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RE: mouthpiece measurements

Author: donald nicholls
Date: 2001-11-19 18:36

Of course there are problems with measuring gauges- they are however (relatively speaking) cheap and do give the person using them some idea of the facing. I'm on the other side of the world from you guys and many of the people reading this may as well be (small town USA can feel VERY isolated). Thus the "manual feeler gauges" are the most practical way to discuss mouthpiece facings as long as it is accepted that they are not the "be all and end all" (do you americans use that expression?).
Yes- if i make 4 mouthpieces with the same measurements, taking great care to be accurate, then they will still play differently. But they will also be quite similar. I will, for instance, be able to play on all of them with the same reed and get a sound and response that might not be perfect but was at least not embarrassing.
And another point- i know a certain teacher who insists that he can work on mouthpieces by eye etc, and he manages to destroy about 50% of the stuff he works on. Most refacers i know admit that they have wrecked a 'piece every so often, but this statistic is pretty bad. It's because he really has no idea what he's doing- if he'd started off learning about the curve and facing by being able to discuss it (the numbers enable you do describe the curve) then maybe he'd have a better idea what was going on.
i don't mean to suggest that "by feel" is no good, but just that "by numbers" is a way for us lesser ones to learn about what's going on.
donald

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