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The GREAT ESM Mouthpiece!

Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2014-11-02 01:17

I am completely sold on the Ernst Schreiber (Michelstadt) clarinet mouthpiece. The particular facing that I have tried is made specifically for the American market in conjunction is professor Roger W. McKinney at the College of New Jersey. It is a close facing (1.03) with a medium short length lay (18mm) the MCK 1.

I must say that my first impression upon seeing one for the first time was to be quite skeptical. You can actually SEE the point along the facing where the reed and mouthpiece come together. I can't say that I've ever seen this before on ANY mouthpiece. I figured this would either be a great mouthpiece or an awful mouthpiece. Also the first one I tried was a translucent blue material with metal gold colored flecks in it. This looked as though it would be more at home in the movie "Frozen." I was told that the metal flecks in the material and the accompanying metal rings at the top and bottom of the tenon were there to improve the focus and depth of the sound. This mouthpiece was one of the most responsive and vital sounding mouthpieces I'd ever played and probably would have bought it on the spot if it were not just a sample.

As it turns out, there are also solid black acrylic versions of the same facing (MCK 1) and I had the opportunity to try this one and another 'blue' mouthpiece side by side today. Firstly, and almost as important as how well they play, they are 'dead on' consistent from to the other. I could not make out ANY reasonable differences amongst these mouthpieces (the sample or the other two) in terms of how they looked (dimensions, rail thickness, baffle, finish) or how they played (responded). The mouthpiece of the translucent blue acrylic with the metal flecks embedded into it has a little less ping (from this side of the horn that is.....I did not have a colleague around to address sound from a distance this time), so it felt a bit more warm. Other than that they played EXACTLY the same.

They are for classical clarinet players and are in the same family of facings as the Vandoren M13, 5RV Lyre and the CL4.

Currently I was regularly playing an M13. This mouthpiece immediately felt and played better for me in every respect (all the way to triple "C" and back!!!!). Now as I play with the ESM (and I mean toy with it), bouncing back and forth from it to the M13 I find that it is even more.......fun to play.

The US retail on this mouthpiece is a little over $100 US dollars. I think this mouthpiece is GROSSLY underpriced.

Well worth anyone's time and effort to try one.

..................Paul Aviles

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The GREAT ESM Mouthpiece! new

Paul Aviles

2014-11-02 01:17