 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: John Stackpole
Date: 2004-12-11 12:09
Is there a test for mouthpiece asymmetry, other than looking closely, or placing the mouthpiece on a flat (glass) surface and trying to slide pieces of paper under the edges, etc? Will an asym mouthpiece rock back and forth, or side to side, when placed face down on glass? Or do I get out my micrometer? Or one of those new laser levels from Black & Decker?
JDS
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Author: Synonymous Botch
Date: 2004-12-11 14:43
You can see it easily, with a flat piece of glass and a drop of water.
Clean the facing first.
Place a drop of water on the mouthpiece table, with the table facing up in your palm. Place the small (flat) piece of glass on the water drop and observe the side rails. Does the water reach the same extension on each side?
More water under the glass will reach further up the tip.
It's a rough guide, but quick.
For accuracy, get the Morgan measuring kit for $150.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2004-12-11 14:46
Just a quick note for our readers who might not know: some mouthpieces are designed to be asymmetrical (such as the Pyne), so just because it's uneven doesn't mean it's wrong!
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2004-12-11 15:09
Yes, a neat test, will try it. I have used papers of diff thicknesses to rough-measure [like shims?] the curve. My mp friend in Italy, Manfredo Cavallini, suggested that I send him a well used - good reed, so he could measure?? [my emb.?] and add A-symmetry to a glass refacing. Should have !! Ask some of the experts in the Yahoo MothpieceWork group. Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: GBK
Date: 2004-12-11 15:27
Assymetrical mouthpieces are usualy more open on the left side ...GBK
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Author: jim S.
Date: 2004-12-11 16:49
If a mouthpiece is asymmetrical, should the reed be adjusted differently (i.e., with not completely equal stiffness in each wing of the reed)?
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Author: Vytas
Date: 2004-12-11 17:25
JDS,
If I understand you correct you're trying to find out if your mouthpiece is crooked/warped. Mouthpiece asymmetry is applied to the facing. These are two different things.
The table on a mouthpiece with the asymmetrical facing is flat (or slightly concave in the middle) and will not rock back and forth, or side to side, when placed face down on glass. If it does then the mouthpiece is definitely warped and it's a bad thing.
I wouldn't call asymmetrical mouthpiece more open on one side because it's not related to that but rather to the length of the facing. The facing on one side is slightly longer that on the other.
GBK is correct it's usually done on the left side but it is not necessarily the rule.
I had the opportunity to measure many Kaspars and all of them had slightly asymmetrical facing here is example of one of them. (L - left rail. R- right rail).
L ....R
6 ....6
12+ ..12
23- ..22
35 ...34
Vytas Krass
Professional clarinet technician
Custom clarinet mouthpiece maker
Former professional clarinet player
Post Edited (2004-12-11 18:05)
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Author: John Stackpole
Date: 2004-12-11 18:03
No, I wasn't worried about "warped", but thanks. No "rocking" at all.
But your description of "asymmetric" now has me puzzled.
I thought it related to the degree of the curvature as you "travel" down the rails away from the flat table, toward the end. If one side curves away more than the other - which is what the "water-drop" test will show - that was "asymmetric" - more open at the tip on the side with the greater curvature.
But your description seems to imply that an asymetric m-p would have a _longer_ rail on one side than the other such that an imaginary line drawn across the end of the m-p (at the corners of the open area, the "wind-cut", say) would not be perpendicular to the central axis of the piece.
Perhaps this is all the same thing said in a different manner.
BTW, what are the units of your measurements?
JDS
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