The Clarinet BBoard

The Clarinet BBoard The C4 standard

New Topic | Go to Top | Go to Topic | Search | Help/Rules | Smileys/Notes | Log In

Previous Message | Next Message

Re: CNC clarinet mouthpiece

Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2019-07-06 14:24

You may want to see if you can apprentice with an established mouthpiece refacer or maker.

Some of what I hear from folks who do this for a living is that they start off ruining a LOT of mouthpieces before beginning to learn what not to do.

Two things that aren't talked about much for example:

1. There is a distance from the reed to the baffle that you cannot exceed without completely losing response. For example we all know that making the baffle more concave gives you are "darker" sound (fewer upper partials) but if you get past a certain dimension, the sound becomes irreversibly flaccid and nothing can be done to fix it (I don't remember what that number is).

2. The bore has a much bigger affect on the response of the mouthpiece than most non makers think. Taking that into consideration with all the other factors such as length of lay, size of tip opening, thickness of rails shape of the baffle at the tip etc. etc. are all part of the magic that make a mouthpiece play the way it does.

Here in the US, two mouthpiece makers to talk to would be Walter Grabner of ClarinetExpress and Clark Fobes.

....................Paul Aviles

Reply To Message | Avail. Forums | Flat View

Newer Topic | Older Topic

Topics