The Clarinet BBoard

The Clarinet BBoard The C4 standard

New Topic | Go to Top | Go to Topic | Search | Help/Rules | Smileys/Notes | Log In

Previous Message | Next Message

Re: shape of German mouthpiece facings!

Author: John Peacock
Date: 2017-01-16 02:25
Attachment: german.pdf (14k)
Attachment: germanx4.jpg (665k)

I have a few numbers that may help the original poster. The German mouthpieces I have access to are a Uebel from 1953 and a modern Vandoren M30D. I measured their lays, and included a non-German M30L for comparison. The results are shown on the attached plot. A few select numbers are as follows:

mm from tip opening in mm
Uebel M30D M30L
0 0.99 1.16 1.17
5 0.63 0.74 0.70
10 0.36 0.39 0.35
15 0.16 0.15 0.12
20 0.04 0.04 0.03

So the M30's both have the same tip opening, but the German version is longer. Beyond 12mm from the tip, the curves for the M30D and the Uebel are basically identical. But the Uebel has a much smaller tip opening. Combined with the long lay, the thing tends to close up altogether when I first put it in the mouth: it needs either a very different embouchure or a much stiffer reed.

This matches what I'd gathered anecdotally: that German lays traditionally tended to be long and close, but that modern trends were to use a larger tip opening.

I also agree with the statements about size of window. The attached picture shows (L to R) B40, M30L, M30D, Uebel. The B40 window is longer and wider at the base than the M30s. The Uebel is the same length as M30, but narrower still.

Reply To Message | Avail. Forums | Flat View

Newer Topic | Older Topic

Topics