles Bay uses his own stuff, as does Bernard Portnoy.
As a consumer, I would always be suspicious of the food made by a cook who did not eat at his own resturant.
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2004-04-27 14:47
Even if a player actually plays his endorsed 'product', so what? First of all, a name player will be offered a chance to try out dozens and dozens of the best hand-picked instruments or mouthpieces a manufacturer has to offer --- an opportunity we small people will probably never get. Secondly, it's certainly not a 'given' that a mouthpiece (for example) that works great for Ricardo Morales will work well (or at all!) for you or me --- everybody's different. It's all about money (for them) --- forget about that --- try everything you can, buy what works well for YOU.
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Author: Bellflare
Date: 2004-04-27 15:11
I dont have a mouthpiece named for me,
BUT my BELL Flares...and I endorse it highly
Bellflare
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Author: Tom J.
Date: 2004-04-27 17:09
A Cioffi student told me this story about a routine Gino would use with every new student :
At the students first lesson he would tell them "What sa matta wit your sound. You need a special-a mout-peece-a. Made-a special for your embooch !!".
The student would fork over some bucks a wait for the next shipment of Cioffi crystal mouthpieces from O'Brien. Finally a few dozen would arrive in a big box and Cioffi would display them in his studio. The student comes in anxiously awaiting his custom made mouthpiece and asks which one is his. Cioffi then says "take any one, they all-a the same".
How come Richard Stolzman doesn't have a mouthpiece endorsement ??
Post Edited (2004-04-27 17:24)
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Author: Cliff Scale
Date: 2004-04-27 17:59
I studied with John Yeh for several years and at that time he liked for most of his students to play on the Vandoren M13 lyre. I have found it to be very consistant in all regesters and a good mouthpiece for orchestral playing. Thanks for the question!! I often wondered about the player who endorsed his mouthpiece!!!
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Author: Grabnerwg
Date: 2004-04-27 18:06
I am hardly a famous player, but I play on all my own mouthpieces. I still laugh when a colleague says "Hey, that sounds good, what mouthpiece are you playing on?" Like, why would I buy someone else's mouthpiece when I can make my own?
Seriously, my quest for making continual improvement in mouthpiece design is tied in with my desire to improve as a clarinetist. They are one and the same.
Walter Grabner
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2004-04-27 18:12
I think Stoltman pretty much endorses the work of Opperman...
David Dow
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Author: Gregory Smith ★2017
Date: 2004-04-27 18:41
Bellflare said:
"Greg Smith says that Combs uses a Smith mouthpiece."
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Not true. I can't recall having said that at all. He had purchased some from me but I never said that he played them himself.
Gregory Smith
PS. I do play my own facing #1, Chedeville style mouthpiece.
Post Edited (2004-04-27 18:48)
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Author: Clarinetist
Date: 2004-04-27 19:09
I have heard that Richard Hawkins plays with his own mouthpiece, although I´m not entirely sure what model. It´s probably model "B".
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2004-04-27 20:28
Another element that has to be taken with a grain of salt insofar as "mouthpiece endorsement" is concerned is that alot of the top flite players will play on a facing that may be adjusted or refaced depending on what they desire from a mouthpiece. ....example'
a Kaspar 13 mouthpiece which has ...been done(reface) by Evertt Matson for refacing may make it play quite different from what it was new!
Harold Wright had his Chedeville Lelandais refaced a few times in the run of his career and this to improve the deadened response that an older mouthpiece can have after years of usage. He also felt that knowing when his mouthpiece needed it was in the response and flexibility...
In terms of saying Joe X uses a B facing and therefore I want to sound like Mr. X...well using his B facing may yeild an entirely different sound then what Mr. X gets from his B facing!
You have to rather vigilant and open to trying things which yeild different results....there is alot of stock in taking your time and spend time thinking about what you like in a mouthpiece and how best to get the ease of sound emission into your normal technique. Techniuqe is important too..
Fads are something which tend to work against great playing...I also find the mouthpiece makers on the BB to be excellent and very knowlegable...
David Dow
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Author: William
Date: 2004-04-28 14:28
Two stories that I have heard which may be pertinent to this dicussion.....
Daniel Bonade (legendary player and teacher) on mouthpiece selection:
Take all of your mouthpieces to the middle of a lake, select one (from the pile) and throw the rest overboard. Then go back to shore and learn how to play it.
(BTW--D. Bonade also had a mouthpiece he endorsed as well as THE legature which bears his name)
Whenever Artie Shaw required a new mouthpiece, he would go into a music store, buy whatever was available and then reface it until it played that way he wanted it to. And what a sound he had.......Incidentally, Johnny Carson interveiwed Artie on the Tonight Show a few years ago and asked him if "he would ever play again". Artie replied "NO!" It would take at least "two months to get my sound back". And he went on to say that (for him) it would take too much work to maintain it and no longer worth the effort because he had done all he had "wanted to do with the clarinet". But it seems that his "sound" was really in his head (mental concept) rather than in his specific equipement.
Bottom line: the great players are *great* because of the way they play, not because of what they play. But, they all need money which is the great motivator for "endorsements".
(And we clarinetists are so loose with our $$$ when it comes to "new" or "who")
Post Edited (2004-04-28 14:30)
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Author: Hank Lehrer
Date: 2004-04-28 16:04
Hi,
As I have said several times in posts on this BB, I still play my orignal Portnoy BP02 (never been touched by a refacer and never will be) and when trying other mouthpieces, still graviate back to that MP. However, I fear the day when an accidental drop might end that "trusted old friend's" days. While I have several other BP02s in the stable, none are quite as good.
I have had good results from Stowell Wells Schneider 2s and Buffet C and C Crown as well as some older VD 2RVs. I do this little shuffle as a defense against the drop. However, if the dreaded event happens, I will be on the horn immediately with both Gregory Smith and Walter Grabner for recommendations (it is very cool that they lurk on this BB and often chime in). It is hard to believe that I can get any better results than I do with the Portnoy I am using (I am a doubler also which might be part of the reason)
HRL
PS But it is fun to mess about trying mouthpieces, reeds, and ligatures.
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Author: graham
Date: 2004-04-28 17:05
When I was a kid (in the 70s) Jack Brymer endorsed some mouthpieces. Just as they were about to be released onto the market I happened to be playing in an amateur concert in which he played (you've guessed it) the Mozart Concerto. We spoke about this and that, including his forthcoming mouthpieces. His expression became very severe, and he said he had tried a batch of ten of them only that week, and had sent them all back because they could hardly be played on. He gave the impression of a person who wished he had not signed up to the agreement!
I don't know if he ever switched to his own named mouthpiece, but I don't think they sold too many either (perhaps he pulled it in the end).
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2004-04-28 17:14
Yes. Sometimes these things can happen....these types of events are the price of being sucessful...
I never had much use for the Combs and Marcellus pieces put out by Woodwind. Co...
they never had the voice of finer hand made piieces. Generally they are all pretty bad, with about less than 10 percent of them pro level.
However, I do know of a few of the LC 3 pieces which were pretty good...this was a rather rare case!
David Dow
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Author: Rick Williams
Date: 2004-04-29 11:54
I don't know about the others, but I've spoken to Daniels and he says he plays his own siganture MP. I've had several discussions with him while working out the details for a clinic he's doing in my neck of the woods and he strikes me as someone who believes in his endorsements.
Best
Rick
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