Author: clarinetguy ★2017
Date: 2016-10-22 18:29
Chris, very interesting comments about a possible sulfur/rotten egg smell from ebonite.
A couple years ago, I noticed something interesting when purchasing a new sax mouthpiece. The choices were two made from hard rubber, a Fobes (can't remember which model) and a Vandoren Optimum. They were both good, but the two looked and smelled very different from each other. The Fobes had a less polished or less shiny appearance, and had a very slight sulfur smell (not enough, though, to prevent me from buying it). The shiny Vandoren, the one I did buy, had absolutely no odor.
I don't think either mouthpiece was made from rod rubber. I suspect they were molded from slightly different rubber compounds, or perhaps the finish on both is different. Someone once told me there is a little plastic in Vandoren hard rubber mouthpieces, but I don't know if this is true.
I'm not an expert in the chemistry of molded rubber, but perhaps there's a way to produce ebonite that doesn't have discoloration/smell issues. Do Tom Rindenhour's ebonite clarinets have these problems?
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