 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Ben Shaffer
Date: 2014-04-06 02:12
On Vacation, I went into an antique mall and found a very nice Normandy 4 clarinet in very good shape and bought it at a good price.
I was able to play it before I bought it. as it had a reed. The mouthpiece was a woodwind company vito 2 model and it sounds pretty nice.
Further down the road I went into yet another antique mall and found a very crappy looking no name Clarinet, but oddly it had a VanDoren B 45 Mouthpiece.
The mouthpiece looked in good shape, but was faded where the ligature rested on it.
I can buy that whole clarinet with the B45 for $50.
My question do you think the Vito from the Normandy would be a good mouthpiece or should I buy the crappy Clarinet, use the B45 Mouthpiece and turn the crappy Clarinet into a lamp?.... or should I forget about it and just buy a new B45 at around $90 for my new Normandy 4?
And yes I am a beginner :-)
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2014-04-05 22:43
I say buy a fobes Debut for a bout $30.
You couldn't even get that old B45 "touched up" or refaced for that price.
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: Ursa
Date: 2014-04-06 05:49
What alexi said: Buy a Fobes Debut for around $30. Add a Rovner "Dark" ligature, and you'll be all set.
Don't let the low price fool you--these are well-designed mouthpieces, and are hand-finished by their maker, Clark W. Fobes. The Vandorens are machine-faced and don't receive the same critical fine-tuning that the Fobes mouthpieces do.
The Debut works well with both of the Normandy clarinets in my collection.
If you must buy a Vandoren B45, I suggest that you do this: Buy a Rovner "Dark" ligature, and use the Vito II mouthpiece that you already have. When you have built up some technique using the Vito II, try a bunch of Vandoren B45 mouthpiece--they all play differently from one another and some are complete duds--and pick the one that works best for you.
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Author: Tony F
Date: 2014-04-06 07:32
The Hite Premier is around the same price as the Debut and is also an excellent mouthpiece that plays well above its price-bracket. For me they work far better than a B45.
Tony F.
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Author: TomS
Date: 2014-04-06 10:02
The B45, even in perfect shape, is not a good MP for beginners and maybe bad for some advanced players as well. It's facing is open and hard to control for people just starting out. In the Vandoren MPs, a 5RV or 5RV-lyre is really good, but at 3 times the price. A local music store here sells a bunch of B45s, but I suspect they are recommended by a popular Band Director that only plays trombone ...!
I'd consider the Fobes Debut or Hite Premier or take a look at the RE-5 or RE-10 from Tom Ridenour.
IMHO, if you find a Hite that is really good, it's as good if not better than the Fobes. I don't think the machine facing and/or hand finishing is as consistent on the Hites, but a good one is very responsive and has a bigger, more beautiful sound than the Fobes.
The Fobes, Hite and Ridenour are all made using the same blank. The Fobes and Hite are machine faced with hand finishing.
The Ridenour MPs appears to be totally hand faced and finished, but are about $60.00 street price, instead of the 30 bucks for the others. They have a dark or "covered" sound, but still have very good response. If your sound is bright and edgy, or if you like dark mellowness, try one of these.
I own several of each of the above mentioned MPs ...
Bottom line, get the Fobes to start out ... it it's not what you like, someone will buy it from you and you can move on ... for about $120.00 you can own ALL of these I've mentioned.
Good luck!
Tom
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Author: Ursa
Date: 2014-04-06 20:13
The Ridenour "Encore" and Gennusa "Mezzo" are also wonderful mouthpieces at around US$30-$40.
The Encore yields a darker, more centered tone than the others mentioned above and is somewhat resistant.
The Mezzo is tonally a little on the bright side, not as focused, very tolerant of imperfect reeds, and is free blowing. It's one of the easiest mouthpieces to play well that I've ever come across.
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