Thanks for your advise Toby,glad to hear that thinning the tiprail wont 
make the mouthpc more bright.The mouthpc I am talking about seems to be 
very similar to Vandoren V5 which is shown under Photos on this site.
(Look on Brochures, there is a drawing of the mouthpc so everyone who 
is interested can see what I am talking about) I am still wondering on  
what Vandoren wants to obtain by making the tiprail so broad.
The surface on the lay and tiprail is also very smooth. Could sanding 
the the lay and tiprail as I do when refacing prevent the reed from 
sucktion against the lay and the tip rail? I will of course make the 
tiprail thinner.
Thanks again.
Helge

My experiance is mostly with sax moutpieces.  Sax MP experiances do not
translate well to clarinet MPs.  I think thinning the tip rail makes the MP
more responsive and just a little bit brighter.  Ultra thin tip rails can
sound edgy.  Some say that thick tip rails can be less squeak prone. 
Possibly the thick rail allows a beginner to play with sloppy reed
alignment. 

__________________________________________________
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I have a Vandoren A35 with a very normal tip rail. God knows what Vandoren is thinking. If you take material off just behind the tip rail you can smooth that afterward with some fine sandpaper (maybe start with 800 grit, then go to 1200 and even 2000). After you finish sanding the lay and rails you can use 2000 grit to get a nice polish. Basically if they are a little rough it won't affect the playability. In actual playing there is no real suction, so you don't really need to worry about that.

Toby

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: railwayreed 
  To: MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2006 2:50 AM
  Subject: [MouthpieceWork] Vandoren al3 mouthpiece very broad tiprail


  Thanks for your advise Toby,glad to hear that thinning the tiprail wont 
  make the mouthpc more bright.The mouthpc I am talking about seems to be 
  very similar to Vandoren V5 which is shown under Photos on this site.
  (Look on Brochures, there is a drawing of the mouthpc so everyone who 
  is interested can see what I am talking about) I am still wondering on 
  what Vandoren wants to obtain by making the tiprail so broad.
  The surface on the lay and tiprail is also very smooth. Could sanding 
  the the lay and tiprail as I do when refacing prevent the reed from 
  sucktion against the lay and the tip rail? I will of course make the 
  tiprail thinner.
  Thanks again.
  Helge



   

I have just checked an AL4 and SL3 from my stock, and both have very normal tip rails.  What we might be talking about is a manufacturing anomaly.
Geoff.

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Toby 
  To: MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2006 10:58 AM
  Subject: Re: [MouthpieceWork] Vandoren al3 mouthpiece very broad tiprail



  I have a Vandoren A35 with a very normal tip rail. God knows what Vandoren is thinking. If you take material off just behind the tip rail you can smooth that afterward with some fine sandpaper (maybe start with 800 grit, then go to 1200 and even 2000). After you finish sanding the lay and rails you can use 2000 grit to get a nice polish. Basically if they are a little rough it won't affect the playability. In actual playing there is no real suction, so you don't really need to worry about that.

  Toby

    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: railwayreed 
    To: MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com 
    Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2006 2:50 AM
    Subject: [MouthpieceWork] Vandoren al3 mouthpiece very broad tiprail


    Thanks for your advise Toby,glad to hear that thinning the tiprail wont 
    make the mouthpc more bright.The mouthpc I am talking about seems to be 
    very similar to Vandoren V5 which is shown under Photos on this site.
    (Look on Brochures, there is a drawing of the mouthpc so everyone who 
    is interested can see what I am talking about) I am still wondering on 
    what Vandoren wants to obtain by making the tiprail so broad.
    The surface on the lay and tiprail is also very smooth. Could sanding 
    the the lay and tiprail as I do when refacing prevent the reed from 
    sucktion against the lay and the tip rail? I will of course make the 
    tiprail thinner.
    Thanks again.
    Helge




   

--- In MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com, "Geoff & Sherryl-Lee Secomb"
<gsecomb@...> wrote:
>
> I have just checked an AL4 and SL3 from my stock, and both have very
normal tip rails.  What we might be talking about is a manufacturing
anomaly.
> Geoff.
> 
>   ----- Original Message ----- 
>   From: Toby 
>   To: MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com 
>   Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2006 10:58 AM
>   Subject: Re: [MouthpieceWork] Vandoren al3 mouthpiece very broad
tiprail
> 
> 
> 
>   I have a Vandoren A35 with a very normal tip rail. God knows what
Vandoren is thinking. If you take material off just behind the tip
rail you can smooth that afterward with some fine sandpaper (maybe
start with 800 grit, then go to 1200 and even 2000). After you finish
sanding the lay and rails you can use 2000 grit to get a nice polish.
Basically if they are a little rough it won't affect the playability.
In actual playing there is no real suction, so you don't really need
to worry about that.
> 
>   Toby
> 
>     ----- Original Message ----- 
>     From: railwayreed 
>     To: MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com 
>     Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2006 2:50 AM
>     Subject: [MouthpieceWork] Vandoren al3 mouthpiece very broad tiprail
> 
> 
>     Thanks for your advise Toby,glad to hear that thinning the
tiprail wont 
>     make the mouthpc more bright.The mouthpc I am talking about
seems to be 
>     very similar to Vandoren V5 which is shown under Photos on this
site.
>     (Look on Brochures, there is a drawing of the mouthpc so
everyone who 
>     is interested can see what I am talking about) I am still
wondering on 
>     what Vandoren wants to obtain by making the tiprail so broad.
>     The surface on the lay and tiprail is also very smooth. Could
sanding 
>     the the lay and tiprail as I do when refacing prevent the reed from 
>     sucktion against the lay and the tip rail? I will of course make
the 
>     tiprail thinner.
>     Thanks again.
>     Helge
>

Though a broad tip rail is aesthetically repellent to the trained eye,
it does not seem to me to have any other drawbacks. It is versatile.
Possible pluses :-  it allows the continued use of a softish reed by
moving nearer the tip.
 Less chance of beginners breaking the tip if it is kept back from the
edge.
 No need to narrow the tip, just pull back the reed to the inner edge,
this will simulate a narrow tip. 
It will also allow a harder reed to respond more easily.
These variations give altered blowing responses. Just pick the one you
want.

 
All these permutations 

> >   I have a Vandoren A35 with a very normal tip rail. God knows what
> Vandoren is thinking. If you take material off just behind the tip
> rail you can smooth that afterward with some fine sandpaper (maybe
> start with 800 grit, then go to 1200 and even 2000). After you finish
> sanding the lay and rails you can use 2000 grit to get a nice polish.
> Basically if they are a little rough it won't affect the playability.
> In actual playing there is no real suction, so you don't really need
> to worry about that.
> > 
> >   Toby
> > 

Incidentally, I just bought a Vandoren B45 "Lyre", and the tip and
side rails are much thicker than on my regular B45.  Perhaps their
manufacturing is becoming a little inconsistent.  At any rate, the new
mouthpiece (B45 Lyre) is very stuffy and somewhat unresponsive -
Hardly what I expected from what is essentially a B45 with a slightly
wider tip opening.

- Marco

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