 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: gigaday
Date: 2011-05-21 13:11
I have a Vandoren hard rubber mouthpiece that I have used for about 2 years. I use fibre reinforced synthetic reeds, quite a hard material. The rails of the mouthpiece show signs of wear although it can't really be that much, but there is a definite worsening of the sound quality when compared to a new mouthpiece of the same model.
Is this much what people would expect? I know that the mouthpiece manufacturers say they don't last for ever, but then they obviously want to sell replacements, I guess.
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Author: kdk
Date: 2011-05-21 13:56
Under normal circumstances a mouthpiece should last much longer than two years even under heavy use. Are you sure those "signs of wear" weren't manufacturing marks that were there from the start? What do these signs look like?
When you say there's a "definite worsening of the sound quality when compared to a new mouthpiece of the same model," are you also saying that this mouthpiece has itself deteriorated, that it sounds worse than it did when you first bought it (without comparing to some other mouthpiece)?
It may be that the "signs of wear" are causing the deterioration in sound, but it doesn't necessarily follow that the "fibre reinforced synthetic reeds" (Forestone?) have caused the wear.
Karl
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2011-05-21 14:20
At the 1998 ClarinetFest workshop in Columbus, there was a mouthpiece makers' round table, with Tom Ridenour, Charles Bay, James Pyne, Ralph Morgan and several others. I asked them how long one of their mouthpieces would last in prime condition with daily use, and they agreed that it should be touched up after about a year.
They said that one of the signs of wear is that tongued notes in the clarion become "tender" or unstable.
Tom Ridenour said one way to tell extreme wear is to wet the lay lightly, hold the mouthpiece on the bottom of a piece of plate glass and roll it forward along the lay, looking at it from the other side of the glass. If you see circular patterns along the lay, or if there are any places where the water doesn't make an even seal, then the mouthpiece is in serious trouble.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2011-05-21 15:07
I've been using my Morgan MP for 20 years now, plays as good, better actually, then the first day I used it, and I play it a lot. I used my very old Selmer C** bass clarinet MPs for 40 years before I replaced it, and only because I found one I like better. Never had either one "touched" up. ESP http://eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: gigaday
Date: 2011-05-21 16:40
Thanks for the responses. It sounds like it's a bit of a "how long is a piece of string question". It's definitely wear that I am seeing on the rails and, although it doesn't look like enough to make a difference, either that or something else about the mouthpiece makes it inferior to the new one of the same model.
I think the old one was better when it was new, but it's hard to be sure at this stage.
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