 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Filettofish
Date: 2015-04-01 03:15
Does anybody know if there is a way to distinguish the age of old mouthpieces, particularly Vandoren mouthpieces? Thanks
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Author: Steve L
Date: 2015-04-02 15:42
I once dated a mouthpiece and she wouldn't shut up. Once I gave her a tip about a job opening and she went off the rails. I think of her sometimes when I look out of the window.
(Was going to put lay and table in there but seeing as its a family show didn't)
Sorry Fillettofish :-)
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Author: GBK
Date: 2015-04-02 21:38
[ OK kids - let's try to actually answer the question - GBK ]
Thanks -
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Author: Ursa
Date: 2015-04-02 23:37
Greenish-tan mouthpieces, as a rule of thumb, are really, really, really, really old.
Probably not helpful in dating a Vandoren, but...the position and style of logo and other inscriptions on Selmer Paris, Woodwind Company, and Brilhart mouthpieces has changed through the years. It's relatively easy to make a good guesstimate on the age of these after a quick look-see.
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Author: GLHopkins
Date: 2015-04-03 06:13
I've heard Woody Allen likes his mouthpieces to be in the 12-13 year old range for his Albert system Buffet.
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Author: Johan H Nilsson
Date: 2015-04-03 13:10
"What is the youngest thing that can be radiocarbon dated?
This is a difficult one, because we can date pretty much anything from today or in modern times, but getting an actual 'date' is hard. In the 1950s and 60s, people blew up alot of nuclear bombs, and one thing that happened because of this was that alot of radiocarbon was created in the air artificially. Radiocarbon is a side effect of nuclear bombs. In the early 1960s the amount of radiocarbon produced by bombs was bigger than the amount of radiocarbon naturally present! It sounds bad, and nuclear bombs are not pleasant when they are generated, but for science there have been some spinoffs because we have been able to study the movement of this radiocarbon through the environment and learn alot about how radiocarbon is transported naturally. So this has been beneficial. We can also date things that have happened since 1950 rather well because of the sudden jump in radiocarbon on Earth, so that it is possible to figure out within 2-3 years sometimes, the date of a sample.
Generally, we can date things pretty well over the past 1000 years, it becomes difficult from about 1700 AD to 1900 AD because of natural changes in radiocarbon, and since 1950 AD dating is quite possible."
http://www.c14dating.com/k12.html
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Author: Hank Lehrer
Date: 2015-04-03 15:00
GBK,
You were always a great one with the limericks. It seems to me (even with your gentle prodding above to "let's try to answer the question") that this is an opportunity for you to shine just one more time.
Perhaps the words "Vandoren", "foreign", "age", "sage", "old", and "bold" might tempt you to delight us all with your pithy wit.
HRL
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2015-04-03 19:42
>Greenish-tan mouthpieces, as a rule of thumb, are really, really, really, really old.
>
The greenish-tan color means the mouthpiece is made of hard rubber that's faded due to exposure to sun. That color is more common in older mouthpieces, true, but it indicates manufacturing in the 20th century, usually after WWI. That sun-fading can happen fast. At outdoor flea markets, I've seen a lot of mouthpieces faded this way. From the manufacturers' logos on some of them, they can't have been very old (because those companies weren't very old).
Sometimes the faded color shows up only on the side of the mouthpiece exposed to the sun with the case sitting open: a sign that the flea market dealer has been setting up outdoors. As far as I know, the sun-fading is only cosmetic damage. I've bought clarinets with sun-faded hard rubber mouthpieces that seem to me to play just fine (although, caveat emptor, I'm an amateur).
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
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Author: cyclopathic
Date: 2015-04-03 21:11
had the same question posted a while back and it didn't get me anywhere.
From what I can tell they used different Font (bigger thinner) not for "Vandoren" logo just for MPC model marking. Not sure when they switched over, in early 70s(?).
there is no rule of thumb across multiple brands, but some MPCs like Otto Link have an established timeline you can date by how they inscribed. Some mfg like Brilhart even used serial numbers, though there is no official list.
And carbon dating will get you nowhere. Hard rubber contains carbon, so you will be dating the layer of coal from the mine it came from.
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Author: ClaV
Date: 2015-04-03 22:29
Mouthpiece hard rubber (ebonite) rarely contains carbon in contrast with the rubber of rubber tires.
The primary composition is a polymerized diene (typically isoprene) and a lot of sulfur (5-30 wt%) for cross-linking/vulcanization. Zinc oxide is commonly added and lead compounds in older hard rubbers (be careful with older mouthpieces!).
Definitely, not a chance for carbon dating for multiple reasons.
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Author: GBK
Date: 2015-04-04 00:11
Hank Lehrer wrote:
> You were always a great one with the limericks. It seems to
> me (even with your gentle prodding above
> to "let's try to answer the question") that this is an opportunity
> for you to shine just one more time.
HRL
It's easy to try to be funny.
Make rhymes or attempt to be punny.
Just stay on the topic,
Don't be so myopic
Helpfulness is the smart money.
(best I could do in 5 minutes)
...GBK
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