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 german mouthpieces....?
Author: Sang1Lee 
Date:   2008-04-13 12:38

if you were to use german mouthpiece on a french system.. what would happen?

would you have to get a longer barrel too?

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 Re: german mouthpieces....?
Author: Alphie 
Date:   2008-04-13 13:46

Viotto makes German mps for French system. What he is doing and I think it works for all Gmps, is that he makes it 2 mm shorter and the tenon is turned down to fit the socket of the barrel. I use it since two years and it's the best mp i've ever had.

Alphie

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 Re: german mouthpieces....?
Author: Liquorice 
Date:   2008-04-13 16:07

Which facing do you have Alphie? And do you use German reeds?

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 Re: german mouthpieces....?
Author: Paul Aviles 
Date:   2008-04-13 18:37

Let's say just for the fun of it that you take an honest-to-goodness German mouthpiece (let's say designed for an Oehler system Wurlitzer) and make the tennon small enough to fit into a French system clarinet.

Because the overall volume of air (and length of that tube) would be shorter, the higher notes at the top of the horn (second space "A" down to second line "G" ) would be particularly high. After that would find internal disparities of pitch that could not possibly be fixed with a mere lengthening of the barrel. There really is a minimum volume of air that is not met by the dimensions of the German mouthpiece in this scenario. It boils down to physics.

You would find the same problem using a standard French mouthpiece on a clarinet designed with the Boosey and Hawkes Symphony 1010 bore. Since these clarinets need a cylindrical bore mouthpiece there is yet again in this example too little volume of air to create the intonation characteristics called for in the design.



..................Paul Aviles

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 Re: german mouthpieces....?
Author: Alphie 
Date:   2008-04-13 22:49

Liquorice, I’m using the model N1+2. The length of the facing is 23mm and the tip opening is 1.02 mm. I’m using White Master 4½.

Paul, according to the information I got from Bas de Jong who is the manufacturer of Viotto, the model N1+2 that I’m using is an honest-to-goodness German mouthpiece. Exactly the very same mouthpiece is a popular model among German clarinet players with the only difference that in their case it’s 2mm longer.

I respect physics enough to fully understand what you mean, but reality is funny sometimes. I’m not skilled in physics myself and I only briefly understand the theories behind this, but having said that I must say that I’ve had no intonation problems that I can refer to the mouthpiece. The notes have a good centre with enough flexibility for corrections. Not as flexible as French style mps however so some corrections like 7ths and 3rds I sometimes do with the fingers.

It would be interesting to do some tests with other German mps that I have and shorten them by two mm to see if that would work. Maybe some day if time allows it.

Alphie

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 Re: german mouthpieces....?
Author: donald 
Date:   2008-04-17 21:17

I have always believed that the difference in bore etc would create tuning problems, but yesterday played all day using a Wurlitzer K4 Reform Boehm mouthpiece on my Buffet R13. The tuning was in fact slightly better than with various Zinner Blank mouthpieces... except for altissimo notes- that were flatter than usual (there always seems to be a trade off).
I have two older Wurlitzer mouthpieces (hard rubber, probably of 1960s or early 1970s vintage) that have German bore but are designed to be played with a French style reed/facing. These do NOT play well in tune on either my French or Wurlitzer RB clarinets... The lower register is uniformly flat to a degree that it is impossible to compensate for. I have never tried them on an Oehler system clarinet, but assume that is what they were intended for.
dn

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 Re: german mouthpieces....?
Author: Alphie 
Date:   2008-04-18 16:53

Correction!! According to Mr. Viotto the difference is one mm, not two as I metioned before. And Bas de Jong is not the manufacturer, he's a distributor and a retaylor of Viotto mouthpieces.

Alphie

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