 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Euni
Date: 2020-01-04 04:42
I recently picked up clarinet again after a very long break of 15 years. I purchased a Leblanc Symphonie 3 and am really loving it. It comes with the Leblanc 4L mouthpiece, which works but I believe it could be better. The issue is that it plays unevenly across the scale, in some areas it sounds very sweet and beautiful while in others it sounds dull and colorless. I'm currently playing some classical, mostly jazz and some tangos in a guitar-clarinet duet. My question is, is there a better mouthpiece that plays very similar, but more evenly? Or is it worth it to have this resurfaced? Just for reference, I play on a Meyer G mouthpiece on alto sax.
Euni
Post Edited (2020-01-04 05:16)
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Author: NOLA Ken
Date: 2020-01-05 03:57
I can only offer my experience after returning to playing four years ago after many decades away from it. I am therefore hardly any kind of expert. I also play a Leblanc Symphonie 3 as my primary instrument. I went through a number of mouthpieces trying to find one I liked. Many of those were Leblancs, including 4L mpcs some of which were professionally refaced to various facings. I was underwhelmed by all of them. Then I picked up a vintage D. Bonade I've had since my college days and found that it played wonderfully except for (as I discovered) having a warped table. I sent it to Brad Behn, who smoothed the table and tweaked the facing a bit, and it is now my favorite mouthpiece on the Symphonie 3. It just sounds wonderful - in almost perfect tune across the scale. It works very well for me with both cane and Legere reeds.
(I might add that I had my Symphonie 3 completely restored before beginning serious play, so I have to consider that the very excellent restoration may have something to do with the instrument being so well in tune. One always has to consider that problems with tuning might the instrument and not just the mouthpiece.)
The trick to going down this path is that there were several models of the D. Bonade mpc. Bonades are hard enough to find, and finding one of the "good" ones means you either have to know what you are looking for or acquire a few before you find a good one. There is a discussion on this bulletin board of the Bonade mouthpieces that will tell you everthing you might want to know about them at:
http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=467807&t=467801
One aside on how I found joy with my Symphonie 3 - I play with a Backun Fat Boy barrel and a Backun Traditional bell with voicing grove. I just find that I get much better projection and a richer tone than with the stock barrel and bell. The stock barrel and bell give a brighter/lighter sound that doesn't blend as well with the Buffets in the band I play in.
Just my two cents. Maybe somebody here with more experience can steer you in an easier direction mouthpiece-wise.
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Author: Euni
Date: 2020-01-05 07:48
Thank you so much for your reply. I did read through the threads and have come to the similar conclusion. The problem is that vintage Bonade mpcs are hard to come by and when they’re available the specs are most likely lacking. I do like the light sound my instrument currently produces. Having played Buffets through my school years and was always frustrated with the timbré I produced, this is such a welcome change. If I were introduced to Leblanc earlier, my music path could’ve been completely different.
Do you have a few Bonade model numbers at hand that you could share? Are the new Bonade mpcs worth acquiring? Thank you again for your time.
Euni
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Author: NOLA Ken
Date: 2020-01-05 19:44
Maybe I've missed something, but I'm not aware that there is any such thing as a "new" Bonade mouthpiece. As far as I know they are all vintage (old) items that have been out of production for quite some time. The one I play was originally given to me by my college clarinet teacher (one of Bonade's students) in 1969. The others I have I've picked up off of that auction site. (Sorry, but I'm not going to let go of them.) As for models, I'm not aware that they were ever numbered. The link I gave earlier describes what I've referred to as the different "models". As far as I know they are only identifiable by examining them and comparing them to them to the descriptions Brad Behn gave in that BB post. If you're lucky enought to latch on to one, it will most likely need to be refaced to bring it to its full potential.
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Author: Euni
Date: 2020-01-06 09:48
Sorry, I must have mistaken the Bonade ligature listings for the mouthpiece ones. Thanks to your valuable input, I tracked down a Bonade Clarity 7 1/2 over the weekend, fingers crossed, hopefully it's a good one.
Euni
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