Author: Philip Caron
Date: 2008-07-24 21:10
After having used my stock Buffet mouthpiece for years, I went to a shop and tried a dozen mouthpieces, my first such visit. The one I selected was a Vandoren M13 Lyre. I felt my tone was improved, and there seemed to be a lot of flexibility available for colorings and further improvements.
However, once I began using it, after about 3/4 hour I would get the exact symptoms you describe. It was bafflling. I stuck with it, and finally discovered that stronger reeds tended to avoid this. However, I doubt that was the whole story. I tend toward what I suspect others would term "biting". After 3/4 hour, my embouchure was getting a little fatigued, and I think that led toward biting harder, which seemed to make the problem worse.
The M13 Lyre has significantly narrower side rails than my old mouthpiece, so I think the center of the reed was actually sort of folding longitudinally, with the consequence that a portion of the tip was contacting the end rail. That's my explanation for the seizing up that I experienced. Being not an expert, that may be hogwash, but there it is.
Incidentally, I advise you not to get mad enough to really bite the reed in an blood-lust attempt to destroy it, while it is attached to the mpc. Teeth are evidently quite harder than mouthpiece stuff, and they will leave tooth marks in one as deep as you wish - or deeper.
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