Hi,
I am trying to find a way to make clarinet mouthpieces shorter.
Does anyone know a technique for this?
Thanks,
Sky

Cut off the tenon, make a new one from Delrin rod.  Ferree's has Delrin rod for making clarinet tenons and tone holes.
 
Turn a new tenon from the Delrin rod.
 
Cut the mouthpiece to the desired length.
 
Drill into the mouthpiece enough to be able to glue in the new tenon.
 
 
Or, just save yourself a LOT of trouble and buy a shorter barrel.  That's why they make barrels in various lengths.
 
There are a lot of manufacturers of aftermarket barrels, nearly as many as mouthpieces.  There are even adjustable length barrels. 
 
Paul Coats

Link to Paul's articles from Main page of "Saxgourmet":
http://www.saxgourmet.com
Listen to Paul's MP3's and view saxophone photos at:
http://briefcase.yahoo.com/tenorman1952

Paul Coats is the sole US importer of SAXRAX products from 
http://www.saxrax.com 
For SAXRAX products, email Paul at saxraxus@...

--- On Wed, 12/10/08, skygardener1 <skygardener1@...> wrote:

From: skygardener1 <skygardener1@...>
Subject: [MouthpieceWork] Making a mouthpiece shorter?
To: MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com
Date: Wednesday, December 10, 2008, 3:15 PM






Hi,
I am trying to find a way to make clarinet mouthpieces shorter.
Does anyone know a technique for this?
Thanks,
Sky

 














      

I'd opt for a shorter barrel....changing a mouthpiece
will cause havoc with intonation.....unless you're
going to rebore the whole mouthpiece.

I just purchased several inexpensive barrels of
various lengths. My thinking is that it's easier to
modify a barrel than a mouthpiece...but that's just
me.


--- skygardener1 <skygardener1@...> wrote:

> Hi,
> I am trying to find a way to make clarinet
> mouthpieces shorter.
> Does anyone know a technique for this?
> Thanks,
> Sky
> 
> 



      

Just a curiosity question as a newbie clarinetist; why would  one want to make the mouthpiece shorter?  Is it because the clarinet plays flat? if so, my logic says that the barrel needs to be shorter - not the mouthpiece.  If it is because the intonation needs to be changed, as in when a sax plays out of tune in the upper register, because the mouthpiece has too large a chamber and, therefore, too much volume that needs to be reduced.

Like I said; I am new to clarinet playing and don't know if the mouthpiece volume has the same effect on intonation as the sax mouthpiece has.  Hopefully, someone can clarify this point for me.

 Thank you,


David




________________________________
From: skygardener1 <skygardener1@...>
To: MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2008 3:15:00 PM
Subject: [MouthpieceWork] Making a mouthpiece shorter?


Hi,
I am trying to find a way to make clarinet mouthpieces shorter.
Does anyone know a technique for this?
Thanks,
Sky

    


      

Yes, making the barrel shorter is the easiest way, but what do you do
when you have a customer that does not what to change their barrel?
The mouthpiece must be shorter and cut cleanly in this situation. 
What can I do?
I have tried putting a taper on a dowel and corking it like a sax neck
and putting the mouthpiece on that and turning it on a lathe.  The
result was not very good because the mouthpiece kept slipping off.
Ferree's sells a product to hold the mouthpiece (from the inside) for
sanding the cork.  Does anyone have this product??  Does it hold the
mouthpiece strong enough to cut it shorter on a lathe??

--- In MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com, "skygardener1"
<skygardener1@...> wrote:
>
> Hi,
> I am trying to find a way to make clarinet mouthpieces shorter.
> Does anyone know a technique for this?
> Thanks,
> Sky
>
 A bit drastic perhaps, but a damaged clarinet MPC was relayed and
finished up 1/8" shorter. This was compensated for with a long barrel.
I can see the purists cringing, but it worked fine on a jazz
mouthpiece with an open lay.
Eddie

How about just buying an extra barrel that is shorter. That would be the best of both worlds, IMHO.

 Thank you,


David




________________________________
From: skygardener1 <skygardener1@...>
To: MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2008 12:16:37 AM
Subject: [MouthpieceWork] Re: Making a mouthpiece shorter?


