 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: B.F.
Date: 2001-06-25 17:35
Wondering how many professional facings are put onto plastic blanks? I have one or two plastic mouthpieces at home that I really enjoy, and I've read (I can't quote literally) of a test that indicated plastic was somewhat darker in tone than rubber. How well does plastic hold a facing? Thanks. --Bill.
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Author: David Spiegelthal
Date: 2001-06-26 14:15
I've refaced many plastic mouthpieces (black, clear, and white) with excellent results as far as playing qualities; however, these were all done too recently to judge the longevity of the facings or the dimensional stability of the materials. Time will tell.
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2001-06-26 15:08
As Gordon says, there are many plastics which we have discussed earlier, so Search! There are at least two basic types, thermoplastics and thermosets. Most of those in common-everyday-use, polyolefins, acrylics etc, are T-P's, our best for mp's are T-S's , hard rubbers . To me, the major difference is their behavior when heated, T-S's soften, melt and flow, T-P's pretty-well retain dimensions until being destroyed by excessive heat. There are several Chemical Encyclopedia-Dictionaries in most libraries for those wishing to go beyond my "thumb-nail" info above. [I'm not a REAL expert!]. I guess the moral to my story is to be cautious on allowing heat exposure [auto trunk on a hot day] of any mp's, partic. T-P's . This would seem to recommend Glass crystal [not plastics], metals and wood [which does change dimensions with moisture content, like our best cls]. Just wanted to throw in a word of cautious advice. Don
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Author: B.F.
Date: 2001-06-27 14:29
Thanks! I got a Bay mouthpiece from the "Ithaca" era and it's some type of plastic (it's not hard rubber). I was surprised. Plastic is OK (oh, the message on materials I referenced was posted by J. Butler). I just didn't think very many professional mouthpieces, especially from ~25 years ago, were turned out on platic blanks. It doesn't seem to be a student mouthpiece. Sounds lovely. --Bill.
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