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 Alto Clarinet mouthpiece suggestions
Author: Elrod the Albino 
Date:   2008-02-28 06:56

I've got a Buffet Alto Clarinet Professional model from 1968 that I got at a pawn shop. It needs a bit of work and adjustment, but I can already tell that the mouthpiece is definitely causing most of the problems. Any suggestions, both mid range price and high range would be great.

I'd love to get this thing working although I have no idea when Id use it anymore.

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 Re: Alto Clarinet mouthpiece suggestions
Author: tictactux 2017
Date:   2008-02-28 07:42

Budget solution: Yamaha 4C.

If over time you're unhappy with it, you can either ditch it in favour of a "better" one or have David Spiegelthal reface it for you.

--
Ben

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 Re: Alto Clarinet mouthpiece suggestions
Author: clarnibass 
Date:   2008-02-28 08:14

I use a Vandoren B40 and think it's excellent.

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 Re: Alto Clarinet mouthpiece suggestions
Author: Ebclarinet1 
Date:   2008-02-28 12:19

In the mid-price range the Hite is excellent both for the basset horn and the alto. Very big sound and excellent over the throat notes where many are not. In my hands (lips?). it's better than the VanDoren 5RV.

Can't believe you got a Buffet alto clarinet from a PAWN SHOP! It must be near Julliard!

Eefer guy

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 Re: Alto Clarinet mouthpiece suggestions
Author: klarenet 
Date:   2008-02-28 14:49

I'm also currently using a Hite on the alto I'm playing. The instrument is falling apart, but just the mouthpiece change did wonders for the clarity of sound I'm able to produce.

Karen

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 Re: Alto Clarinet mouthpiece suggestions
Author: rsholmes 
Date:   2008-02-28 15:02

I note with amusement the following from Hite's web site (http://floridarail.com/jdhite/default.htm):

"J&D HITE professional clarinet mouthpieces for all the clarinets, Eb soprano down through bass clarinet"

Who wants to be the one to tell them those aren't "all the clarinets"?



Post Edited (2008-02-28 16:57)

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 Re: Alto Clarinet mouthpiece suggestions
Author: Don Berger 
Date:   2008-02-28 15:54

To repeat MY previous Alto cl mp suggestions, my best-sounding one is a Pomarico [glass] #3. Don

Thanx, Mark, Don

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 Re: Alto Clarinet mouthpiece suggestions
Author: D Dow 
Date:   2008-03-09 19:13

I would defintely say the B40 for intents and purposes.

David Dow

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 Re: Alto Clarinet mouthpiece suggestions
Author: Merlin_Williams 
Date:   2008-03-12 01:55

The B40 is my fave too, though I have a Hite as a backup piece.

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 Re: Alto Clarinet mouthpiece suggestions
Author: C2thew 
Date:   2008-03-12 06:27

ditto on the comments of the yamaha 4c. if your on a budget, this mouthpiece is fairly decent as a stock mouthpiece.

Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. they are but improved means to an unimproved end, an end which was already but too easy to arrive as railroads lead to Boston to New York
-Walden; Henry Thoreau

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 Re: Alto Clarinet mouthpiece suggestions
Author: Ebclarinet1 
Date:   2008-03-14 11:25

Just received a Portnoy alto mouthpiece yesterday and did a comparison of it with two Hite's and all the other alto mouthpieces I own, although I used a LeBlanc basset horn as the test system.

The Portnoy alto gave the best low notes of all tested but it was weaker on everything above the break than the Hites.

The Grabner, Garrett, and Pomarico #2 were all about even in my hands/ lips. Each had certain strengths and weaknesses and gave different tone qualities than the Hite, some giving a more penetrating tone (the Pomarico), or better low notes (the Grabner and Garrett), that might warrant their use in specific solo passages. The better Hite beat all of these across the board, although this might be more due to the fact that I used a reed (Gonzalez 2 3/4 alto sax reed) and ligature (van Doren Optimum) that worked well on the Hite. Probably need to maximize for each.

The stock LeBlanc mouthpiece that came with the basset horn ranked last of all of those tried, although it was not hideous.

This is a VERY unscientific study but thought it might be of some use to those looking for alto mouthpieces.

Eefer guy

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 Re: Alto Clarinet mouthpiece suggestions
Author: beejay 
Date:   2008-03-15 00:13

Vandoren B40 with VD alto sax No 3. jazz reeds works well on my basset horn, but not nearly as well as the mouthpiece I bought from Pillinger in London.

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 Re: Alto Clarinet mouthpiece suggestions
Author: Ebclarinet1 
Date:   2008-03-15 13:09

Beejay,

OK not that I NEED another mouthpiece, what was the Pillinger mouthpiece you described?

Eefer guy

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 Re: Alto Clarinet mouthpiece suggestions
Author: crnichols 
Date:   2008-03-15 13:28

I always enjoyed playing on a Selmer C* on the alto clarinet. From what I understand, Walter Grabner makes a worldclass alto clarinet mouthpiece.

Christopher Nichols, D.M.A.
Assistant Professor of Clarinet
University of Delaware

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 Re: Alto Clarinet mouthpiece suggestions
Author: LCL 
Date:   2008-03-15 23:15

Walter Grabner make a knock-out of an AC mpc. I own and play one on my Leblanc, and it runs circles around the stock one.

Regards,

LCL

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 Re: Alto Clarinet mouthpiece suggestions
Author: beejay 
Date:   2008-03-16 00:11

Eefer guy,
You can find him at:
http://www.pillingermouthpieces.co.uk/
BJ

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