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Re: What makes a mouthpiece a mouthpiece?

Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2014-11-25 07:59

One quick addition to the list.....one that has ALWAYS been a factor known to the "old timers." If you draw a straight line from the opening at the tip down to where the mouthpiece and reed come together...... that is almost NEVER what the actual rail gradient looks like. In fact there are many MANY variations of how much, and at what points you create this slope.

And I agree with the observation that once you have all these ingredients in mind, it is more the interaction of ALL the factors together that make up the 'characteristics' of the mouthpiece.

As for material, I am still "getting to know" my acrylic ESM (Ernst Schreiber Michelstadt) mouthpiece. I was NEVER fond of the acrylic mouthpieces from Wurlitzer dating from the mid-eighties, so is a wonderful surprise to discover such a nice acrylic today. One decided character is that the body of the acrylic mouthpiece seems tonally inert compared to its hard rubber counterpart. I cannot yet sense a difference from one ligature to another with the acrylic, whereas I always felt there was tangible difference from ligature to ligature with hard rubber. I'm still not sure what I think of this!

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

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