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Re: Mouthpiece which plays sharper

Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2023-10-30 13:09

It took a while for me to come up a way to articulate the issue. So I would say that when a manufacturer makes a range of barrel lengths they are saying that is the practical range before there are issues of the short tube vs long tube tuning that cannot be overcome. I would say that until you reach that practical limit, you don't know what it is.

For example I played German pitched Wurlitzer 100Cs here in the United states just fine. Yes, I used the longest barrels and pulled out fairly substantially but the result was quite acceptable. Conversely, I tried a Uebel Oehler system clarinet also pitched for Germany and when I did the same sort of accommodation for pitch, the bottom of the horn was still too high in pitch to make that practical.

One last example is that I too use Legere reeds (currently the Signature Soprano Saxophone reeds) which tend to make the pitch lower to begin with. On my Leblanc Opus II I use a custom sized 62mm Copeland Clarinets barrel that works great. Often times the barrel is only pulled out about 1mm and the pitch is fine throughout the range.

The poster's issue is whether it is better to change mouthpieces. The non 13 Series will help too but a barrel that is shorter cannot be ruled without trying it.

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

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