Author: Micke Isotalo ★2017
Date: 2012-08-06 12:25
You who are playing these clarinets, what mouthpieces, reeds, ligatures, barrels and possible other accessories have you tried – and what’s your current choice? Has anyone tried the Backun barrels for German bore, and if so, how did they perform compared to the original ones – both concerning sound and intonation?
I play on a model 187 set from 2002 and right now the setup I prefer on the Bb is a Viotto N1+2 mouthpiece, Foglietta E* #3 reeds, the Wurlitzer string-ligature and the original Wurlitzer barrels. The Viotto mp is partly a compromise, since although I prefer its sound in the low and high registers (= below and above the staff) the Wurlitzer N1 with Foglietta E* #3 reeds and the Vandoren Traditional ligature (the string-like one) sounds better in the middle register (= within the staff).
On the A my current preferred setup is a Zinner M3R mouthpiece, Foglietta E* #3 reeds, the Vandoren Traditional ligature, and the original Wurlitzer barrels. Also the Zinner is a compromise with some good qualities in the low and middle registers, but in the high register my preference would be the Viotto N1+2 with Foglietta E* #3 reeds, the BG L7SR "Super Revelation"-ligature (the one with a gold plated resonator) and without any added mouthpiece cushion between the upper surface of the mouthpiece and the ligature (on the Bb such a cushion together with the same ligature and mouthpiece improves the sound, but does the opposite on the A …).
Recently I did a quite thorough comparison of the following mouthpieces:
• Wurlitzer N1
• Wurlitzer 3WZ (for French cut reeds)
• Vandoren M30D (also for French cut reeds and a German bore)
• Zinner M3R (nowadays called 3MR, originally designed for Yamaha’s Reform-Boehm models)
• Viotto N1+2
Other mouthpieces I have tried before are Wurlitzer M4, M5+, K4, and Vandoren VD2 (for German cut reeds) – which I however ruled out from this recent comparison.
The reeds included in this comparison were:
• Foglietta E* #3 and #2,5
• Foglietta C* #3
• Vandoren White Master #3
• Vandoren Black Master #3
• Vandoren Rue le Pic #3
• Vandoren V12 #3
• Vandoren Traditional
• Schwenk & Seggelke French cut #3
The ligatures were:
• Wurlitzer string
• Vandoren Traditional
• BG L7SR "Super Revelation" (with a gold plated resonator). This one both with and without a mouthpiece cushion between the upper surface of the mouthpiece and the ligature.
• BG Traditional (whole metal and gold plated), also with and without a mouthpiece cushion between the mouthpiece and ligature).
I didn’t include barrels this time, but about a year ago I tried out a lot of barrels for a German bore from Schwenk & Seggelke. For short, the sound quality of the S&S barrels was close to Wurlitzer's original ones, but not superior. Blowing resistance was generally a little bit higher, with some variation between different models. Tuning-wise these barrels were also quite equal to Wurlitzer’s, except of the highest register which was sharper (c3-c4, according to European labelling of octaves).
I would also like to mention that as a basis for my comparisons concerning sound quality, I use digital recordings of quite high quality. Then I compare the recordings - or even short parts from them – in pairs on a computer and in instant succession, which helps a lot in discerning the differences.
I will probably soon open also another thread about the differences in sound between my Wurlitzer Bb and A clarinets and especially about a hissing noise on certain tones (especially on the Bb and B within the staff), which is present only on the A but not on the Bb.
Micke Isotalo
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The Clarinet BBoard
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