Author: NBeaty
Date: 2018-02-27 00:21
Burt- Wide rails can go along with a window that is narrow, however I think what most people are referring to is rails that are wide going towards the outside of the rail. Unless the window is too narrow to play well, typically the rails are thinned out from the outside.
MichaelW (and Bob)- The most expensive zinners are probably from Backun, $375 I believe. Most others are between $200-300 from makers in the U.S.
Bob-
1) Please provide some evidence as to what mouthpieces are costing $2000. Nothing new on the market today costs that much that I'm aware of and the vintage pieces (Henri Chedevilles for example) that are sold for that much are few and far between. Many people who have such mouthpieces would prefer to be buried with them rather than sell them.
2) Please provide some evidence as to who is charging $400 for a reface. There's no one in the U.S. that even comes close. Brad Behn is the highest I'm aware of, at $160 (due to having decades of experience in refacing and crafting many different mouthpieces of his own design for Bb/Eb/Bass). Again, if you know someone who's charging $400, then you've found an outlier from the norm. Most people are charging between $60-120.
3) I'm surprised given your aversion to Daddario products due to pesticides you would want to put nail polish and nail polish remove into a mouthpiece. Not quite the level of eating Tide Pods, but just seems like not a great idea.
4) The idea of having people with no experience and no training (in person lessons/demonstrations, not youtube videos and reading the bboard) start hacking away at their mouthpiece with files from Walmart seems like a bad idea. The learning curve for measuring a mouthpiece properly is much steeper than people think, so having people scrape away with whatever files they come across isn't going to lend itself to positive results. It's a bit like saying, "you too can fix a transmission on your car, no experience or technical understanding necessary".
5) "you may need a heavier reed. This too is a good thing. This will help your sound project better as well.". This idea, especially from a pedagogical perspective, has been incredibly detrimental to so many players over the years. Quite simply, it makes people think that the heavier the reed, the better the projection. This leads to being forced to bite to get the sound to respond, airy/stuffy sound, lack of flexibility, problems with endurance, and on and on.
6) "Don't worry about the file marks." Why not have a mouthpiece look as good as it plays? I think most mouthpiece refacers/makers will agree that the work is an art form, so why not make it look as good as it plays?
7) If you're after a zinner that sounds less dark/dead, why not try an E blank?
8) The Selmer Concept and Focus mouthpieces have very wide rails, an incredibly long facing (46/23mm), and not a particularly lively material (nothing like the table stamps and oval stamps of the past). Can you elaborate on what you like about them, since it seems counter-intuitive to your stated preferences.
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The Clarinet BBoard
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