Author: Micke Isotalo ★2017
Date: 2019-01-08 14:11
Paul Aviles raised this question in another recent thread, which interests also me. As he wrote: "Can we have 34-37mm length facings on Boehm mouthpieces? And would that change the basic sound? For better? For worse?" (I made a new thread just to get the heading more in line with this specific question.)
For my part I "discovered" the former PlayEasy mouthpieces with Viennese facings just about two years ago, together with Reform Boehm clarinets. Before that I had played on both French and German mouthpieces on the same clarinets. Those Viennese mouthpieces gives me a lot more fullness to the sound compared to any other ones. In some wild experiments with these mouthpieces also on regular Boehm clarinets I've found out the same (though tuning have been problematic).
In this forum I've also seen a few others playing regular Boehm clarinets with Viennese mouthpieces (of course either the tenon of the mouthpiece or the socket of the barrel must be altered to suit each other dimensionally).
Thus I don't see why a very long facing couldn't be applied also on an otherwise regular Boehm mouthpiece. It would be very interesting to hear if some mouthpiece maker have tried that, and with what results.
At the same time I wonder what exactly gives the unique fullness in sound that I get from those Viennese PlayEasy mouthpieces, since I don't actually think it's only about the very long facings. When I tried out the former Vandoren Viennese mouthpieces (the VA0 and VA5, now replaced by the new W270 - which I've not tried) they didn't have that same kind of fullness in their sound at all, though the facings are very long. The Maxton Viennese ones that I've tried are closer to the PlayEasy ones, but still not a the same level (I've tried both acrylic and rubber ones).
The answer is probably that it's about the combination of the facing and other aspects of the design of the mouthpieces. Still I think that the very long facing itself is a crucial part of this equation. Perhaps even to the point that a very long facing would always add fullness to the tone, no matter how the mouthpiece is designed otherwise? A comment from a mouthpiece maker would be most welcomed. Brad, are you here? 
On the other hand and when it comes to the tip opening, I personally don't think that the typically very closed openings of most Viennese mouthpieces may be necessary. My PlayEasy A' mouthpieces have a larger than usual tip opening for a Viennese facing, and the blowing resistance is just a little, little bit higher compared to typical "non-Austrian" mouthpieces. The mouthpiece itself must however be taken a lot deeper into the mouth (by the way, in my experience also such French/German PlayNick mouthpieces as the former Solist M must be taken deeper into the mouth compared to other ones, but not as deep as the Viennese ones).
Generally speaking, I think there would always be a niche on the market for a mouthpiece with the most possible fullness in sound - also at the possible expence of some other aspects of the sound, such as projection, highest possible volume, variability in color, etc. If a very long facing is a prerequisite for that, I hope that at least some mouthpiece maker will take on that challenge, also on Boehm mouthpieces.
Post Edited (2019-01-09 11:59)
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