 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: saxlite
Date: 2013-08-13 22:59
My Fred Rast 3 mouthpiece plays very well on my Selmer 10G, but plays very sharp in the throat tones on my Selmer Centered Tone. Can anyone suggest a more suitable mouthpiece that can play in tune on this good old large bore clarinet?
Jerry
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2013-08-14 02:01
First try pulling out at the top and bottom of the barrel by about 2 mm. This will lower the throat tones without affecting the other notes too badly. If this makes the mouthpiece and barrel unstable, get tuning ring to fill the gaps.
Ken Shaw
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Author: SteveG_CT
Date: 2013-08-14 07:00
I've been using a Woodwind K9 mouthpiece on my CT's with pretty good results.
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Author: sonicbang
Date: 2013-08-14 07:42
I had the chance recently to try a full Boehm CT with all of my mouthpieces. I felt that the Selmer oval HS* (with a fresh facing, close to the original) was the best match regarding intonation. You might want to get an original Selmer mouthpiece from the 50's or -60's and have it adjusted to your needs.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2013-08-14 08:23
Has your CT got the original 67mm barrel? That's the standard length for them, so if you have anything shorter it can cause the throat notes to go sharp. If your barrel has been shortened, either use tuning rings or keep a lookout for a 67mm CT barrel (which are increasingly hard to find). You could have a more recent barrel bored up to CT spec if you can't find a genuine CT barrel that hasn't been shortened.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: gkern
Date: 2013-08-14 14:12
My CT sounds best with a Selmer C85 105 mouthpiece and a 64mm barrel. A Selmer HS* refaced by Scott Kurtzweil seems to play in tune also.
Gary K
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Author: saxlite
Date: 2013-08-14 23:11
Thanks for all the suggestions, folks. I do have a few old Selmer HS* around here somewhere- I'll try to find them and see what happens. Note the interesting contrast between Chris P's indication for a 67mm length vs. Gary K's suggestion for a 64mm barrel-quite a difference. I'll have to look into all of this. Chris P- can you send me the bore specs for a CT barrel-thanks.
Jerry
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Author: BartHx
Date: 2013-08-15 21:24
I found most of my mouthpieces rather resistant on my CT. My brother was playing a CT in the 1960s and his instructor suggested a Portnoy BP02 for him to use. He has since moved on to an R13 for his primary instrument, so I borrowed his Portnoy mouthpiece. That led me to buy a new one. I find it very free blowing and responsive.
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Author: BartHx
Date: 2013-08-15 21:40
I found most of my mouthpieces rather resistant on my CT. My brother was playing a CT in the 1960s and his instructor suggested a Portnoy BP02 for him to use. He has since moved on to an R13 for his primary instrument, so I borrowed his Portnoy mouthpiece. That led me to buy a new one. I find it very free blowing and responsive with good intonation.
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Author: gkern
Date: 2013-08-15 22:58
The Portnoy BP02 is good on CT; I had been using it before I switched to the Selmer CT85 105 - what a difference! But the Portnoy was good...
Gary K
Post Edited (2013-08-15 22:59)
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Author: Vytas
Date: 2013-08-16 16:44
Small bore Selmer C85 Series mouthpieces are made for a new generation small bore clarinets like Recital, Signature, Omega Paris etc. These mouthpieces will play sharp in the throat tones on a Selmer CT. Any large bore mouthpiece is a better match for a Selmer "Centered Tone" than Selmer C85 Series mouthpiece.
The best match for a Selmer "Centered Tone" is the original Selmer "Oval" mouthpiece. By the way, these Selmer "Oval" mouthpieces from the 1950's are some of the best mouthpieces ever made by Selmer.
Vytas Krass
Custom clarinet mouthpiece maker
Professional clarinet technician
Former professional clarinet player
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Author: gkern
Date: 2013-08-16 18:48
OK Vytas - until now, you had been near or at the top of folks on the forum whose knowledge of vintage clarinets I respected, but now - you are tops! You explained very clearly why a larger bore MP was better.
I might have liked the C85 as it eliminated the flat Bb on the CT, I don't know. And by my crude measurements, it and the Portnoy have nearly the same bore, so it makes sense they would be similar.
Well, after reading your post, I dug out some large bore mouthpieces - Woodwind Co. K9, Penzel-Mueller by George Jenney, Vandoren 5JB, and even an old Vito Melodia - and guess what? They all played better on the CT than the C85! True, Bb is again more flat, but it can be "lipped" into tune. The K9, which seemed to do the best, will now replace the C85 in the CT case. (I didn't try the Brilhart Tonalin, but it would probably do well also)
Gary K
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2013-08-16 20:57
I use Vandoren A1 crystals with my CT and Series 9 clarinets as these have large bores. Also on my old Selmer basset horn which has a crook bore of 15.2mm.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: Vytas
Date: 2013-08-17 01:11
Gary,
K9 is an excellent choice for your CT. To make it work even better I would shorten it a bit (approximately by 1 mm).
You can send your K9 mouthpiece to me and I'll match it to a CT and touch-up the facing at no charge. You pay for shipping.
Vytas Krass
Custom clarinet mouthpiece maker
Professional clarinet technician
Former professional clarinet player
Post Edited (2013-08-17 01:27)
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Author: saxlite
Date: 2013-08-21 05:03
Chris-
the barrel on my CT measures 66.7mm which is in the ballpark. Can you send me the input and exit bore dimensions for a CT barrel? Maybe I can get someone to make a few longer versions. I'm having Fred Rast cook me up a mouthpiece based on an old HS* blank with a much more open facing. Hopefully, I'll get some combination to work well.
Thanks,
Jerry
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Author: Jeroen
Date: 2013-08-21 12:11
I also like the crystal mouthpieces for my Selmer CT, RI and B&H 926.
They match very well with big bores, both for sound and intonation.
On small bore clarinets they can feel a bit restrictive or stuffy.
Even on my German Wurlitzers I use sometimes a French crystal mpc.
I use(d) Vandoren A2, A3, Zinner 5, Buffet 5 crystal mpcs. (All made by Pomarico of course). Quality of facing is not very consistent, you really have to try a lot.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2013-08-21 12:26
Hi Jerry, I haven't got any tools to measure the bores (my verniers won't go into the bore due to the socket depths), although I'm sure someone on here has these measurements that they're willing to share.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: gkern
Date: 2013-08-26 23:49
Attachment: side_200.jpg (26k)
Attachment: bottom_400.jpg (39k)
Okay, just received the refaced/shortened K9 mouthpiece from Vytas; it truly tuned my CT into a new horn - unbelievable intonation improvement while very easy blowing, and what a tone!
And, it was grungy, like old mpcs get, but it now looks like a new one.
Vytas, you're a master artisan of clarinets.
Gary K
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