I have a client who likes open clarinet mouthpieces for a strange Latin Hip Hop street music band.  Very ethnic.  Like Mariachi with a Klezmer clarinet sound.  He sends me the metal clarinet mouthpieces you see on eBay and has me open them way up.  He has ordered from .068" to .084"!!!  


      

--- In MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com, Keith Bradbury <kwbradbury@...> wrote:
>
> I have a client who likes open clarinet mouthpieces for a strange Latin Hip Hop street music band.  Very ethnic.  Like Mariachi with a Klezmer clarinet sound.  He sends me the metal clarinet mouthpieces you see on eBay and has me open them way up.  He has ordered from .068" to .084"!!! 
>
Hi Ken,  What did you do for a facing length for .084"?   

> I have a client who likes open clarinet mouthpieces for a strange Latin Hip Hop street music band.  Very ethnic.  Like Mariachi with a Klezmer clarinet sound.  He sends me the metal clarinet mouthpieces you see on eBay and has me open them way up.  He has ordered from .068" to .084"!!! 
>

Many styles of folk music clarinet playing such as Klezmer are characterized by smears or flexible pitch, lip slurs and bird calls. The embouchure is in place close to the tip and the instrument is held with the bell pointed outward like a soprano saxophone or higher. An open tip would be beneficial to this style of playing which becomes more like a wood saxophone sound. 

But for a traditional orchestral clarinet player with a tight embouchure like a fulcrum, the object is to play the instrument in tune with a clear and focused tone. A wide tip opening for this traditional style of clarinet playing is counterproductive.  Some double lip embouchure players may use a slightly more open tip.

Attempting to play a very open tip with the commonly accepted proper embouchure is painful and tiring.  

>Hi Ken, What did you do for a facing length for .084"? 

Ken who? ;)  My client specifies facing length and what type of elliptical facing curve I should shoot for.  I've made about 20 for him so he knows what he wants to try next.  I recently did a .082" with a 44 facing length.  A .084" with a 36 L and a .084" with a 34 L.  All with a +2 or +3 ellipse.  I can not tell you what "works" because none of them work for me.  I have tried to talk him out of getting more MPs done.  But for some guys this is like a "hobby" to them. 

I no longer use the Erick Brand feeler gage set so I can not simply report my feeler targets.  But one could translate the above description to the Brand set with a little spreadsheet calculation.  There are sample speadsheets on the Yahoo MPWork site for this.

I use the extended feeler set shown (for sale) on my web site.  It includes feelers for some of the wider gaps (like one at .005" and .017"), respaces some of the steps (like using .037" and .049" instead of .034" and .050") and has larger sizes needed for more open tips (up to .125").


      

--- In MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com, Keith Bradbury <kwbradbury@...> wrote:
>
> 
> >Hi Ken, What did you do for a facing length for .084"? 
> 
> Ken who? ;)  My client specifies facing length and what type of elliptical facing curve I should shoot for.  I've made about 20 for him so he knows what he wants to try next.  I recently did a .082" with a 44 facing length.  A .084" with a 36 L and a .084" with a 34 L.  All with a +2 or +3 ellipse.  I can not tell you what "works" because none of them work for me.  I have tried to talk him out of getting more MPs done.  But for some guys this is like a "hobby" to them. 
> 
> I no longer use the Erick Brand feeler gage set so I can not simply report my feeler targets.  But one could translate the above description to the Brand set with a little spreadsheet calculation.  There are sample speadsheets on the Yahoo MPWork site for this.
> 
> I use the extended feeler set shown (for sale) on my web site.  It includes feelers for some of the wider gaps (like one at .005" and .017"), respaces some of the steps (like using .037" and .049" instead of .034" and .050") and has larger sizes needed for more open tips (up to .125").
>  Hi Keith,   I guess I should brush up on my etiquette regarding your name.  I will henceforth refer to you as Keith rather than Ken.      John Price