 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 1999-03-18 02:30
Hard rubber is thermo-plastic material.Each mouthpiece manufacturer buys "blanks" from blanks manufacturers,such as Chadaville or Zinner.The mouthpiece table should be surfaced very flat after thermally formed.Recently,mass-produced mouthpieces seem lacking in this procedure,which will cost money.This is my understanding.
With this background,I would like to post a question of tabel flatness.I read somewhere that perfect flatness does not necessarilly lead to good tones.Some people are fond of very,very slight convex on the table.I wondered why.If somebody can clear up my doubt,I would appreciate that.This is my 20 years question not solved.
TIA
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 1999-03-18 11:54
Hiroshi wrote:
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With this background,I would like to post a question of tabel flatness.I read somewhere that perfect flatness does not necessarilly lead to good tones.Some people are fond of very,very slight convex on the table.I wondered why.
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There's a couple of postings about this in the Klarinet archives. Basically, it allows the table to act as a "springboard", possibly aiding reed vibration.
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Author: Dave Spiegelthal
Date: 1999-03-18 14:26
I believe that a reason some mouthpiece refacers put a slight concavity (dip) in the table is to accommodate reed warping. As you know, reeds very frequently will warp such that the edges curl upward (away from the mouthpiece rails), and when this happens, a slight concavity in the mouthpiece table can allow the reed to "sink in" a bit to seat the reed on the facing even when there's slight warpage of the reed. In my own experience, this feature has a rather limited benefit and is generally not worth the trouble (although it's easy enough to do). Perhaps some of the experts like Clark Fobes, Tom Ridenour, David Hite, etc. can give you a better answer.
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Author: paul
Date: 1999-03-18 15:35
All I know is that some of the mass produced reeds have inconsistent "high spots" on the table that can create all kinds of trouble for a player. The fix for this relatively common problem is simple, easy, and cheap. My local woodwind tech planed down both of my Vandoren mouthpieces to eliminate the defect. The resulting improvement was easily felt and heard, even for a novice like me. The cost for me was nothing, since the tech was fixing a couple of other small problems on the horn at the same time.
From the discussion above, I have to assume that folks were talking about consistent convex or concave sculpting of selected areas of the mouthpiece and not about random bumps that were created by slight defects in mass production.
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 1999-03-19 01:25
Thanks!
I will experiment it using V40 of Vandoren with hard Arkansas oil stones.
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