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Re: Stop clarinet from "squaking"

Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2018-02-09 08:45

Ray you are correct, but in about 10 minutes I can redo this nice mouthpiece, including the facing and it could sound like an old Kaspar. The question though is what kind of Kaspar as so many horrible ones were made. So the answer would be a very decent Chicago Kaspar from the early 1960's or so. Bringing the facing down to 1.06 or so, takes about 5 minutes or less, the rest of the time is spend adjusting the rails, which is a secret, allowing for the reeds to speak well and vibrate properly, which is a major problem with today's mouthpieces. For whatever reason a lot of players like that feeling of back pressure. A good mouthpiece should be free blowing and ring like crazy. But we are often stuck with that covered dark sound which sounds so great 3 feet away and not so great in a concert hall. It's not our faults.

So since some players like that back pressure mouthpiece some makers are making mouthpieces with tip openings around 1.15 - 1.25 to gain that lost freedom. Who designs these mouthpieces? Surely not the gifted pros with great sounds.

I again refer back to Eddie Daniels. He is using a 1.03. He went from a 1.10 because it was easier to play! Less sore lips. Still projects nicely. Same with top symphony players, very few are over that 1.10 mark.

Added to this mess if the baffles and chambers are really shallow you can get away with a more open mouthpiece, because more air is required. At the same time if you are playing on a very deep baffle and chamber like the Zinners you can get away with a tip opening of 1.01 or less, but the sound doesn't carry.

The bore and the chamber of the Selmer Focus is OK, but tight. My first choice remains the Selmer Concept. The bore is already good. The baffle and the Chamber looks good, the tip opening and the rails can be fixed and polished with the right tooling in just a few minutes and play close to a decent Kaspar. Without the tooling DON'T BUY IT. It won't sound like a Kaspar - EVER!

Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces

Yamaha Artist 2015

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