Hi guys
 

 Is it possible to tame or soften the shrillness of the mouthpiece? If yes, how does one do it? File the baffle or make the tip rail thick perhaps?
 

 And by the way what part of the mouthpiece contributes to the shrillness of the tone? 

 

 

 Thanks
 

 

A major factor is how close the baffle is to the reed near the tip.
This is easily demonstrated with a baffle insert. As you move it closer
towards the tip, the tonal quality becomes shriller. Mouthpieces without
a baffle insert with a high baffle with a shallow slope away from the
tip rail also are brighter/shriller. 

A thicker tip rail may darken the
tone somewhat, although I tend not to go that route. For one thing, if
you're happy with your facing curve, you'll have to re-do it after
altering the tip rail by opening the mouthpiece. For another, I think a
thicker tip rail is less responsive (although perhaps more tonally
stable, as far as wolf tones etc.) 

The explanation, as I understand
it, as that the airflow closer to the tip of the reed has a more
pronounced bernoulli effect on that portion of the reed that generates
higher frequency partials. I also find that adding a baffle insert
towards the rear of the baffle may in some cases improve the lower note
response - presumably by increasing bernouli forces towards the base of
the reed vamp. When adjusting reeds, scraping this area also eases low
note response, demonstrating its role in the tonal qualities of the
reed. 

Reeds also affect shrillness. Almost all synthetic reeds are
brighter than cane. A synthetic reed may marry well with a somewhat dark
sounding mouthpiece, but be unpleasant on a brighter high-baffle
mouthpiece. 

Tonal quality of reeds also can be adjusted somewhat,
depending on where you remove material. Steve Goodson posted a pretty
good chart on this a couple of months ago. There are others on the web,
also in the Larry Teal book. Removing some material along the margins of
the vamp so that the cross-section is a bit rounder also may tone down a
reed, as an alternative to clipping. 

Barry Levine 

On 2016-08-06 7:32
am, warren927736@... [MouthpieceWork] wrote: 

> Hi guys 
> 
> Is
it possible to tame or soften the shrillness of the mouthpiece? If yes,
how does one do it? File the baffle or make the tip rail thick perhaps?

> 
> And by the way what part of the mouthpiece contributes to the
shrillness of the tone? 
> 
> Thanks 
> 
> 

 

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