 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Ron Jr.
Date: 2004-08-20 21:23
While cruising this fine Bulletin Board I saw the ad for Peter Eaton clarinets. I had heard about these instruments so I was curious.
I checked out the website and I scrolled down to the export prices. The full price for a mouthpiece is a whopping $432 and the paid in full price is $388.
Part of the high cost certainly could be the weak dollar and the strong pound, and part is the high cost of English rents. But what is the last part: exceedingly high workmanship?
Does anyone play a PE mouthpiece and are you exceedingly satisfied with your purchase?
Ron Jr.
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Author: RAMman
Date: 2004-08-20 21:29
I've played them...but not bought one.
They're just as expensive over here (in the UK...) mind you, as you said you have to bear in mind the strength of the pound as a currency.
I play a James Pyne...that cost me £250 about 3/4 years ago, when they were new in this country, and I make that about $400. That certainly is the best mouthpiece I have ever used...so you do get what you paid for.
I think with Mr. Eaton you pay for his service...certainly when I have tried clarinets and mouthpieces he has been EXTREMELY helpful, and from the looks of his workshops he really does put alot of work into each new creation...with his team of course.
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Author: jo.clarinet
Date: 2004-08-21 05:49
I play on a Peter Eaton mpc (I have one of his Elite clarinets) and am very happy with it.
I agree with RAMman about the good service from him - I spent ages at his house trying out clarinets and mouthpieces, and he and his wife couldn't have been more helpful.
Joanna Brown
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Author: donald
Date: 2004-08-21 07:47
this has been discussed before on this board.... i have never seen a Peter Eaton mouthpiece i'd consider playing in public, but other players (and not just Britts) have made positive comments. It's possible that the examples i have seen were older ones (as they came with clarinets bought in the early 1990s) and that his design etc has improved since then. Or just that we all like something different.
the Peter Eaton clarinets are an example of fabulous craftsmanship. I have never played the smaller bored models, but can say that the wide bore clarinets are very fine examples of..... wide bore clarinets.
i'd jump at the chance to try out a PE small/french/american bore clarinet
donald
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2004-08-21 15:58
I have a few freinds in the UK who have said very positive things about Peter Eaton mouthpieces..I remember Sharon Kam telling me she uses them and has no trouble with the way they sound.
David Dow
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Author: graham
Date: 2004-08-23 08:02
It is worth recalling that Peter Eaton started as a mouthpiece maker and moved on to making clarinets only when B&H threw in the towel. So the early PE mouthpieces are the ones on which his reputation was initially built.
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2004-08-23 21:44
Actually, Peter Eaton started as a player, and then became a mouthpiece maker and then an instrument maker. At the 1984 Clarinet Congress in London, he had just established himself as a mouthpiece maker and already had prototype clarinets.
His mouthpieces were very consistent (due, he said, to a computerized manufacturing process). I got one (for about $65, as I recall) and played it for a couple of years. It has excellent intonation and a fine tone (very "clarinetty" my wife says), but I eventually switched because I found it difficult to make more than one sound with it.
Unless his mouthpieces have improved greatly since then, or you need one because an Eaton clarinet won't play with anything else, I think $432, or even $388, is too high.
Best regards.
ken Shaw
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2004-08-23 22:03
Ken,
His mouthpieces are expensive, and I've never tried one so I won't comment on how good they are --- but consider the outrageous sums of money people pay for old Kaspar mouthpieces, half of which I'd venture to guess don't play very well at all.
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2004-08-24 00:03
David -
Agreed, but comparing the prices with those for mouthpieces that are available today, the only ones that come close are those from Bay, which, IMHO, are also way overpriced.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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Author: graham
Date: 2004-08-24 08:34
OK OK. Peter Eaton started as a professional clarinettist. I assumed everyone knew that.
With regards to the mouthpieces he must have started making those around 1980, or perhaps earlier. Quite a while before doing clarinets. He then started making the Elite, and at that stage actually discontinued some lines of clarinet mouthpiece so he could concentrate on the instrument (which of course, required only a 1010 mouthpiece). I know this because I once phoned him up to enquire about a non-1010 mouthpiece, and he said he didn't do them because he had stated only making clarinets and the relevant mouthpieces for those. Some while later he started the International, and presumably, makes mouthpieces for those.
I do not know what his mouthpieces are like now. They were very well thought of around 1980.
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Author: Wodkowski
Date: 2004-08-25 20:45
I have played Peter Eatons clarinets for some time now. I use the International model, and have experimented with the mouthpieces. Peter is truly a wonderful craftsman and cares deeply about the quality of his instruments and mouthpieces.
His mouthpieces are quite good, they are very popular in Europe. Peter makes a wide variety of facings and chambers, so your're bound to find something comfortable. The one drawback I had was having trouble with the pitch- they tune extremely high.
Peter is also the most consistent maker I've seen, play a number of the same model mouthpiece and they all feel identical to the next.
I highly recommend trying his products, they are IMHO of a much higher quality than anytyhing else made today. I for one love his clarinets, they are a bit pricey, but well worth it in my book.
Post Edited (2004-08-25 21:39)
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Author: tsmith
Date: 2004-08-26 02:20
I was able to meet Peter Eaton and his wife Joanna on a trip to London last year, and I would agree that he is very helpful, detail-oriented, and proud of his work on both the mouthpieces and clarinets. I did not end up purchasing one of his clarinets, but I did keep one of his mouthpieces, and I love it. He pointed out some defects that were present on my Borbeck mouthpiece, and selected one that was similar in "feel", but which I think plays much better.
Incidentally, they live in a quaint little village called Effingham, just south of London. I might end up getting one of his clarinets if I have a chance to try out more in the future, but there don't seem to ever be more than one or two to try.
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