Hello all,

I am a rookie here.I would like to know how could I measure the facing 
length of a mouthpiece, I mean the length from the tangent by a 
imaginary zero gauge.
Thanks a lot for the info !

In practice, the facing length is the length to a .0015" feeler gage.  The ".0000" tangent point can be determined by fitting a curve to the facing curve data set.  I suppose there are ways to measure it, but it would be more trouble than it is worth.  
 
BTW, I have suspected for some time that Selmer and Vandoren might list their facing length targets as to the ".0000" point.  Theye dod not list their facing lengths very often... and there is a lot of variation among the Selmers.  But I have some charts I found on the web that list facing lengths that are all a little longer than I can measure with a .0015" feeler.  

--- On Sun, 11/23/08, ywlam2000 <ywlam2000@...> wrote:

From: ywlam2000 <ywlam2000@...>
Subject: [MouthpieceWork] About facing length
To: MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com
Date: Sunday, November 23, 2008, 10:27 AM






Hello all,

I am a rookie here.I would like to know how could I measure the facing 
length of a mouthpiece, I mean the length from the tangent by a 
imaginary zero gauge.
Thanks a lot for the info !

 














      

Hi Keith , Thanks a lot for the info !
I am a clarinet player (sax too). I am trying to find a clarinet 
mouthpiece similar to the Vandoren B45 (eg,similar length but a 
narrower opening), so I want to know the facing length of it. 
However, in different sources, the length quoted variates, eg. from 
the Brochure of Vandoren (Clarinet files of this forum): the length 
is 22mm. 
Another one is from the "comparison of 10 curves measured by 
MW"(clarinet files of this forum) :the length is 20.5mm (0.0000 
gauge). 
The third one deviates greatly, its from a dissertation of an 
Austrian university student 
(http://iwk.mdw.ac.at/Forschung/pdf_dateien/2003d_Hoerth_DA_Klarinette
.pdf), P.61 of this pdf: the length quoted here is 25.9mm (0.0000 
gauge).
So the length of the B45 variates greatly from one source to another 
source,especially the 3rd source (25.9mm). 
So the only way now is trying to play on different mouthpieces to 
feel which one has similar length (quite a difficult task too).
And curiousity really kills me. (eg.which source would to be the most 
exact?)


--- In MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com, Keith Bradbury 
<kwbradbury@...> wrote:
>
> 
> 
> In practice, the facing length is the length to a .0015" feeler 
gage.?The ".0000" tangent point can be determined by fitting a curve 
to the facing curve data set.?I suppose there are ways to measure it, 
but it would be more trouble than it is worth.?
> ?> BTW, I have suspected for some time that Selmer and Vandoren 
might list their facing length targets as to the ".0000" point.?Theye 
dod not list their facing lengths very often... and there is a lot of 
variation among the Selmers.?But I have some charts I found on the 
web that list facing lengths that are all a little longer than I can 
measure with a .0015" feeler.?
> 
> --- On Sun, 11/23/08, ywlam2000 <ywlam2000@...> wrote:
> 
> From: ywlam2000 <ywlam2000@...>
> Subject: [MouthpieceWork] About facing length
> To: MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com
> Date: Sunday, November 23, 2008, 10:27 AM
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hello all,
> 
> I am a rookie here.I would like to know how could I measure the 
facing 
> length of a mouthpiece, I mean the length from the tangent by a 
> imaginary zero gauge.
> Thanks a lot for the info !
>

I would say that all three of your sources for the B45 facing length are correct.  The facing length can vary by that much depending on the mouthpiece.  They each measured a different B45.  If you have a favorite B45, measure it and copy it.  


      

Thanks Keith ! I got the idea.
I am going to send it for a mouthpiece copy and narrow the opening.
Thanks !

--- In MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com, Keith Bradbury <kwbradbury@...> 
wrote:
>
> I would say that all three of your sources for the B45 facing length 
are correct.?The facing length can vary by that much depending on the 
mouthpiece.?They each measured a different B45.?If you have a favorite 
B45, measure it and copy it.?>