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Re: Vandoren M30 Mouthpiece

Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2017-09-20 09:34

Sorry folks I have to disagree. It is NOT a good mouthpiece. Yes it was made to tune to 440. But get out your meters. The 10th's are horrible. Softer reeds go flat in the upper register unless you bite a bit. Do you like sore lower lips?

The BD5 is a better mouthpiece. It is shorter, plays better in tune, and is played on by a lot of top symphony pros. We shouldn't allow Vandoren to SHOVE - out of tune mouthpieces in our faces for the American sound. What do they know? What is the American sound? They don't know. I'm not sure if we know. Their concept is WRONG. Same with Buffet. Shoving the American sound in our faces. This is just so wrong at so many levels. Buffet's R13 were the best horn players could buy. Now we have to buy a set up to $21,000 to play correctly. But they won't play in tune, because of the M series mouthpiece.

Hate me if you wish. The M series mouthpieces are not the way to go. The Zinner mouthpieces are not either. In fact the German Zinner's play so much better than the French Zinner's. It's like night and day.

At the ClarinetFest this year everyone sounded the same. No one had that great sound. Upper registers were out of tune and I left the Fest ANGRY. I was really upset hearing only average sounds and dead sounds. So where is the clarinet sound heading? It is up to us to demand giving us only quality gear. The great sounds are here for us to enjoy. There are still a lot of players with beautiful sounds. We must follow their footsteps.

The best production mouthpiece on the market right now are the new Selmer's.

Buy one and you will see what I'm talking about. They cost about $125 or less. They are that good.

If we stop supporting out of tune Vandoren M series mouthpieces made for America, maybe they will fix them. Play one against the new Selmer's and you will see why I am saying this. They also beat the Rico mouthpieces by far. The bores on the Rico mouthpieces are too small and the bores on the Vandoren's are too big. So you get out of tune horns. Then you go out and buy a $10,000 to correct the out of tune mouthpiece. Then you buy another matching A clarinet. So you are now $21,000 in the hole just to try to play that dang Vandoren M series mouthpiece in tune. Oh, you can buy that special $1300 ligature too that will help the reed vibrate better on the out of tune M series mouthpiece that is very close to 1/16" too long in length. This is about the thickness of a penny, or the distance of more than a 65mm barrel and a 66 1/2mm barrel. Hope this makes sense now.

Auditioning for a decent symphony or a band, this could cost you to lose the audition. It's that serious.

However if you are playing for your own enjoyment, a community group, it probably doesn't matter. Just remember you could sound alot better.

Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces

Yamaha Artist 2015

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