Hi guys

If you have a mouthpiece that is just very good but you just need to take away a little brightness from it, do you go to the baffle and sand it a little?

Thanks

Lowering the baffle a bit is one possibility.

To what mouthpiece are you referring? Is it a high baffle piece?

First I suggest more conservative approaches: try some different reeds, as
some cuts are darker-sounding.

I also I find that some reed adjustments can darken a reed's sound. In
particular (I hope I can describe this accurately) doing some
against-the-grain work with a cushioned fine sanding block (i.e. as
advocated by Tom Ridenour) along the lateral parts of the reed on the base
1/2 - 2/3 of the reed vamp (resulting in a slightly more rounded
cross-section) darkens the sound of reeds a bit. This is an alternative to
clipping the reed, another strategy for an overly bright reed.

As far as sanding the baffle goes, I think it's worth mentioning that the
portion of the baffle just behind the tip rail is an area that I find is
very sensitive, and if a mouthpiece is playing well, I'd hesitate to touch
this area.

barry


> Hi guys
> 
> If you have a mouthpiece that is just very good but you just need to take away
> a little brightness from it, do you go to the baffle and sand it a little?
> 
> Thanks
> 
> 
> 

--- In MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com, "soruyoavila" <soruyoavila@...> wrote:
>
> Hi guys
> 
> If you have a mouthpiece that is just very good but you just need to take away a little brightness from it, do you go to the baffle and sand it a little?
> 
> Thanks
>

I would take down the baffle a little right behind the tip rail.  The first 6 or 7 mm behind the tip rail has the most effect on brightness or edge.

Paul

I find that using a Rovner ligature will cut brightness down a bit.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

-----Original Message-----
From: Barry Levine 
Sender: MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com
Date: Sat, 30 Apr 2011 09:34:53 
To: 
Reply-To: MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [MouthpieceWork] mouthpiece brightness down

Lowering the baffle a bit is one possibility.

To what mouthpiece are you referring? Is it a high baffle piece?

First I suggest more conservative approaches: try some different reeds, as
some cuts are darker-sounding.

I also I find that some reed adjustments can darken a reed's sound. In
particular (I hope I can describe this accurately) doing some
against-the-grain work with a cushioned fine sanding block (i.e. as
advocated by Tom Ridenour) along the lateral parts of the reed on the base
1/2 - 2/3 of the reed vamp (resulting in a slightly more rounded
cross-section) darkens the sound of reeds a bit. This is an alternative to
clipping the reed, another strategy for an overly bright reed.

As far as sanding the baffle goes, I think it's worth mentioning that the
portion of the baffle just behind the tip rail is an area that I find is
very sensitive, and if a mouthpiece is playing well, I'd hesitate to touch
this area.

barry


> Hi guys
> 
> If you have a mouthpiece that is just very good but you just need to take away
> a little brightness from it, do you go to the baffle and sand it a little?
> 
> Thanks
> 
> 
> 



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--- In MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com, Barry Levine <barrylevine@...> wrote:
>
> Lowering the baffle a bit is one possibility.
> 
> To what mouthpiece are you referring? Is it a high baffle piece?
> 
> First I suggest more conservative approaches: try some different reeds, as
> some cuts are darker-sounding.
> 
> I also I find that some reed adjustments can darken a reed's sound. In
> particular (I hope I can describe this accurately) doing some
> against-the-grain work with a cushioned fine sanding block (i.e. as
> advocated by Tom Ridenour) along the lateral parts of the reed on the base
> 1/2 - 2/3 of the reed vamp (resulting in a slightly more rounded
> cross-section) darkens the sound of reeds a bit. This is an alternative to
> clipping the reed, another strategy for an overly bright reed.
> 
> As far as sanding the baffle goes, I think it's worth mentioning that the
> portion of the baffle just behind the tip rail is an area that I find is
> very sensitive, and if a mouthpiece is playing well, I'd hesitate to touch
> this area.
> 
> barry
> 
> 
> > Hi guys
> > 
> > If you have a mouthpiece that is just very good but you just need to take away
> > a little brightness from it, do you go to the baffle and sand it a little?
> > 
> > Thanks
> > 
> > 
> >
>
Thanks for replying. I´ve tried several setups, several reeds and still feel it a little too bright. It´s a metal piece, high baffle one. I wouldn´t go to sand the baffle yet, until I am pretty sure. I don´t want to ruin the piece.