 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Linus Travelli
Date: 2001-06-12 03:59
What kind of mouthpieces to most professionals (teachers, orchestra members, etc) use on their clarinets? what brands? are they made of wood?
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2001-06-12 04:55
Most are hard rubber, and the manufacturers of them vary <b>widely</b> - and often.
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Author: William
Date: 2001-06-12 15:16
Most professional clarinetists go through many mps and some work personally with the mouthpiece maker who customizes their products to the performers own personal satisfaction and specs. No "pro" or knowlegable "good" clarinet player simply walks into a store and buys the first mp they see. Often, it is a lifetime "search for the Holy Grail" to find the mouthpiece that seems to work. And then there is the problem of finding the "perfect reed." And the beat goes on.............. Before it is too late, have you considered the trombone??????? Good luck and (hopefully) Good Clarineting!!!
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Author: Brenda Siewert
Date: 2001-06-12 15:19
I guess I fall into the "lifetime search for the holy grail" category. But, I'm really liking the Kaspar Cicero I have right now and the new wooden Greg Smith mouthpieces. The working with someone part mentioned by William is a good thing. Greg and I spoke on the telephone and he had a good idea what I liked and what instruments I played before he shipped some out to me. The result was successful. I got two great new wood mouthpieces from him. The Kaspar is a hard rubber model. I like both.
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Author: Brenda Siewert
Date: 2001-06-12 18:45
Yes, Greg's Cicero is magnificent! It plays identically to my original Kaspar Cicero. His Chicago versions are excellent as well. It's worth every penny of $200.00 to play one of these. I didn't think so a while back, but that was before I tried the Kaspars. I paid much more than $200.00 for my Kaspar. And, you don't usually get to play-test them before purchasing. It's for sure Mr. Kaspar isn't going to come back from where ever he is and reface them if you need them done.
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Author: larryb
Date: 2001-06-12 19:55
What are the main differences between Kaspar and other "custom" mps and more "mass produced" mps, such as Vandoren and Selmer? Is it the quality of material and manufacturing? The particular facing/tip opening combination? The interior dimensions of the mp?
I use the mp that came with my clarinet (a Selmer C85-105). I had no intention of switching from what I had been using ( a Vandoren) but simply tried it on a lark. I am very pleased with it and have no desire to spend my life and resources looking for more perfect and more expensive equipment. I'd rather play music.
By the way, many professionals use mass produced mps, such as Vandoren B45 and Selmers...
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2001-06-12 20:03
Larry,
many of the professionals who use a B45 have had it refaced or otherwise modified. It's akin to saying that someone who runs in the SCCA Stock category of racing. All the parts might be OEM, but they're selected with the utmost of care and taken to exacting specs.
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Author: Brenda Siewert
Date: 2001-06-12 22:40
A good mouthpiece can dramatically change the way you sound and your ability to play in tune in the altisimo register, etc. A good mouthpiece, reed and ligature combined with a great tuning barrel can sometimes totally transform a fairly inexpensive clarinet into a pretty good sounding instrument. All the professionals I know are fanatical about their mouthpieces. I carry mine in a custom-made pouch and am very, very careful with it.
All I can say is, buy a used hand made sometime from someone on the classifieds or from a reputable eBay seller and see what you think. I think it will change the way you think about mouthpieces forever. My first hand made was a Bay and it transformed my playing and my confidence. I play-test Vandorens all the time (as well as others) and I can tell you they're not the same as any of my hand mades.
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Author: Brenda Siewert
Date: 2001-06-13 02:29
Yeah, ask my son the golf pro. He used to work at a club in Dallas before he went back to school. He knows all about the ones the pros really use. You can't get them off the shelf.
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Author: larryb
Date: 2001-06-13 14:14
And Charlie Parker could play like god on a plastic alto sax - go figure...
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Author: larryb
Date: 2001-06-13 19:28
"hellacious?" - is that the same material that Zinner blanks are made from?
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2001-06-13 22:22
Machine-made mouthpieces, such as Selmer and Vandoren, usually get only a basic inspection to make sure they're free of blemishes and aren't grossly uneven. When the machinery is properly adjusted, they can be quite good. The big problem is that the're inconsistent. No two play quite alike. Also, the machinery gets out of adjustment, and for slow-selling models, the maker has no way of recovering the cost of fixing things.
Also, sometimes the importer will "improve" mouthpieces. Ralph Morgan, who worked for Selmer, tells a wonderful, horrifyingly funny story about Selmer mouthpieces supplied with new instruments. The facing is, or used to be, put on by a diamond point, scribing across the rubber. This makes a perfect facing with a finish that's a bit dull, since it's a series of super-fine scratches. He got a slew of complaints about bad mouthpieces. When he looked at them, he saw that they had a mirror finish on the lay, but were unplayable. It turned out that customers had complained about the dull surface, so Selmer assigned a worker to polish the lay of every imported mouthpiece on crocus cloth (a soft, rouge-filled type of sandpaper). This made the surface shiny, all right, but ruined the facing.
Refinishing a machine-made mouthpiece by hand can make dramatic improvements, but since these mouthpieces are finished by machine to "final" dimensions, the amount of improvement possible is often limited. You can't put anything back.
Custom mouthpiece makers start with a machine-made blank that is only semi-finished, and "under" in most dimensions. The final facing is put on by hand, and the maker also works on the baffle and other areas inside the mouthpiece. This is as much an art as a science, and while there is general agreement on what sorts of dimensions work well, no two makers do things quite the same.
Also, you get the best results when you come to the maker's workshop and the maker works interactively with you, doing the final, all-important tweaks to make the mouthpiece suit you in particular - your barrel, your clarinet, your embouchure and your preferences in reeds, resistance and tone.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 2001-06-14 05:42
"Every" orchestra player uses customized instrument and mouthpiece.
Not off-the-shelf ones. This is very true of clarinets.
Bassoon, oboe, flute have far better mechanics than clarinets.
Trumpet is worse than clarinet. Recent discovery by Carret and Monnett
show the
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Author: Brenda Siewert
Date: 2001-06-14 15:00
Yeah, I like what Ken said. You can get some over the counter mouthpieces and have them refaced, but to get the best results, work with the maker. Greg Smith is easy to work with. Talk to him. Or, buy a used Greg Smith if you can find one.
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Author: bob gardner
Date: 2001-06-14 18:19
i understand Greg is going to be at the fest. i look forward to meeting him.
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Author: David Spiegelthal
Date: 2001-06-14 21:45
A good percentage of over-the-counter mouthpieces have facings that are "close enough to acceptable", with enough material left at the tip, to be good candidates for refacing. In other words, it's not always necessary to start with a blank, to get a good final mouthpiece. However, it certainly is preferable to start with a blank as Ken described.
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