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I've just bought a new-looking Lawton 8* BR from eBay - UK item 
290034304894 http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...m)0034304894

I've got several Lawtons but have never seen one like this - it's 
got a depression in the baffle, immediately behind the tip rail. I 
think some people call this feature a "lake" and this one is sort of 
kidney shaped and about 0.5mm deep.

I've used the search facility on SOTW and found that "lakes" have 
been used on Bergs http://www.saxontheweb.net/vbulletin...ad.php?
t1559 They are said by Mojobari to "remove some high partials from 
the tone and may reduce the occurance of chirps for some players."

I know that some people find Lawtons can chirp due to a high baffle.

This piece plays really well for me - no chirping, nice Lawton 
sound, maybe a bit breathy sounding, but that could be because it's 
an 8* and I'm used to a 7.

It seems to be going in the other direction to building up the 
baffle near the tip, but possibly the front edge of the lake acts 
like a baffle and trips the air flow, or possibly the baffle has to 
be relatively high already for the lake approach to work.

Has anyone else seen such a dramatic "lake" in a mouthpiece ?

Could a "lake" be machined into a mouthpiece (seems like a fairly 
simple modification) and what would be the effect ? 

Rhys

--- In MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com, "rhysonsax" <rhysonsax@...> wrote:
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> -----------
> 
> I've just bought a new-looking Lawton 8* BR from eBay - UK item 
> 290034304894 http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...m)0034304894
> 
> I've got several Lawtons but have never seen one like this - it's 
> got a depression in the baffle, immediately behind the tip rail. I 
> think some people call this feature a "lake" and this one is sort of 
> kidney shaped and about 0.5mm deep.
> 
> I've used the search facility on SOTW and found that "lakes" have 
> been used on Bergs http://www.saxontheweb.net/vbulletin...ad.php?
> t1559 They are said by Mojobari to "remove some high partials from 
> the tone and may reduce the occurance of chirps for some players."
> 
> I know that some people find Lawtons can chirp due to a high baffle.
> 
> This piece plays really well for me - no chirping, nice Lawton 
> sound, maybe a bit breathy sounding, but that could be because it's 
> an 8* and I'm used to a 7.
> 
> It seems to be going in the other direction to building up the 
> baffle near the tip, but possibly the front edge of the lake acts 
> like a baffle and trips the air flow, or possibly the baffle has to 
> be relatively high already for the lake approach to work.
> 
> Has anyone else seen such a dramatic "lake" in a mouthpiece ?
> 
> Could a "lake" be machined into a mouthpiece (seems like a fairly 
> simple modification) and what would be the effect ? 
> 
> Rhys
>
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I recall, my first Lawton in the 70's had a slight rollover and no
baffle to speak of. It was very round sounding on a MKVI tenor.
I added an epoxy baffle until Geoff came up with the later versions
designated A for the numbers only & B for the star numbers.
The B being brighter.
An extreme example of a "lake" would be the English patented ROC
Britone, with a legitimate clarinet like hollow behind the tip, but
followed by a short steep V baffle rising to the sides. 
I use these on both clarinet and alto and like the way they blow.