There is a vast amount of hard-won knowledge and experience on this site 
concerning the care and feeding of sax and clarinet mouthpieces, but as a 
complete novice in the field I'm finding it difficult to assemble this 
knowledge in any sort of logical or hierarchical order. Would it be possible 
for one of you with the ability to do so to write a short piece on the 
modification of mouthpieces? In short, what does what.

Several times I've tried modifying clarinet mouthpieces, sometimes 
successful, sometimes not. Every time I did it I had the feeling that I was 
rediscovering what to most of you is common knowledge.  If I continue this 
way I may end up with some playable mouthpieces, but for the most part it 
will have been done using empirical methods and will have generated some 
unusable pieces. It would be so much easier if there were a simple 2 or 3 
page article outlining the whys and wherefores of the craft. I'm not looking 
for confidential commercial information, just an outline of what works, what 
doesn't and what and where are the pitfalls.

Thank you.
Tony F. 

--- In MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com, "Tony F." <tfairbri@...> wrote:
>
> There is a vast amount of hard-won knowledge and experience on this site concerning the care and feeding of sax and clarinet mouthpieces, but as a 
> complete novice in the field I'm finding it difficult to assemble this knowledge in any sort of logical or hierarchical order. Would it be possible 
> for one of you with the ability to do so to write a short piece on the modification of mouthpieces? In short, what does what.



Tony, I apologize for not putting these Runyon articles up before now.  I thought I had already done so.

In Files, find the Runyon Papers folder, and in there, read Runyon Mpce Articles.  

This is a reprint of a three part series that Santy wrote for a clarinet magazine back in the early 1960's.  

Earlier, 1950's, he had written a series of articles for The Woodwind, I think, a five article series with drawings, other descriptions. These articles were listed in the Bibliography of Larry Teal's The Art of Saxophone Playing, at least, in earlier editions of The Art.  Later editions, for some strange reason, omitted the Bibliography.  The Mouthpiece chapter in Teal's book was done from several interviews by Teal in Santy's office in his famous Runyon Studio in Chicago.

Paul Coats

Santy's "On Clarinet Mouthpieces" was already in the Files - Clarinet section.  But most of the others files look new to the site.  Thanks Paul.  

Hi Paul.
Many thanks, this is exactly the sort of thing I had in mind. 
Tony F.

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: tenorman1952 
  To: MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 4:44 AM
  Subject: [MouthpieceWork] Re: Information on mouthpiece work


    
  --- In MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com, "Tony F." <tfairbri@...> wrote:
  >
  > There is a vast amount of hard-won knowledge and experience on this site concerning the care and feeding of sax and clarinet mouthpieces, but as a 
  > complete novice in the field I'm finding it difficult to assemble this knowledge in any sort of logical or hierarchical order. Would it be possible 
  > for one of you with the ability to do so to write a short piece on the modification of mouthpieces? In short, what does what.

  Tony, I apologize for not putting these Runyon articles up before now. I thought I had already done so.

  In Files, find the Runyon Papers folder, and in there, read Runyon Mpce Articles. 

  This is a reprint of a three part series that Santy wrote for a clarinet magazine back in the early 1960's. 

  Earlier, 1950's, he had written a series of articles for The Woodwind, I think, a five article series with drawings, other descriptions. These articles were listed in the Bibliography of Larry Teal's The Art of Saxophone Playing, at least, in earlier editions of The Art. Later editions, for some strange reason, omitted the Bibliography. The Mouthpiece chapter in Teal's book was done from several interviews by Teal in Santy's office in his famous Runyon Studio in Chicago.

  Paul Coats



  

The article applies to saxophone mouthpieces as well as saxophone.

The mouthpieces with the flats were more commonly seen for clarinet, though I had seen some metal "jazz" mouthpieces similarly done, wiht a small radius at the "break", just a slight blending from the plane of the table to the flat of the rest of the facing. 

I posted both the original scan from the magazine, and one I had retyped, made new drawings, which Santy checked and approved.

Paul C.

--- In MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com, "Tony F." <tfairbri@...> wrote:
>
> Hi Paul.
> Many thanks, this is exactly the sort of thing I had in mind. 
> Tony F.
> 
>   ----- Original Message ----- 
>   From: tenorman1952 
>   To: MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com 
>   Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 4:44 AM
>   Subject: [MouthpieceWork] Re: Information on mouthpiece work
> 
> 
>     
>   --- In MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com, "Tony F." <tfairbri@> wrote:
>   >
>   > There is a vast amount of hard-won knowledge and experience on this site concerning the care and feeding of sax and clarinet mouthpieces, but as a 
>   > complete novice in the field I'm finding it difficult to assemble this knowledge in any sort of logical or hierarchical order. Would it be possible 
>   > for one of you with the ability to do so to write a short piece on the modification of mouthpieces? In short, what does what.
> 
>   Tony, I apologize for not putting these Runyon articles up before now. I thought I had already done so.
> 
>   In Files, find the Runyon Papers folder, and in there, read Runyon Mpce Articles. 
> 
>   This is a reprint of a three part series that Santy wrote for a clarinet magazine back in the early 1960's. 
> 
>   Earlier, 1950's, he had written a series of articles for The Woodwind, I think, a five article series with drawings, other descriptions. These articles were listed in the Bibliography of Larry Teal's The Art of Saxophone Playing, at least, in earlier editions of The Art. Later editions, for some strange reason, omitted the Bibliography. The Mouthpiece chapter in Teal's book was done from several interviews by Teal in Santy's office in his famous Runyon Studio in Chicago.
> 
>   Paul Coats
>

This html message parsed with html2text ---------------------------Thank you, Paul!  
  
DT  
  
tenorman1952 wrote:

> \\--- In
> [MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com](mailto:MouthpieceWork%40yahoogroups.com),
> "Tony F." .> wrote:  
>  >  
>  > There is a vast amount of hard-won knowledge and experience on this site
> concerning the care and feeding of sax and clarinet mouthpieces, but as a  
>  > complete novice in the field I'm finding it difficult to assemble this
> knowledge in any sort of logical or hierarchical order. Would it be possible  
>  > for one of you with the ability to do so to write a short piece on the
> modification of mouthpieces? In short, what does what.  
>  
>  Tony, I apologize for not putting these Runyon articles up before now. I
> thought I had already done so.  
>  
>  In Files, find the Runyon Papers folder, and in there, read Runyon Mpce
> Articles.  
>  
>  This is a reprint of a three part series that Santy wrote for a clarinet
> magazine back in the early 1960's.  
>  
>  Earlier, 1950's, he had written a series of articles for The Woodwind, I
> think, a five article series with drawings, other descriptions. These
> articles were listed in the Bibliography of Larry Teal's The Art of
> Saxophone Playing, at least, in earlier editions of The Art. Later editions,
> for some strange reason, omitted the Bibliography. The Mouthpiece chapter in
> Teal's book was done from several interviews by Teal in Santy's office in
> his famous Runyon Studio in Chicago.  
>  
>  Paul Coats  
>  
>