 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: john gibson
Date: 2002-03-27 23:10
I just got back from a trip to Mesa (right outside phoenix) to see if this old repair tech might have a barrel for my SILVER KING. He didn't...thought he did, but at 84 years old he couldn't remember if there was one left in his box of parts. He's been repairing band instruments for 66 years! It took me an hour and a half to leave, because of all the stories he had to tell me while working? (yeah right) in his 8'x10' shop. Which by the way was loaded with saxes and sax parts....and trumpets hanging from every possible nook and cranny. Clarinets were in varying disarray on his work bench. Proceeded to tell me his life story. He worked music shops in New York and Chicago until he bought his own in Milwaukee. That's where he met Benny Goodman. Claims to have worked on Benny's horn(s) a number of times. Said he was having a sale one day. Lots of customers when Benny came in for an adjustment.
Asked him to put on a demonstration, and to prove to the parents and kids that it's not the horn but the mouthpiece (must have had a sale on them) had Benny play three different clarinets behind a curtain. A metal, a plastic and a wooden. Says no one could tell the difference, because Benny used his own MPC on all three. Hard to tell if it's a true story or just an old man trying to keep the ear of company, but I thought "there's a lot of truth to that mouthpiece info."
Long story short. Just got a used Selmer HS**. Really good condition, but it sounds stuffy and is very reisistant. Thought it would be a nice compromise between my Vandoren 5jb and Selmer crystal with a #3 facing. Tried it on both my R-13 and old Conn changing between four different barrels and using a variety of ligs, but no real improvement.
Anyone have a suggestion. Oh I did change reeed strengths as well.....Still seems hard to blow, while my Selmer crystal is as easy as ...well....pie. Again any suggestions?
Thanks for letting me ramble.....
John
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Author: jbuter
Date: 2002-03-28 01:03
I've found Selmer HS* mouthpieces to be very inconsistent. I have one that plays extremely well.
jbutler
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Author: Edog
Date: 2002-03-28 01:13
How do you like your selmer, I have the same piece?
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Author: john gibson
Date: 2002-03-28 01:35
edog....
jury still out on the HS**....first blow was pretty good....second time around was HMMMMM????.....now it seems.....I'm getting a lot of squeaks.....and I Am better than that!....I'll just keep blwoing until I determine if I've wasted my money. My Selmer Crystal however is a great MPC....so was my Pomarico diamond until I got careless!!!!!
John
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Author: Bob
Date: 2002-03-28 10:00
Very interesting story,John, and I bet you're not even 84. I know a similar guy who says he has "Halfzeimers". I asked him what that was and he said he only forgot half of what he used to know. Benny behind a screen...sure...who knows what he played back there. Anyway, I wold have to agree that the mouthpiece...alone...might be responsible for about 40% of the quality of the sound...or is it 80%?
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2002-03-28 14:48
The Selmer HS* is medium close. I find most of them stuffy. The HS** is medium open. I find most of them free-blowing, but a bit too open and lacking in center. Your results will almost certainly vary.
New Selmer clarinets in the 1950s and 60s, and perhaps into the 70s, shipped with an HS* as the stock mouthpiece. Some may have shipped with and HS**. These mouthpieces had the name of the facing stamped in an oval at the butt end of the table.
According to Ralph Morgan, who worked for Selmer, you should avoid these older mouthpieces if they have a shiny lay. He says they were faced by a machine with a tiny diamond that scratched across the rubber at microscopic intervals, producing a lay that was perfect but dull. The American distributor had the lay polished on Croton cloth by unskilled workers, which made it shiny but ruined the mouthpiece.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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Author: drew
Date: 2002-03-28 14:50
Re Benny Goodman...Benny often played on a Selmer Bundy resonite instrument when he played Vegas (late in his career). Apparently he was uncomfortable with wood instruments in very dry climates. Of course that Bundy was "tweaked" to the max, but it's another anecdote regarding the relative insignificance of the instrument as compared to the player, mouthpiece, reed, etc.....
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Author: John Scorgie
Date: 2002-03-28 18:04
The HS** facing is similar to a B45. It should be, as Ken Shaw stated just above, "free blowing" but somewhat "lacking in center". If you can locate a good mpce mechanic, ask him or her to clean up the facing. Your description of the problem suggests either a warp in the table, uneven side rails or a tiny leak at the tip rail. HS** mpces have been faulted for many reasons, but "stuffy" is not one of them.
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Author: David Spiegelthal
Date: 2002-03-28 18:59
I've found that many of the Selmer mouthpiece facings are extremely short in length, yet have fairly close tips, a sure recipe for stuffiness. The blanks are basically very good, so these are excellent candidates for refacing.
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Author: John Scorgie
Date: 2002-03-28 19:37
Good point, Dave S. I last played an HS** 40+ years ago. At that time, the HS** facing was rather open and ~3/4" long, which is why I had it refaced to a shorter and closer lay. I had no idea what the facing length is on the newer HS**.
I forgot to mention that another cause for stuffiness in older mpces is that someone has tried to correct nicks or scratches in the facing by truing up (flattening) the table. If any appreciable amount of material is removed in this process, the facing will be shortened, and will need to be recut in order to restore the original facing length. Recutting a facing is NOT a job for an amateur.
BTW, John Gibson, unless my memory fails me, Dave Spiegelthal, who supplied the post just above, does expert mpce refacing at a fair price and will be able to free up your HS** for you. I believe that he lives in the Balt/Wash DC area and has an email address somewhere on this website.
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