 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Wayne
Date: 2001-02-12 00:09
I play an old Buffet "Evette" wooden clarinet with it's original mouthpiece. I believe the mouthpiece was modified. The name " Bob Mario" is inscribed as well as
what appears to me to be ".0455. Could anyone explain what this means, and, is this original plastic mouthpiece a medium, closed or open style mouthpiece. I'm interested in trying some mothpieces and wish to know exactly what I've been playing these past few years !! How do you go about knowing which mothpiece to try !!! There must be 50 different models to choose from. Thanks
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Author: Anji
Date: 2001-02-12 00:55
Hi Wayne,
This number, .0455" probably refers to the tip opening of .0455 inch or 1.16mm.
This is a 'Very Open' mouthpiece on many scales and is likely suited to a fairly soft reed. It is also possible that the length of the side rails has been altered.
What sort of reed are you now using?
The Vandoern 5RV 'lyre' is slightly less open, if you wanted to use a firmer reed.
I recommend Dave Spiegelthal's work, he's a regular poster on Sneezy. He does some refinishing, at reasonable prices. He is listed in the classified section under "Soprano clarinets".
I have a Spiegelthal special that I really like, that cost me less than $50!
He might send you a few to try, after you have a chat concerning your needs.
Be aware that this is a slippery slope you approach. I recommend you find something that is middle of the road, as a standard. I use the Vandy M13 profile 88 as a gauge by which to judge mouthpieces.
Don't be suckered into spending big bucks at first, check out the second-hand stuff and try before you buy.
anji
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Author: ojones
Date: 2007-02-11 06:24
Bob Mario was a studio musician in Hollywood. His moutpieces were used by a number of professionals in the LA area, including Kalman Bloch, principal clarinetist with the LA Philharmonic. Mr. Bloch recommended the mouthpieces to me, and I always thought they had a nice open, rich sound. Of course, that's just one reporter's opinion, but there were apparently lots of folks who bought them. I drove to Mr. Mario's house several times to buy these mouthpieces, and I always found him very supportive of young musicians. He had LOTS of stories to tell! I think I paid $50 each for them in the 70s.
Post Edited (2007-02-11 06:26)
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Author: Joel K.
Date: 2007-02-11 22:48
I play on a Bob Mario mouthpiece that I got from him at the same time that he overhauled my clarinet several years ago. I also paid $50.00. He did have great stories to tell about playing in the Disney Orchestra and other things. I still like the mouthpiece. He had a studio and workshop in one room of his house in North Hollywood. I tried to contact him again a while ago but he was no longer at the same phone number and I think he passed away.
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Author: donald
Date: 2007-02-12 01:38
don't get a new mouthpiece, just send your old one off to a mouthpiece craftsperson to get it looked at- see if it has warped etc over the years. Sometimes.... after years of use an old mouthpiece can still be symetrical and need no alteration. The best people will evaluate a mouthpiece, and tell you if they think nothing needs to be done....
donald
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Author: susieray
Date: 2007-02-12 22:19
A friend (and mouthpiece guy), Joe Chankin, who studied with Kalman Bloch back in the 1960's and knew Bob Mario personally has pages and pages of mouthpiece facing measurements that he's done for people written down in a little book that he has kept for years and years. Joe used to do mouthpieces for studio musicians in the L.A. area before he moved up here to the sticks in southern Oregon.
He just reworked a mouthpiece for a friend and used a Bob Mario facing on it. I did try it out, and it took a pretty soft reed, about a #2 or 2 1/2. I couldn't get much sound out of it with my # 3 1/2's but with the softer reed it had a nice big sound.
Sue
Post Edited (2007-02-14 04:24)
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Author: David Niethamer
Date: 2007-02-14 02:33
During my first few years in the Richmond Symphony, I played on one of these Mario mouthpieces. I bought one mail order, and at some point in the 1970's, actually went to his home in LA to pick out two, one of which I still own. He **DID** have great stories about Disney.
When I first came to Richmond, I did a little local recording. One of the things I found interesting about the Mario mouthpiece was that it was somewhat "one dimensional" sound-wise - not a lot of depth. It had a very sweet, focused sound, though. In recording commercial stuff, I always felt, no matter what mpc I used, that the depth of sound was lost in the recording. I've often wondered if Mario made a mouthpiece that reflected his type of playing work, and made it easier.
Eventually I gave up using the Mario in the RSO - even though I liked the sound, it wasn't a big enough orchestral sound most of the time.
David
David
niethamer@aol.com
http://members.aol.com/dbnclar1/index.html
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Author: mk
Date: 2007-02-14 02:54
You had me excited for a minute....thought we were going to discuss Kaspers....lol ...
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