Yes, making the barrel shorter is the easiest way, but what do you do
when you have a customer that does not what to change their barrel?
The mouthpiece must be shorter and cut cleanly in this situation. 
What can I do?
I have tried putting a taper on a dowel and corking it like a sax neck
and putting the mouthpiece on that and turning it on a lathe.  The
result was not very good because the mouthpiece kept slipping off.
Ferree's sells a product to hold the mouthpiece (from the inside) for
sanding the cork.  Does anyone have this product??  Does it hold the
mouthpiece strong enough to cut it shorter on a lathe??

    


      

--- In MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com, "skygardener1" 
<skygardener1@...> wrote:
>
> Hi,
> I am trying to find a way to make clarinet mouthpieces shorter.
> Does anyone know a technique for this?
> Thanks,
> Sky
>
If the amount you need to shorten is less than about 2mm then an easy 
way is to make a mandrel to fit the bore (wood dowel will work ok) and 
use this to mount the mouthpiece in a chuck.
Then part off the required amount from the tenon (leave at least 0.5/1 
mm of material outside of the cork) and then a similar amount from the 
body and to to same depth as the existing shoulder (or even leave 
slightly larger if his provides a closer fit to the socket).
Using wood dowel allows cutting slightly into the wood when parting the 
tenon.

--- In MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com, "norman.smale" 
<norman.smale@...> wrote:
>
> --- In MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com, "skygardener1" 
> <skygardener1@> wrote:
> >
> > Hi,
> > I am trying to find a way to make clarinet mouthpieces shorter.
> > Does anyone know a technique for this?
> > Thanks,
> > Sky
> >
> If the amount you need to shorten is less than about 2mm then an 
easy 
> way is to make a mandrel to fit the bore (wood dowel will work ok) 
and 
> use this to mount the mouthpiece in a chuck.
> Then part off the required amount from the tenon (leave at least 
0.5/1 
> mm of material outside of the cork) and then a similar amount from 
the 
> body and to to same depth as the existing shoulder (or even leave 
> slightly larger if his provides a closer fit to the socket).
> Using wood dowel allows cutting slightly into the wood when parting 
the 
> tenon.
>
I had not seen skygardeners post when I wrote mine - so to add a point
If you make wood dowel a reasonable fit to bore and then add one or 
two turns of masking tape at top and/or bottom of the taper to get a 
really snug fit there should be no problem in turning this on the 
lathe.  I have shortened several Bb and Eb clarinet mouthpieces using 
this approach with no problems. Obviously it pays to use a reasonably 
slow speed and take light cuts to reduce the loading on the mandrel.

> I had not seen skygardeners post when I wrote mine - so to add a point
> If you make wood dowel a reasonable fit to bore and then add one or 
> two turns of masking tape at top and/or bottom of the taper to get a 
> really snug fit there should be no problem in turning this on the 
> lathe.  I have shortened several Bb and Eb clarinet mouthpieces using 
> this approach with no problems. Obviously it pays to use a reasonably 
> slow speed and take light cuts to reduce the loading on the mandrel.
>
The one I made was aluminum with about the same amount of cork as on a
sax neck (1-2mm) so maybe there was too much give in the cork.
I will try again for a tighter fit.
Also, how do you cut it???  Do you push the cutter IN from the side? 
Or, Do you push the cutter UP from the bottom??

--- In MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com, "skygardener1" 
<skygardener1@...> wrote:
>
> > I had not seen skygardeners post when I wrote mine - so to add a 
point
> > If you make wood dowel a reasonable fit to bore and then add one 
or 
> > two turns of masking tape at top and/or bottom of the taper to 
get a 
> > really snug fit there should be no problem in turning this on the 
> > lathe.  I have shortened several Bb and Eb clarinet mouthpieces 
using 
> > this approach with no problems. Obviously it pays to use a 
reasonably 
> > slow speed and take light cuts to reduce the loading on the 
mandrel.
> >
> The one I made was aluminum with about the same amount of cork as 
on a
> sax neck (1-2mm) so maybe there was too much give in the cork.
> I will try again for a tighter fit.
> Also, how do you cut it???  Do you push the cutter IN from the 
side? 
> Or, Do you push the cutter UP from the bottom??
>
Depends a bit on your cutter but I used a simple parting tool and cut 
inwards first to shorten the tenon and then repositioned to reduce 
the body length. With this shape cutter you then need to made a few 
very light passes along the length of the new shoulder using very tip 
of tool to make the shoulder parallel and if needed slightly reduce 
to final diameter.  If these cuts are made in direction that pushes 
the body onto the mandrel then there should be no risk of it coming 
loose although I found that using tape and wedging mouthpiece firmly 
on to mandrel everything held up with no problem anyway.