 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Dan Shusta
Date: 2026-05-25 21:48
Before trying out my new Vandoren Juno J5 acrylic mouthpiece which features "O" rings, I made sure to cork grease them pretty good before inserting it into my Vito Classic plastic barrel. Yes, I noticed that it was quite snug but thought nothing more of that.
I left the J5 in my barrel for a few days thinking it would be fairly easy to get it apart from the barrel.
I was totally wrong. The J5 simply didn't want to separate from my barrel. No matter how hard I tried to twist it with my left hand on the barrel and my right hand on the J5, it simply would not budge. I knew then that I had a very serious problem.
So, what I did (and I think I read about this on the BB) was to hold the barrel in my left hand with the J5 in my right hand and force the center connection over my knee with extreme pressure on the end of the barrel as well as the tip of the J5. Then, I would rotate it 90 degrees and do the same thing again. I continued rotating and forcefully bending over my knee for about 20 minutes and looked at the bottom of the J5. I saw what looked like a 1/16 inch separation all around. So, I continued for around another 20 minutes and finally got the J5 to separate from my barrel.
I blamed myself for not putting enough cork grease on and leaving it together for a few days. I tried it again a few days later. This time, however, I thoroughly swabbed the inside of the barrel with cork grease as well as the J5 "O" rings. I kept the combination together for around an hour and decided to put the clarinet away. When it came to separating the J5 from my barrel, it wouldn't move. I began to have nightmarish thoughts about what I did before, however, after I applied all the strength that I had to do a twisting motion of the J5 in the barrel, it finally broke loose and I was able to separate the two.
I decided to do some basic investigating. When I pressed on the J5 "O" ring with the end of my thumb nail, I could not even begin to make a small dent. It felt very, very hard. When I did the same thing to my Behn Prescott, I could easily push the "O" ring in to be even with the tenon surface. The only conclusion I can come up with is that the Juno J5 "O" ring is not made of rubber but rather is constructed from some kind of stiff, synthetic material.
Now, because I don't want to get sued by Vandoren, I am going to say that their Juno J5 "O" rings are just fine and the real problem was with my barrel simply being too small in dimension.
As much as I enjoyed playing it, the Juno J5 is going back to Amazon today.
Just my experience.
YMMV
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Author: paulyb
Date: 2026-05-25 22:30
I never use cork grease on O rings as I find it binds rather than lubricates. Instead I wrap a small amount of teflon (aka PTFE) plumbers tape around the rings which makes them move freely. I have a Juno (and other mouthpieces with O rings) and have had no problems with this technique.
Post Edited (2026-05-25 22:31)
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Author: m1964
Date: 2026-05-25 22:35
Should not be too difficult to get a similarly sized but bit thinner O-rings from HD or McMaster.
Also, lipstick type cork grease may not be the best for greasing rubber. La Tromba or plumbing silicone based grease may be a better choice.
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Author: Dan Shusta
Date: 2026-05-26 00:27
paulyb and m1964, Thank you for your informative responses.
I couldn't return the J5 because the UPS store was closed even though their automated phone response said they were open. So, maybe that was a good thing.
I did more research and found out that Vandoren actually uses silicone (a kind of plastic) not rubber for their "O" rings. No wonder they are so hard.
Since paulyb has a Juno J5 and he uses plumber's Teflon tape, I think I'll try that method first.
Again, my thanks to both of you.
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Author: donald
Date: 2026-05-26 00:45
Why on earth are you messing with a Juno if you already own a Prescott????
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Author: Dan Shusta
Date: 2026-05-26 01:12
donald,
I accidentally damaged the facing. I bought it when it was $75 and now it's $219 and I'm not willing to pay that much.
paulyb,
I tried the Teflon tape on the Juno J5 and that does a wonderful job. Thanks.
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