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 Whats Up With Mouthpieces?
Author: Joseph 
Date:   2000-07-09 06:32

It seems like everyone on here prefer hand made mouthpieces to shelf-bought ones.Do they really make that much of a difference?I'm on a Vandoren M13,what would be a good brand to look for in a custom mp?? And last question,are they worth the money in the long run??

Merci Beaucoup,

Joe

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 RE: Whats Up With Mouthpieces?
Author: Hiroshi 
Date:   2000-07-10 02:13

Yes it does. I use a Gregory Smith Kasper style mouthpiece with Bonard inverted ligature. Although present Bonard needs a pench to fit the mouthpiece, it sounds marvelous.Marvelous results are:

1.Good core sound. Core sound come from the blank. It uses Zinner blank of Bavaria.
2.Articulation becomes very 'ariticulate' literally.
3.Sounds come up very easily.
4.Different tone comes different.
5.Overall: beautiful tones. Especially good for thick heel
reeds such as V12,Alexander Classic,Zonda,Marca Traditional,
and Rico Grand Concert Thich Blank. In short, Morre offsprings.

It may cost 3.5 to 4 times of off-the-shelf one, it does deserve it. Greg Smith also makes chedeville style ones with parallel or angular walls. It cost less. It is good too.

I also own a M13. It is good. I think my Greg Smith far better.

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 RE: Whats Up With Mouthpieces?
Author: Joseph 
Date:   2000-07-10 04:26

I've heard that those Kasper mouthpieces are quite spendy.Are there any custom models on the market that are similar?

Thanks,
Joseph

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 RE: Whats Up With Mouthpieces?
Author: Paul Lester 
Date:   2000-07-10 13:16

Joseph;

Both Greg Smith and Robert Borbeck make a Kaspar style mouthpiece. There are others also who make them in the Kaspar style. I've heard that Borbeck, many years ago, was an associate of Kaspar. Both of their address' are listed here on sneezy.com.

Cheers,

Paul

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 RE: Whats Up With Mouthpieces?
Author: paul 
Date:   2000-07-10 13:17

Joseph:

Try the Kaspar inspired second generation mouthpieces from Greg Smith or Robert Borbeck. I personally have a Borbeck 13 pro grade mouthpiece that was made to my specifications and expectations. Yes, this particular mouthpiece is way far from cheap, but I honestly believe you get what you pay for. This too uses a Zinner blank, extremely high quality stock. The finishing workmanship from Borbeck was absolutely first rate and he delivered within a week even during a huge holiday mailing rush.

Let me give you an adult novice's perspective on how much of a difference the Borbeck 13 mouthpiece has made for me on my premium pro grade clarinet. The produced tone went from pretty good to outstanding. The altissimo went from being a bit of a struggle to a fairly smooth transition. Even my highly critical wife (great sense of pitch as a good first soprano singer) noticed the difference when I played my clarinet with this mouthpiece the first time.

All of this came at a price. The Borbeck pro grade mouthpiece (versus student and intermediate grades of the same product) was about 4 times the price of the best etailer (mail order/Internet) price offer for an off the shelf Vandoren mouthpiece. However, now that I know the difference, I now believe that the Vandoren mouthpieces I have are between intermediate to pro grade. I believe I got what I paid for in ease of performance, quality of tone, and finally as a very long term investment.



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 RE: Whats Up With Mouthpieces?
Author: Willie 
Date:   2000-07-11 01:27

Even if you can't afford one of the top of the line custom MPs, there is still the hand faced student models to choose from. These, in my opinion, are still better than the off the shelf models and sometimes even cheaper in cost. I have three 5RVs here and all have different measurements. Check out some of the sponcers of sneezy.

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