 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: rgoldem
Date: 2017-07-23 20:06
What are the differences between an H-frame and an A-frame mouthpiece in terms of tuning and also tonal qualities?
I own a Grabner CXZ-AW A-frame mouthpiece that helps me quite a lot with intonation matters and Mr. Grabner himself confirmed that the “A” provides a mellower experience in the throat tones and a smoother tone overall.
However, I don’t understand the rationale behind this. Can anyone provide me more details of this as a fact or it is just a subjective impression? Mouthpiece discussions are always relative but an insightful view may help me understand this phenomena. Also, if my impression is correct why is so difficult to find A-frame mouthpieces nowadays?
Thank you.
P.S: English is not my mother tongue; please excuse any errors on my part.
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Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2017-07-24 04:50
rgoldem wrote:
> I own a Grabner CXZ-AW A-frame mouthpiece that helps me quite a
> lot with intonation matters and Mr. Grabner himself confirmed
> that the “A” provides a mellower experience in the throat
> tones and a smoother tone overall.
>
My only experience with an angle-walled mouthpiece is with the same one you have. I do find the sound of the CXZ-AW is more mellow. I'm not sure why it would help with intonation. It might change certain tuning tendencies in the scale, but then I would think the mouthpiece's overall design would have to be adjusted to compensate. Mouthpieces need ultimately to produce a scale that's in tune at least as much as to be responsive.
Walter is very knowledgeable and would probably be able to tell you as much as can be told about this.
> Also, if my impression is correct why is so
> difficult to find A-frame mouthpieces nowadays?
>
I don't know if it's hard to find angle-walled (A-frame) mouthpieces in Europe. Someone else might comment. I don't think the color they tend to give the sound is so popular in the U.S., although I'm sure there are players using them. The blanks Walter Grabner uses are made by Zinner. There must be other makers using them and other players they're being sold to.
Karl
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Author: seabreeze
Date: 2017-07-24 06:34
Ben Redwine has recently advertised, on the famous Internet auction site, an A-frame model made from a Zinner blank. Brad Behn uses a gently angled A frame chamber on his small chamber EPIC model, and a more sharply angled A frame on his large chamber EPIC and his SONO models. So those are two current American mouthpiece makers who provide A frame chambers as a regular feature. In the past, some of the mouthpieces made by Ralph Morgan had A chambers. I haven't looked at current Morgan pieces to see if this is still the case. One model in the old Jerry Hall mouthpiece line also had an A chamber. In Europe, mouthpieces for Oehler system clarinets usually feature rather large chambers with a pronounced A shape. (See Hans Viotto pieces, for instance).
Post Edited (2017-07-24 06:55)
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