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Re: Do mouthpieces wear out?

Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2018-01-04 22:06

Simon Aldrich wrote:

> With some of my mpcs, this tilting of
> the rails has caused squeak-like chirps, particularly on
> low-note attacks. I have come to recognize this effect in
> students' old mpcs. Often the student thinks the problem is in
> the reed, but the chirp often occurs with most reeds.

This fascinates me a little. When I was a student, I began to experience exactly this type of chirp. I was playing on a Chedeville my teacher had lent me - this was in the early 1970s, so the mouthpiece was definitely not new. He couldn't produce the chirp even when he tried, but I couldn't play a chalumeau attack without chirping. Even though I had gotten all the way to my 2nd year of graduate study without ever having had the problem, he insisted it was because I was pinching the reed, and I finally solved the problem by switching to double lip, a change I've never regretted. But I wonder from your description if that Chedeville had enough rail tilt to have caused the problem. Maybe the rail tilt was compounded by my reaction of tensing when I had to start a low note because I expected the chirp to happen.

Karl

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Do mouthpieces wear out? new

Philip Caron

2018-01-03 23:05