 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: NOLA Ken
Date: 2018-07-13 00:43
I have a mouthpiece qustion.
I'm new to this board, and a returning, old-fart amateur who has taken up clarinet again after 35+ yrs. away from it. I'll spare you the personal history. Thanks to that auction site, this bulletin board, some great techs, and the tolerance of a local community band (and my wife) I've been playing for two years now and catching up with a vengence on all the things clarinet that I missed as a resource- and internet-deprived youth.
Most of my experience has been in wind bands, and the equipment I currently have is serving me very satisfactorily there. But I am angling to get a seat in a local volunteer orchestra as well, and am not especially fond of the sound I get from my current mouthpieces for orchestral work. The clarinets I am likely to be using if I can nail down that spot will be a restored Leblanc Symphonie 3 in Bb, a restored Leblanc LL in A, and a somewhat beaten-up but nice-sounding vintage Buffet R13 Bb. (Most of my clarinets have been Leblancs. The Buffet is my first - it's different & finicky. Not certain I like it yet. I have others - lots of others, but we won't go there. No - I'm not buying any more. I've gone on the wagon.) The two mouthpieces I have been using (Leblanc France HR refaced by Vytas Krass to 1.11mm and 1.13mm respectively) work great for community band on all my clarinets, but are a bit bright and out there for what I think would be an appropriate orchestral sound.
I ran through a dozen or so vintage and new mouthpieces in my drawer (My name is Ken, and I'm a clariholic . . . I went on a mouthpiece binge for awhile.) and ran across the old late-1960s Selmer B* that I found so uninspiring in college. But to me it now seems to have a nice classical sound, especially on the A clarinet. I've read on this board and elsewhere that the Selmer B* is considered to be a good chamber music and soloist mpc. But mine is a bit beat up.
Here's my question: Numerous sources have spoken highly of the old Selmer Oval-on-table mounthpieces but not so well of later Selmer mouthpieces. I may have a chance to pick up a vintage Selmer B*-in-oval mpc in extremely good condition. Would it be safe to assume that it might be a good replacement for my late-1960s B*, or would I be better off having somebody reface the one I have? I am aware that the Selmer Ovals date to about the time that Selmer was making big bore clarinets, but all three of the clarinets in question are more in the medium bore range. Would a more recent B*, a 60s-era B* or the older Oval B* likely be better for my purposes?
Thanks for any information you can share.
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Author: Ursa
Date: 2018-07-13 06:40
Hi, Ken:
If you are getting the sound you want out of your current B-Star, and it tunes accurately when used on your performance instruments, I'd say it's a no-brainer--have it refaced.
If the results don't meet your expectations, you could then investigate other options.
Cheers,
Greg
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Author: RefacerMan
Date: 2018-07-13 17:18
Ken - I've seen and refaced a lot of Selmer mouthpieces and oval stamped Selmers had good bores and chambers for modern clarinets. The Selmer mouthpieces that are older than oval stamped - table stamped Selmers - vary a lot and most of them have big bores and huge chambers designed for big bore and/or albert system clarinets. These mouthpieces are marked "table HS" or "table C*", etc. on the table. Selmer mouthpieces varied a lot within each "period" or type (i.e. oval stamped, table stamped) so if you are going to buy an oval stamped B* there is no guarantee it will play like your more modern B*. It will have a good bore and very good older rubber, but probably will need to be refaced and voiced to play its best. If your late 60s Selmer tuned well and had a good sound and feel when it was in its prime you may want to start by having that mouthpiece refaced first before you buy any other mouthpieces.
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Author: NOLA Ken
Date: 2018-07-13 20:41
Thanks for the very userful feedback. This is just the sort of information I was looking for. And it called my attention to something I had overlooked.
Despite the fact that I like the sound the B* gives me on all three instruments, I find that it in fact plays very sharp on all three. I can bring it into reasonable tune on the Leblanc A and the R13 with a 67mm barrel and some tuning rings, but doing so on the Symphonie 3 Bb requires much more extensive efforts. The throat tones on all three instruments are very difficult to bring into tune with this mpc, even when I get the rest of the range reasonably in tune. The Symphonie 3 tunes nicely across the entire range with the mouthpieces I normally use, so I know there is not a problem with that instrument. (The R13 gives me fits in the throat tones with every mouthpiece I've tried on it, but it's not in as good shape as the other instruments.) Interestingly, the Legere Euro Cut 3 reed seems to tune much better with this mpc than does a cane V12, but still doesn't tune well enough for me to feel comfortable using it in an ensemble.
I'm thinking maybe it's back to the drawing board to find a mouthpiece that suits my purpose. Thanks again for the feedback.
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Author: ned
Date: 2018-07-16 07:47
I recently purchased a Selmer Table HS* from Vytas Krass. It has been re-faced to 6EC specification. So, I now have an 80 y.o. MP which looks and presumably, plays like new.
This, together with my small bore Albert Buffet, is the best set-up I have ever played with - and that's going back at least fifty years.
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