 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: inspiring musician
Date: 2005-12-27 14:11
I have narrowed it down to either a K-11 or K-13 that I would like to purchase. I know that this is a personal question, but which one did you seem to like the most. Also which model articulated the best while still remaining good intonation.
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Author: ghuba
Date: 2005-12-27 14:45
The K-14 is an exceptional mouthpiece. I have had one since right after their introduction about six months ago. It works exceptionally well with several vintage Selmer "jazz" (BT, CT, K) clarinets as well as more modern Selmer ones (Recital, Series 9 star, Series 10). Mr. Grabner is exceptionally knowledgable and easy to work with and at my request, matched one to the clarinets I intended to use it with.
If you look at Walter's web site, he very recently put up a chart that explains the differences between his various models. The K-14 is his most open Kaspar-style mouthpiece.
I own several "competing" mouthpieces that sell for about the same price, and this one has consistently been my favorite since purchasing it.
I tried a number of different reeds with the mouthpiece. The one I prefer is the Canyes Xilema which, although not widely available, can be found for purchase fairly easily from several sources with an Internet search engine.
George
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Author: Brenda Siewert
Date: 2005-12-27 15:21
I have the Grabner CXZ_14 and am very pleased with it. It's my second one because I bought one of his newly improved versions about a month ago. He will send you 2 to try. If you're between the two types, that's not a problem. He'll send one of each. Send him an email. He's a sponsor and very easy to reach. He'll probably email you right back today.
Greg Smith is also an excellent source for Kaspar type mouthpieces. He'll also send you several to try.
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Author: ned
Date: 2005-12-28 04:09
Are you an inspiring or maybe an aspiring musician?
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Author: ghuba
Date: 2005-12-28 12:32
Redwine's selection of Canyes Xilema reeds appears to be the best among the three U.S. sources for these reeds I have identified. There are several qualities of these reeds available (Professional which is what everyone sells; Artesana which are hand-finished and selected ones that cost about 20% more per box of 10). So far as I can tell only Redwine carries the higher-quality Artesana variety reeds. According to Ben, there are actually several variants of these reeds available that differ slightly in how they are manufactured and Mr. Redwine actually selects the manufacturing method so as to sell the variant that he believes yields 9 or 10 excellent reeds per box of 10. My experience has been that virtually all of the reeds are excellent. The standard Professional series reeds are also excellent and virtually every reed in a box works well exactly as it comes out of the wrapper.
Mr. Redwine is -- as always -- very helpful in selecting the correct strength of the reeds and usually gets back to you by email with answers to questions within a very short period of time. Ben moved me to a different strength reed that worked even better than the strength I had originally selected.
While not inexpensive, the yield on a box of these is VERY high and the individual reeds seem to last much longer than some less expensive, more mass market brands. On a cost per good-reed-day basis, these reeds are bargains.
George
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Author: ghuba
Date: 2005-12-28 12:39
Grabner's mouthpiece sounded great with several standard, "common-brand" reeds that I tried. With the Xilema's, it sounded amazing.
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