After refacing a Pomarico jazz crystal clarinet mouthpiece for a friend I felt pretty good about the results. Originally it was too open and resistant for him.  Both of us are professional players.  When he tried the mouthpiece it was immediately evident that his opinion on the refaced mouthpiece was quite different than mine. He was using a very soft legere signature reed which didn't suit me at all on this mouthpiece. This is a common dilema for all refacers. You usually are working on someone else's mouthpiece.  How do you play test a mouthpiece to suit more than your taste.    

Good question.  IMO Communication is key, and being able to play in a style and embouchure different from your own really helps.  Understand what a player's sound concept is and what equipment they're used to -- where he's coming from and how he's trying to get there.  

Test with different strengths of reeds, they will expose different deficiencies in your work.  e.g., hard reeds can expose a lack of vibrance in the sound that a soft reed will mask.  Also different reed cuts respond differently to a facing, good idea to test with your guy's reed of choice.

hope that helps
Morgan


--- In MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com, "John" <john_w_price33@...> wrote:
>
> After refacing a Pomarico jazz crystal clarinet mouthpiece for a friend I felt pretty good about the results. Originally it was too open and resistant for him.  Both of us are professional players.  When he tried the mouthpiece it was immediately evident that his opinion on the refaced mouthpiece was quite different than mine. He was using a very soft legere signature reed which didn't suit me at all on this mouthpiece. This is a common dilema for all refacers. You usually are working on someone else's mouthpiece.  How do you play test a mouthpiece to suit more than your taste.
>

You need data (feeback) on what the client likes.  Sounds like all you have is his opinion on the refaced Pomarico.  Sometimes this is all you get and you need to go another round to get it closer to what they are looking for.
 
If you can measure a mouthpiece that the client likes, then you can copy its key features over to the mouthpiece you are reworking for them.  Or they can tell you "this mouthpiece is close" but I want it to be more open/closed, etc.  


________________________________
From: John <john_w_price33@...>
To: MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com 
Sent: Thursday, December 8, 2011 9:15 PM
Subject: [MouthpieceWork] testing mouthpieces


  
After refacing a Pomarico jazz crystal clarinet mouthpiece for a friend I felt pretty good about the results. Originally it was too open and resistant for him. Both of us are professional players. When he tried the mouthpiece it was immediately evident that his opinion on the refaced mouthpiece was quite different than mine. He was using a very soft legere signature reed which didn't suit me at all on this mouthpiece. This is a common dilema for all refacers. You usually are working on someone else's mouthpiece. How do you play test a mouthpiece to suit more than your taste. 

 That can be a problem sometimes.   I studied classical clarinet but now have a jazz concept and mouthpiece. Classical mouthpieces just seem stuffy to me unless i practice on them for an hour or two.  I just fixed a nice classical mouthpiece with a chip on the tip for a friend.  I apologized to him that it played t stuffily for  me. He thought it was fantastic, better than before he broke it.  It's a good thing I stopped when I did!   Peter

All I need is a decent audio sample of the guy playing the piece (this is essential) and his/her description of their horn/reed/ligature setup, and what they want changed.