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Re: New Vandoren Masters Mouthpieces

Author: Paul Miller
Date: 2011-03-29 06:31

NBeaty, I'll answer your question and then give some more unsolicited opinions/impressions about the Masters mouthpieces.

Pitch is about consistent with the non-440 Vandoren mouthpieces, somewhere between 441-442. I couldn't tell you what it wants to do with an R13 since I haven't played on one in over a year now... but the other players in my studio seem to have fairly good results when they pull out a bit more than usual at the barrel.

On my Fobes CWF I have been using V12 4.5 reeds cut down to about a medium 4. With the CL4 I was getting good results with a V12 4 out of the box, but I think I might take a very small amount of material to loosen things up just a bit.

Then again, I also like the Rue Lepic 4s on the Masters mpcs. I usually adjust the V12 to have a similar profile to Rue Lepic reeds (i.e., higher center, lower rails), but the RL reeds work quite nicely on the CL4 and CL5. Basically, if you're using well-matched reeds to a Zinner blank with a reasonably narrow tip opening, you can expect to go down a half strength on whatever kind of reed you're using to make things work well. If you're already on a mouthpiece with a fairly open tip you might not have to make any changes to your reed.

We had a Vandoren night here at SFCM a few hours ago and I tried a few more mouthpieces. I still like the CL4 better than the CL5 - on my setup it works VERY nicely. If you are using a fairly resistant setup, the CL5 might feel more familiar to you. I picked out a pair of well-matched CL4s and will continue taking notes, so keep your eye on this thread if you're interested in these mouthpieces.

I think it's worth noting that one of my favorite players in the studio (a young man who scares the hell out of me; we'd all better get jobs soon because he'll drop into the audition circuit like an atom bomb) prefers the German version of the M30 mouthpiece to either the CL4 or CL5. He's playing on cocobolo Fobes barrels on a fairly decent set of R13 mouthpieces. I tried his setup tonight - didn't work for me at all, but he and I seem to blend extremely well together. I'm not sure if that's because our weird equipment setups just work well together or if it's because we have similar tone concepts, but it's a good reminder that there's no reason to change gear if you already have something that works well for you. I'm not sure if I'm just having a bit of a honeymoon with these CL4s or not. It might just be a flash in the pan, who knows....

I'm playing on a set of Schwenk & Seggelke M1000 instruments. I have a set of Backun cocobolo barrels that aren't working well with my instruments + CL4s (although they work VERY nicely with the CWF mouthpieces...), so I've gone back to the (really excellent) stock barrels that came with the horns. This setup seems to work a bit better. I'm using a 67mm on the Bb and a 66mm on the A to compensate for the sharpness of the mouthpiece.

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New Vandoren Masters Mouthpieces new

Raff P

2011-03-17 09:36