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: Older Vandoren M13 mouthpiece

Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2019-11-11 21:21

The M13 doesn't have that long a history. It was developed in cooperation with Donald Montenaro, the associate principal clarinetist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, during, I think, the 1990s and was supposed to have been modeled on the vintage Chedeville he used in the orchestra. From the M13 sprang the rest of the Series 13 mouthpieces, although I'm not sure how much beyond the M13 Lyre Montenaro was personally involved.

The 13s were intended to have a less bright sound than what came to be called "traditional" Vandorens and were pitched lower, supposedly to match "American" pitch at A=440 Hz.

The ones I own are relatively early specimens and they look like the one you have - in particular there is no serial #. I don't have any with serial numbers. Vandoren may have started doing that at the same time they started putting serial numbers on their reed boxes - well after the introduction of Series 13 - to prevent counterfeiting. You can check a serial # on the VD website to see if the box is genuine.

It's likely that the mouthpiece you have is genuine. At least nothing you've described argues otherwise. I don't think I'd worry much about a teacher's wanting a different mouthpiece. That could happen no matter what your son starts with. The VD Series 13s (as well as the Traditionals) have their critics, but M13 is a respectable mouthpiece as far as Vandorens go. Montenaro himself recommended M13 Lyre to his students, but the M13 was his original collaboration.

Reply To Message | Avail. Forums | Flat View

Newer Topic | Older Topic

Topics