 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Gene
Date: 2005-06-21 00:35
Has anyone seen the new metal and rubber mpc's on e-bay comes in brass and silver just wondering what they would sound like, probably loud but what else?
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Author: jim lande
Date: 2005-06-21 02:58
The above links are all about old models made by know mpc makers. Some useful information, but does not address the specific question. Recently, someone has been offering part metal, part plastic jobbies that are made in China.
Chinese made instruments in general have not had a good reputation on this board. That said, a mouthpiece has no moving parts, and the Chinese are very good at producing molded parts in quantity. So the relevant question is whether the mouthpiece design is any good. I don't know, but I did read through the seller's feedback and folks seem to be satisfied.
I'd love to hear a review from someone who normally plays a top level or custom mpc.
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2005-06-21 13:40
I've seen but haven't tried the current Chinese-made half-metal clarinet mouthpieces on 'that auction site', but I have within the past year purchased some of the all-metal (nickel-plated brass) Chinese-made soprano, alto, and tenor sax mouthpieces from (I believe) the same source. Mine were stamped "Glodstar", making me believe they were supposed to say "Goldstar" and were mislabeled, then were put on the market as factory seconds and were picked up in quantity by someone who is reselling them individually. Just a theory.
Why did I buy them? Because I like metal mouthpieces on sax, these Chinese ones were cheap and not too badly made, and I'm a refacer who can make any mouthpiece work. The mouthpieces played 'fair to poor' as-received --- as expected all three of mine needed a complete refacing with some baffle work in order to play acceptably well. No surprise there. Given all that, I can really only recommend them to someone who can reface them or is prepared to have a refacer work on them post-purchase. Again, that's my experience with the comparable sax mouthpieces -- I haven't tried the clarinet version. Think of them as a decent, inexpensive metal 'blank' and you wouldn't be far off the mark.
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Author: Gene
Date: 2005-06-21 21:12
I may buy one in the future and have it sent directly to you I do want it loud for jazz .I also have a pomarico thats to narrow for me I like a 1.15 and it is a 1.06 so sometime in the future we will meet up>
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2005-06-21 21:21
Gene,
Sure -- please contact me off-line (so the riff-raff can't see how badly I gouge the gullible clarinet public). Mark/GBK, my apologies.......
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Author: Ken Mills
Date: 2005-06-22 02:26
Dear Gene; David Glazer, who was in the New York Woodwind Quintet, had a mpc with the silver inlay on the table and in the chamber that he showed to me when I saw him while I was in high school in the 1960s. But isn't the hard rubber more stable than even silver against twisting from temperature changes? Don't let it get stolen; as a doctor will tell you, to treat kleptomania one should take something for it. Get it? Ken
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2005-06-22 13:13
Back in the 1920s (maybe as late as 30s) there were quite a few mouthpieces made by both Frank Holton and Henton which had bodies of hard rubber (or sometimes Bakelite-type plastic material) with nickel-silver or silver inlays for the table and sometimes including the chamber and baffle. Most of these were made for saxophones, but I also have a Henton clarinet mouthpiece of such a design, with a reddish-brown hard rubber body and nickel-silver table/facing inlay. It came with an unplayably close tip opening, so I refaced it and silver-plated the metal parts --- it's now one of my very best classical clarinet mouthpieces. I haven't played it in extreme temperature or humidity conditions so I can't comment on the environmental stability of the design, but I really like the way it feels and plays (and looks!) and I wish we'd see more new mouthpieces designed like the Hentons.
The current Chinese offerings on the auction site(s) are, naturally, nothing new or original.
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Author: jim lande
Date: 2005-06-23 01:59
Does that sax mpc have markings that look a little like the H in Honda? I got one of those on eBay and wondered who made it and when. I'm using it (on a King alto that Dave S. completely rebuilt) and I like the tip opening. Note that I use much softer reeds than Dave, too. Go figure.
Oh, and I have been using clear plastic (or whatever) tenor sax reeds made by Bari. Better tone than using alto reeds. And I have yet to find an artifical reed that I can play on clarinet.
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2005-06-23 13:59
Jim, the Henton mouthpieces all have a large (Honda-like, yes) nickel-silver "H" on the top side --- that's probably what you've got.
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Author: glplank3ljr
Date: 2014-02-01 00:18
Recently I had purchased a Buescher saxophone from a fellow church member who threw in a Frank Holton Albert system clarinet. I had no real interest in the clarinet but the price was right. It took me a week to finally look at the horn and I began to clean it up and prepare it for a possible repad (hobby of mine). After removing the crusty reed that was stuck on the mouthpiece I noticed what looked like a metal interior (the exterior is black and I believe hard rubber). Lo and behold I had a patent pending Holton metal mouthpiece. I am a retired band director and never knew these existed. I cleaned and sterilized it and threw it on (with the other clarinet barrel) my Selmer clarinet. Unbelievably the sound was huge. It played very easily and is easily the best mouthpiece I have ever played on clarinet. I have not practiced clarinet this much in years or possibly ever (I am a sax player at heart). Now that will change because of this amazing mouthpiece.
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Author: Tony F
Date: 2014-02-01 08:14
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I picked up a partial-metal Zinner mouthpiece a few years back. It's grooved for a string ligature and has a fairly closed tip. I haven't measured it, but it's smaller than the next closest mouthpiece I have. It doesn't work very well for me and squeaks every chance it gets. It may have been made for German reeds. See pics.
Tony F.
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