 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: jane84
Date: 2007-02-06 11:26
Hi!
I'm playing the Eb in a sinfonietta project next week. I've finally manged to borrow one, but I decided to get my own mouthpiece and such.
Now, our local music shop here could order one for me, but only if I paid for that one - no possibilities to try anything beforehand, and even worse: For some reason they could only get me a B45 or a 5RV lyre... I haven't played much Eb before, and as mentioned, my embouchure isn't to good...which do you think I should get?
-jane
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Author: Merlin
Date: 2007-02-06 12:58
Vandoren only makes B44, 5RV and B40 eefer mouthpieces AFAIK.
All of them will work, when matched with an appropriate reed. More important right now, is to get a setup and get practicing. Don't worry about whether it's the "perfect setup"...you just need to get some degree of comfort in a short time.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2007-02-06 13:05
I reckon the 5RV is probably the best bet - I've got both a B44 and bought a 5RV more recently, and for me the 5RV is definitely the easier one to get on with.
But I do prefer close facing mouthpieces on clarinet.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: Ed
Date: 2007-02-06 13:16
If you were ordering, you might consider looking into the Hite Eb mouthpiece, which is a great playing mouthpiece. Much better than the Vandorens in my experience. Some of the on line shops have it, you could have it in a couple of days.
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Author: bufclar
Date: 2007-02-06 14:37
The Vandoren 5rv is a good choice. It works really well for me. Buy a box of Vandoren White Masters 3 or 3 and a half and you should have a decent setup that should serve you well and it wont cost you an arm and a leg.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2007-02-06 15:25
And if you're using White masters, you may need to chop off a bit from the end of the heel if they're too long.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: Ed
Date: 2007-02-06 16:09
Sorry, I didn't look at your address! (although I know that some have had luck with US mail Global Express shipping taking only a few days) :-)
Post Edited (2007-02-06 16:11)
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Author: jane84
Date: 2007-02-06 16:57
Heh, sure, I was just wondering. But eh, *looking at the floor, scraping my feet*, what are White Masters? What does the box look like?
I found a B44 that I got to try, and was told it was a good beginner's mp, so maybe I'll take that. Now if only the proper ligature will arrive from Oslo soon...
Oh, btw, you may have heard (of) the piece: Varese's "Octandre". Pretty..rytmical.
-jane
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2007-02-06 17:05
'White Master' reeds are Vandoren's German cut reeds ('Black Master' reeds are designed for Austrian mouthpieces) - they're narrower and shorter than French Bb clarinet reeds, roughly the same width as an Eb reed but slightly longer, and they work well on Eb.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
Post Edited (2007-02-06 17:06)
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Author: D
Date: 2007-02-06 18:54
If the ligature doesn't arrive you could always use a bit of string or a shoe lace. There was a conversation not so long ago about all the daft things people had tried. Thing is,....most of them seemed to have worked!
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Author: Tony Beck
Date: 2007-02-07 13:09
Mouthpieces on Eb clarinets seem to be a lot more variable than on Bb. I currently have three Eefers (Noblet, Kohlert and Fischer) and their intonation, response and especially resistance are widely different. The Noblet likes a refaced B44. The others work much better with a refaced Woodwind Co. mouthpiece. I have another mouthpiece that plays beautifully, but have yet to find an instrument that will play in tune while using it!
The B44 came with the Noblet, and was a monster before refacing. It was far more open than the Vandoren specification said it ought to be, which made it very resistive, even with #2 reeds. At its best it sounded airy with no tone center at all, and response was terrible. It was probably a runt, but that shows the danger of sampling only one mouthpiece. The good news is that I played the instrument with that mouthpiece in the store, and the salesman could plainly hear how bad it was, so I got the horn for half price! Most of the problem was that awful mouthpiece.
Also, every eefer I’ve owned came with a barrel that was poorly designed and too short.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2007-02-07 14:20
I was lucky that my old R13 Eb came with two barrels - the original one that was split (and now pinned) and a replacement that was shorter.
But not long after I had it all up and running I bought a longer barrel from Malcom Martland which is a gem, and the one I use full time with it.
Cheers Malcolm.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: mk
Date: 2007-02-08 01:56
how dare you ruin a good cigar by chopping it off!
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Author: super20dan
Date: 2023-05-12 02:11
the hite is indeed a very good efeer mpc. i bought 2 for the price of one and both play exactly the same.
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Author: lmliberson
Date: 2023-05-12 04:40
super20dan said:”the hite is indeed a very good efeer mpc.”
Well…for you. I pretty much hated it when I tried it.
But reading that reference to David Hite (and his mouthpieces) brought to mind
(what little of it there is!) a story/incident:
In the very early 1980's, David Hite published a little newsletter. He used
this primarily as an advertising vehicle, but he also informed all of us
about recent openings, positions filled, etc., with an added emphasis on
those who played on his equipment (naturally!).
As I had an audition coming up, I was interested in obtaining one of his
E-flat clarinet mouthpieces...After all, with all the superlatives attached
to it, how could I fail? I was not what you might call a real experienced
E-flat player at the time, so any and all assistance was more than welcome!
I called David Hite, wrote him, sent him my money (of which there wasn't
much!) and waited...and waited...and called...and inquired...and still
waited...and still no mouthpiece!
Finally, the mouthpiece arrived--two days before the audition! I may have
believed in miracles, but I wasn't *that* naive to even *try* it. What I
was using seemed to be just fine, thank you!
So I took the audition without that brilliant superior mouthpiece of my
dreams...and won the audition anyway!
About three days later, I received a phone call from (guess who?) David
Hite. He had called one of my (future) colleagues to inquire as to the
results of the audition so he could include it in his newsletter. He then
called me, was very gracious in hs congratulations and then asked:
"Did you use my mouthpiece for the audition?"
I then informed him that the mouthpiece only came just before the audition
and I wasn't about to screw around with new equipment at that time.
His response:
"Gee, if I knew what you needed it for, I would have gotten it to you much
sooner."
Yeah, right!
Anyway, I tried the mouthpiece the following week...and put it back in it's
box, the only benefit derived being a miniscule tax write-off. I had that job until my retirement last summer following 41 years in the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and David Hite's incredible E-flat clarinet mouthpiece thankfully is no longer on the premises.
End of story!
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Author: super20dan
Date: 2023-05-12 06:39
i have had nothing but positative experiences with all of his mpcs. both sax and clarinet. its unfortuante you had a less than stellar experience with his . babbit mpc co is making and selling his line of mpcs now. i dont know if my eflat mpcs are old enough to be hite hand made or babbit mass produced . but i do know a good mpc when i play one . any how congrats to you for winning and keeping your position for 41 yrs. playing eb well takes real talent. even with good equiptment.
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Author: pukalo
Date: 2023-05-12 09:48
Not E-flat sopranino clarinet, but I have the Hite alto clarinet mouthpiece and it is great, the best part about it is that the mouthpiece is designed to be able to accept both true alto clarinet reeds as well as alto saxophone reeds, which saves a lot of trouble on buying reeds. Using alto sax reeds on my previous vandoren B44 made playing the instrument somewhat more difficult, idk how to describe it really.
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Author: graham
Date: 2023-05-12 15:09
I have recently been considering a problem connected with my (old) Uebel boehm Eflat. My Selmer mouthpiece sounds great but the tuning is challenging. My Buffet mouthpiece (which appears to have been altered) plays better in tune, but has less good tone. I have written during the last week to the current Uebel to ask whether the historical instruments were of German bore and thus in need of a different mouthpiece design, but have yet to hear back from them.
If anyone has any ideas I would be very interested.
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