 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: LEE
Date: 2000-08-18 20:27
I use a viotto mouthpiece with a zinner blank and I am hooked to that mouthpiece, and I just wanted to know is there anybody else out there who is as hooked to their zinner mouthpiece as I am and what do you think of the tone quality?
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Author: Henning
Date: 2000-08-18 20:37
I started with a bad cheap clarinet. It was a relief when I finally got my Yamaha. And everything even worked better with a new mp: A Hans Zinner raw with a Viotto N1 lay on it. I thought it was the best one in the world (it was at leat the best of eight ;-)
I played this one for years, tried other mp's now and then, but couldn't find any better. But now that I got a new set of A/Bb Clarinets (Leitner&Kraus). I got a new one from him, a G3, and it's really better (my old one was getting old...).
I'm really satisfied with his mp's ;-) I can produce a nice tone with them and the response is just marvellous.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2000-08-18 20:44
Please remember - it's much more the Viotto than the Zinner; many of the mouthpiece makers change the baffle and other parts of the mouthpiece. There's a lot more top a hand-crafted mouthpiece than just the facing!
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Author: Gregory Smith
Date: 2000-08-18 23:19
Mark Charette wrote:
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Please remember - it's much more the Viotto than the Zinner; many of the mouthpiece makers change the baffle and other parts of the mouthpiece. There's a lot more top a hand-crafted mouthpiece than just the facing!
*******************************************
Mark, I know Heinz Viotto very well and his mouthpieces are from the standard Zinner blank that is regularly made in the Zinner shop in Bavaria.
The Viotto is a machine faced mouthpiece. There is no hand crafting involved - unless you take into consideration that Vandoren claims their mouthpieces are "hand FINISHED" (the phrase that in my opinion I think Vandoren uses misleadingly in their advertising literature). Vandoren is strictly a machine made mouthpiece. Cosmetic touch-ups by hand at the end of the production line do not a hand crafted mouthpiece make.
Also, those of us handcrafters that use Zinner blanks have been unfairly and I think unprofessionally referred to in a patronizing way as simply "Zinner blank enthusiasists", especially by a certain prominent handcrafter (claiming that all we "enthusiasts" do is apply a facing). This statement is in the Klarinet archives for everyone to see - you can look it up.
For SOME of us this may be true.
I can only speak for myself but almost every aspect of the Zinner blank that I sell is controlled and handcrafted by me....the bore, chamber, facing, etc, etc. and I have developed a wide repertoire of tools of my own design including many reamers, files, etc. to make my mouthpiece my own.
It is time to make these facts well known to the mouthpiece playing and mouthpiece buying public. I am happy to be the one to correct the misinformation.
Gregory Smith
Mouthpiece Handcraftsman
Clarinetist - Chicago Symphony Orchestra
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2000-08-18 23:33
I stand corrected on the Viotto; I should have read their literature more carefully. They are very explicit:
"Q: Are any hand adjustments made to the Viotto mouthpiece facings or interiors?
A: No adjustments are needed or recommended. [...] "
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Author: Gregory Smith
Date: 2000-08-18 23:48
Mark, I hope it is understood that I was addressing a vast majority of my comments to the readers of this bulletin board re: the following post on the Klarinet remailer a year or so ago:
<br>
<br><A href=http://www.sneezy.org/Databases/Logs/1999/02/000804.txt><B> http://www.sneezy.org/Databases/Logs/1999/02/000804.txt</B></A>
<br>
<br>Gregory Smith
<br>***********************************************
<br>Mark Charette wrote:
<br>-------------------------------
<br>I stand corrected on the Viotto; I should have read their literature more carefully. They are very explicit:
<br>"Q: Are any hand adjustments made to the Viotto mouthpiece facings or interiors?
<br>
<br>A: No adjustments are needed or recommended. [...] "
<br>
<br>
<br>
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Author: Joris van den Berg
Date: 2000-08-19 00:38
I use a Vioto N1 on my Buffet RC. For me it's the best sounding and reacting mouthpiece i've found, it could be that there are much better mouthpieces around, but I haven't found them yet (and it is very much a matter of personal taste to, what is best for person a can be a hell to person b)
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Author: Gregory Smith
Date: 2000-08-19 01:22
Joris van den Berg wrote:
-------------------------------
I use a Vioto N1 on my Buffet RC. For me it's the best sounding and reacting mouthpiece i've found, it could be that there are much better mouthpieces around, but I haven't found them yet (and it is very much a matter of personal taste to, what is best for person a can be a hell to person b)
****************************************************
This is very interesting to me. The N1 model is a German (bore/facing/beak, etc.) mouthpiece as far as I know. How is it that it tunes or plays properly (compared to French mouthpieces) on the French clarinet? For that matter how does the tenon of your mouthpiece fit into the different sized tenon of the French barrel?
Gregory Smith
Evanston, Illinois.
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Author: LEE
Date: 2000-08-19 01:31
The only reason mine works to perfection is because I use a wurlizer clarinet.Mr smith is right because on my Buffet elite clarinet it does fit into the barrel but it always tend to play some were in the range of A442
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Author: Gregory Smith
Date: 2000-08-19 01:54
LEE wrote:
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The only reason mine works to perfection is because I use a wurlizer clarinet.Mr smith is right because on my Buffet elite clarinet it does fit into the barrel but it always tend to play some were in the range of A442
******************************************8
But I guess my question is what are the tuning ratios and tonal/response characteristics when playing a German mthpc. on a Buffet or any other French clarinet? They couldn't be as desireable as a French mouthpiece....
Gregory Smith
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Author: Joris van den Berg
Date: 2000-08-19 16:34
It's a specially adapted version to fit on a french instrument. I've used non-adapted german mouthpieces on French instruments too. Most of the time the tuning isn't that much affected. (allthough the overal tuning is lower because the mouthpiece doesn't fit alltogether into the barrel. The way the tuning is affected also depends on wich instrument you put is on. I think (but i haven't tried enough instruments to be sure) the larger the bore, the more trouble you get.
I'd like to find out more about the working of all this myself too. (And I think I'll trie to use it as a subject for my study (mechanical engineering, fluid/gas- dynamics)
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Author: Henning
Date: 2000-08-20 19:55
What types of reeds do you use on a "german" mp?
Just the french-cut Vandoren? The german reeds are broader than the french ones, so some people say, you can play fgerman reeds on a french mp, but not the other way round...
I have a german clarinet, MP and Reeds (Vandoren white master).
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Author: Pomarico
Date: 2000-08-22 08:42
Hi Sirs, Did you ever try Pomarico crystal german mouthpieces ?
Regards
Riccardo Clerici
Pomarico
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Author: bill
Date: 2000-08-24 00:13
I use a Gregory Smith facing1 mouthpiece (made from Zinner blank) and I love it! I think it has an excellent tone quality.
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