 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: loverofclarinets
Date: 2009-12-27 01:23
A teacher once told me that it is best to keep one mouthpiece for however many clarinets you have, in order to be able to keep your embouchure in good condition.
However, the barrel of one clarinet is a lot narrower than the other one, so the mouthpiece fits well on one clarinet, and slightly loose on the other. Not falling off loose, but not extremely tight.
Will this interfere with anything?
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Author: Molloy
Date: 2009-12-27 03:20
You can wrap a strip of thin paper (cigarette paper is classic but receipts work well, too) around the tenon when you put it in the looser barrel to make the fit more snug.
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2009-12-27 04:40
I have the same problem. Have been meaning to get the tighter barrel slightly enlarged by a technician, so that the mouthpiece fits both. Until then, the mouthpiece wobbles slightly in the looser one after being in the tighter one.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2009-12-27 16:55
I've never known of a professional orchestra player that did not use the same mouthpiece for their Bb and A clarinets. It's unimaginable to have to change mouthpieces everytime you switch from one to the other in an orchestra setting. I suggest you either get the barrel adjusted or replace it with one that fits and plays well. ESP http://eddiesclarinet.com
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
Post Edited (2009-12-27 21:35)
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Author: kdk
Date: 2009-12-27 18:27
Of course, wrapping with paper or even Teflon tape will tighten the fit in the barrel with the more open socket, but that only works well if the taped/papered mouthpiece tenon will still fit into the tighter barrel if you play orchestrally, where you often need to make quick changes of instrument.
I recently had a similar problem involving my Bb clarinet and a C clarinet I had just bought. All a tech will generally do is work around the inside of the barrel socket with a piece of emery paper until the diameter is what's needed. I'm told that mounting the barrel on a lathe so the socket opening is exposed and the barrel is stable is more difficult than doing it by hand. I lost patience with that after several minutes, I'm afraid. I got out my Dremel tool, put a very low abrasive sanding drum on the attachment (400 grit) and *gently* worked around the inside of the socket with it. The worst that I expected was that I'd make a mess of the inside of the socket and have to replace the barrel, but I was in a mood to experiment and the C clarinet was not needed urgently for anything. I ended up with a barrel socket that *looks* perfectly round (no obvious scoops) and fits exactly like the Bb barrel on my regular mouthpiece.
The moral of the story is that, whether you try to do the work yourself or pay a tech to do it, enlarging a barrel socket opening isn't that big a deal and shouldn't be something you avoid doing if a mouthpiece won't fit all of the instruments you want to use it in.
Karl
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Author: marcia
Date: 2009-12-27 22:24
>You can wrap a strip of thin paper (cigarette paper is classic but receipts >work well, too) around the tenon when you put it in the looser barrel to >make the fit more snug.
That could work....as long as there is enough time to fuss with the paper. Sometimes in orchestral playing there is barely enough time to make the switch from one instrument to the other, without any "extra curricular activities".
I would strongly suggest doing whatever it takes to make the mp fit both barrels.
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