Hello,

I work with Babbitt blanks every day (on clarinet only) and find some 
variation between deliveries of rubber/sulphur content.  What doesn't 
vary, however, is that the softer batches produce the best sounding 
mouthpieces.  As mentioned, they are harder to control on sandpaper, 
but if you are careful, it's not a problem.  Because the superior 
finished mouthpieces are on the softer rubber, I guess, I actually 
prefer working with the soft rubber better.  This is merely a guess, 
but I assume that softer rubber means lower sulphur content in the 
rubber.  This is somewhat counter-intuitive because, as was mentioned 
before, these softer mouthpieces do have an acrid smell, which would 
indicate higher sulphur content.  There are other variables, of 
course, like less drying time in the vulcanization machine, etc.  

--- redw1ne <ben@...> wrote:
> I work with Babbitt blanks every day (on clarinet only) and find some 
> variation between deliveries of rubber/sulphur content. 

Do you test for this somehow?


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