 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Echronome
Date: 2014-03-04 21:57
What sound so they bring to your clarinet? I've only seen them used once in an orchestra and it sounded beautiful but what difference does it have to a wooden mouthpiece?
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Author: TomS
Date: 2014-03-04 23:35
Crystal mouthpieces allegedly has a darker sound ... the disadvantage is that they break easily and are very inconsistent. I think some of the crystal MPs were shorter and had larger bores and/or chambers ... and perhaps that had an influence over the sound more than the material.
Wood mouthpieces are rare, the material warps too easily for that application ... but I've known a couple of people that love them!
Most clarinet mouthpieces are made of plastic or hard rubber.
Tom
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2014-03-04 23:49
Here in the 60s it was a clarinet fashion statement. You were not really a serious clarinet player unless you used a crystal mouthpiece. (I guess that fashion came from USA?)
Now they are rarely seen. So they serve to highlight just how strong and fickle is gear "fashion" in the world of clarinet playing, be it mouthpiece, ligature, reed, pads - whatever.
They were reported to have had tuning issues. Another issue is that there were typically two sharp edges (from the casting molds) across the crystal shoulders of the tenon. Unless these were ground off, they tended to scrape the socket in the barrel to a larger, sloppier fit.
Post Edited (2014-03-04 23:50)
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Author: Caroline Smale
Date: 2014-03-05 04:53
Mouthpiece material is only one, probably quite small, factor in the sound.
If it were possible to make a few absolutely identical (apart from material) mouthpieces perhaps we could actually find out but this is virtually impossible in practice.
In my own playing I have used mainly crystal for well over 30 years and feel (at least to me) that it's density helps to smooth out my tone which tends on the brighter side. I don't like dark/dank but not too bright either.
Another aspect is it's weight which affects the balance of the clarinet and how the mouthpiece sits on the embouchure. I use double lip and personally like the extra weight crystal provides.
Down side is that crystal is much harder to reface or modify and so choice of lay is limited and changes to the chamber even more so.
Upside (as long as you don't drop one) is that they should last virtually for ever.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2014-03-05 05:40
I know the subject is mainly crystal but I would heartily disagree with the assertion that wood mouthpieces warp. Most clarinets are wood and we don't seem to have a problem with wood clarinets, do we? I find that if you oil regularly and care for you wooden mouthpieces in a similar manner to your reeds, there are no problems whatsoever with them. There is a bit less projection overall (they also tend to be a little less overtone rich), but the sound difference is palpable to the same degree as a ringless barrel such as the offerings from Backun.
..............Paul Aviles
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Author: TomS
Date: 2014-03-05 08:44
I'd like to try a wooden MP ... what kind of oil do you use on it? Do you use one and what Brand/Model?
Gosh, maybe I shouldn't have used the word "warp" ... but I though that was why wooden MPs have been mostly abandoned ... I might be totally wrong! Might be that it's just a lot easier to crank out a plastic or rubber MP.
Charles Bay sold a wooden MP for a while, and he actually played on one and really liked it, better than his hard rubber offering. I don't know if he carved it by hand or if blanks were available ... I thought that was strange for someone that made Delrin barrels and wanted to make a Delrin instrument.
A few less overtones might be a good for some people's sound!
Whatever works! I'd sleep with a horseshoe in my mouth if I thought it would improve my sound ...
Tom
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Author: John Peacock
Date: 2014-03-05 12:54
I used a Vandoren crystal for about 15 years. What I really liked was the warmth and smoothness of the basic sound: it wasn't thin and edgy as the clarinet can too often be (in my hands, at least). The downsides, which eventually moved me away, were in tuning and in range of sound. The Vandoren crystals were made with too large a chamber and played flat (something that seems to have been deliberately recreated for the modern 13 series, although these don't have the same sound as crystal...), so I had to use an extremely short barrel and fill up the upper throat tone holes. But also the dynamic range seemed limited: going for a ppp whisper risked becoming unfocused, and fff didn't soar over the orchestra as you sometimes need to. But for small ensembles, I felt it was possible to get really good results with this setup.
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2014-03-05 14:33
I've been using crystal mouthpieces for a couple of decades now on Eb and Bb soprano and bass clarinets, as well as for "legit" work on alto and tenor saxes. I've had to reface all of them (Pomaricos) to get them to play the way I like. But once they're set, they're set for life. No warping, no dimensional changes with temperature, no worries about scratches, and easy to clean with dish soap and warm water. The downside is, of course, they can be broken pretty easily if one is careless or clumsy.
Overall though I don't think the mouthpiece material makes as much difference as some people think. I've been able to get results similar to my crystals on hard rubber, various plastics, wood and metal. In my opinion the interior design (baffle, bore, window) and facing are critical; the material itself less so. I just happen to prefer the feel and 'permanence' of crystal.
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Author: MartyMagnini
Date: 2014-03-05 20:32
I had an O'Brien crystal mouthpiece that I loved waaaaay back in the 70's. I didn't play jazz or Klezmer - mostly orchestral and chamber music. It had a warm, robust sound that carried and it articulated beautifully. Sadly, when it got shattered (they all do at some point) I was never able to find it's equal (or anything even close), though I went through several crystal mouthpieces searching for a replacement. <sigh>
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Author: TomS
Date: 2014-03-07 08:12
The O'Brien MPs were very popular in high school during the mid to late 60s. I played on a couple for years until other possibilities came to my attention. I think I chipped the tip rail on the last one I used ...
The "cool" setup was a Leblanc LL and a crystal MP!
One of my teachers, Paul Orton (now deceased) returned to the US from several years in the UK and was playing a Vandoren A2 crystal with Vandoren German cut reeds! You didn't have much side-to-side adjustment of the reed! He auditioned for the Arkansas Symphony and got the position. The conductor came up to him after the tryouts and said: "OK Paul, you've got the principal position. There is just one thing I want for you to do for me and that is darken your sound". By the way, he was playing Yamaha YCL82 and YCL65 instruments.
That was a shame because he had a beautiful centered sound with a kind of hollow, haunting quality. He didn't change immediately and used the setup when he performed the Copeland Concerto ... finally drifted to a Vandoren 5RV-lyre and then to a B45. He had a bright sound, regardless, even when he switched his B-flat to an R13.
Paul played clarinet like a "bat out of hell" and equally well on alto and soprano sax. He died in his sleep at age 59, a few years ago.
Tom
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