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Re: Mouthpiece Wear

Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2010-06-14 13:07

Neither the length of time you've used these mouthpieces nor the way you clean and maintain them is likely to have anything to do with the chirping. It's really unlikely that the mouthpieces have "worn out." Mouthpeice chirps can be caused by scratches, cuts or chips in the facing rails, especially in the tip rail or the side rails near the tip. They can also come from badly balanced reeds.

The easiest way to track down the cause of your chirps is to (1) check the mouthpiece - especially the rails - for obvious physical damage, then (2) start swapping out different reeds and a different mouthpiece (borrow one - the mouthpieces may not turn out to be the problem). If the chirp follows you through these changes, then you need to check for leaky pads on your instrument, which could be creating just enough instablility to encourage squeaks even if the clarinet seems to play well. If all else has failed, try to analyze your embouchure to find any distortion you may have gotten into as a reaction to (trying to avoid) the chirping.

Karl

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