Author: seabreeze
Date: 2014-11-24 07:43
I especially like what Behn says about plastic mouthpieces:
"'Conventional wisdom' asserts that plastic is not capable of producing the depth and range of sounds that rubber can produce. This is in fact not the case. Some plastics sound quite good, and when properly made to the right design which augments the plastic's resonance characteristics, a good playing experience can be obtained. The key is that plastic must be enhanced by its design specification in order to have professional playing attributes."
Both Clark Fobes and Brad Behn produce an entry level mouthpiece from acrylic plastic (the Debut and the Overture mouthpieces respectively) that takes a good facing and play well, and high-end Wurlitzer clarinets in Germany are routinely provided with acrylic mouthpieces, both clear and nearly opaque.
I recently ordered--thanks to Paul Aviles laudatory review-- an EMS MCK1 clarinet mouthpiece that plays better out of the box than any mass-produced mouthpiece I have ever tried--and I believe the black shiny material it is made from is also acrylic. If so, one of the "design specifications" that enchance it is probably the metal ring at the bottom of the tenon. Other versions of this MCK1 are certainly made of translucent acrylic incorporating such enhancements as metal flecks embedded in the plastic to increase resonance.
Conventional wisdom concerning mouthpieces is probably wrong in so many ways that a book could be written to correct the myths and errors. One that I see repeated in the original thread for this topic is that softer reeds go with more open facings and harder reeds go with closer facings. Well, maybe, but often not! Robert Marcellus when he played in the in the Cleveland orchestra for a time used Kaspar 13s, more open than 1.07 (were they 1.10, 1.13, 1.14) with the old design Moree reeds, which were harder than a typical Vandoren #5. Ricardo Morales, reportedly, uses a fairly open Moba facing with hard reeds. In the early 60s, I met some very old French clarinetists who were playing on the old Selmer A facing. That's only open 0.89 mm at the tip, and they used regular #3 Vandorens. Their tone was something to die for! Mellow, sweet, and colorful. Not buzzy or reedy at all. I cross questioned them. No, they had not had their mouthpieces refaced, and no, they did not like the Selmer HS or HS* facings because those were much too open!!! These players were able to voice the tone (they played double lip) on a very very close facing with a rather soft reed and sound great.
If conventional wisdom was correct, Marcellus and Morales on their relatively open facings ought to be paired with the #3 reeds, and the old Frenchmen ought to have the stiff Morres. But that's not what they wanted and that's not what they did.
Post Edited (2014-11-24 21:12)
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