Author: Jarmo Hyvakko
Date: 2017-11-26 12:18
The only really symmetrical mouthpieces can be found from cnc ground rod rubber mouthpieces from last about 10 years. Every handmade mouthpiece i have measured has been at least somewhat asymmetrical. And that's why we always wanted to have a huge pile of vandoren 5RV's or B45's for testing in the good old days because the manufacturing process wasn't so exact as cnc grinding, that can easily get to tolerances beyond 0.01mm. Plus at least a while ago all the mouthpiece blanks were molded, not ground from solid ebonite, which made also the blanks different from each other.
The question is what do we want. The overall form of the curve, baffle, chamber etc. dictate the general character of the mouthpiece and the minor asymmetricalities make it "personal, unique". But, be aware, like in choosing your spouse, we often fall in love in some features that during the time become the most irritating ones!
Also, talking about different tone colours, it's a matter of temperament: do you want a stable mouthpiece and really make them, force them out of your instrument, or do you find better that good basic sound is something, where you filter all the "personalities" out of the sound, and then let those colours sort of slip out of the instrument?
Jarmo Hyvakko, Principal Clarinet, Tampere Philharmonic, Finland
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The Clarinet BBoard
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