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Mouthpiece Question

Author: JenW
Date: 2007-02-01 00:27

I want a dark round sound out of my clarinet. I think the problem is in my mouthpiece. I play on a Larry Combs 3. My question is what type of facing do I need to look at to get that dark woody sound? And, what do the different facing types mean?

Thanks in Advance

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Re: Mouthpiece Question

Author: William
Date: 2007-02-01 16:18

Basically, the term "facing" refers to the tip opening, width or shape of the tip and length of curve of your mouthpiece. These have most to do with the response of your sound and dictates the strength of reed you can use. The quality--"dark, woody" as you say--of your sound is more a result of the shape and depth of your baffle as well as the thickness of the rails and side walls. Generally, a darker sound is acheived with a deeper baffle, but you really need to try a mouthpiece to gauge its own playing characteristics and not rely just on the "surface" information like, facing and model. Not all Kaspars and Chedevilles play the same--you need to decide.

BTW, I have a couple of LC #3s that play with the sound you describe. But I chose them from a lot of 14 and these two were made from different blanks. It was this production inconsistancy by LeBlanc that caused Larry Combs to withdraw his advocacy of them some years ago (although he probably still collects royalties from the use of his name). I just "got lucky" and found a couple good ones--at least, for me...........................

My main mpc is an original Chicago Kaspar #14.

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Re: Mouthpiece Question

Author: Matt Locker
Date: 2007-02-01 16:25

JenW:

Look into a Grabner AW. It's got the smoothest sound that I can generate. I demoed a number of mpc's before purchasing this one. The tradeoff is that it's more resistant. That characteristic may drive me to something less dark but it may be what you are looking for.

MOO,
Matt

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Re: Mouthpiece Question

Author: saxlite
Date: 2007-02-01 20:34

I have three LC3's- they all played quite differently and seemed to be from different blanks- I had one favorite and took all three to Fred Rast- he copied the facing of my favorite to to the other two and now they are all quite similar (but not identical). The "dark, round sound" came after Fred adjusted my embouchure. I basically agree with Willliam's comments above.

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