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Re: Fobes CWF vs CF

Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2021-01-15 12:51

I have just acquired a wonderful new mouthpiece from Brad Behn and I have three of Clark Fobes' mouthpieces..........all of which are "free blowing" or "not free blowing" depending on how I play them (two customized C12s and a straight up CF+, blue version from Wesley Rice).

I think I inartfully trying to say that the designator "free blowing" is about as helpful as saying, "dark" or "bright" or most of those common words we use to market mouthpieces. For myself, I have found BASIC dimensions of facing that get me in the ballpark of what works for me, then try out OTHER differences offered by other makers (or other styles within a maker's opus) to assess what those differences offer to ME and how I play (sometimes this can get expensive for just foolin' around).

An audio engineering instructor once told me that talking about how something "sounds" is like dancing about architecture. So the best advice for mouthpieces is to try them and find out whether the subtle differences are better or worse for how you play.

One other example:

For ME, really thick rails make a mouthpiece less........"free blowing" and make the sound stuffy and unresponsive. Quite a few years ago now (probably not available anywhere now) there was a Vandoren video of a top Italian clarinet player making the most beautiful, responsive, crisp sounds on a Vandoren M30. I would have said that sounding like that on an M30 was impossible until I heard that fellow play like that. But don't tell him his mouthpiece was not "free blowing."

.....................Paul Aviles

Post Edited (2021-01-15 15:17)

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