Quest for the perfect mouthpiece.

[Lewis]

We are all aware that the perfect mouthpiece does not exist, otherwise we would all be playing the same piece.
Of all the (many) mouthpieces in my possession, the closest to my ideal is the Lawton 8*B tenor, richer in tone than my second favourite, an RPC 115b.
The Lawton however, has a tendency to squeak; at the top end it is on the edge of squeaking; especially with rapid articulation.
Thinking that the slide-on ligature may have distorted & bowed the edges of the table, this morning I lapped the table flat with the aid of a sheet of flat glass and fine grinding paste. Now the table has a lovely, uniform, consistent, matte finish...perfect; except for one thing...the tendency to squeak still remains.
The tendency is reduces with harder reeds, but, for me, the main advantage of an open tip is it's ability to accept softer reeds.
Any ideas anyone?

[Lewis]

Even if I am just expressing my thoughts out loud, this may be useful.
I have discovered that the Lawton (or, at least, my Lawton) is hyper critical to reed position in it's relationship to the tip rail. It seems essential, when the reed is pressed against the lay,ie. following the curve, that no trace of the tip must be shewing. This practice completely eliminates any tendency to squeak.
I have never found a mouthpiece so critical in this respect; it lives or dies on just 0.005" placement.
The RPC is now back in the drawer.
In an age of CNC milling and laser measurement, it is comforting to know that Geoff Lawton made these mouthpieces in his shed...in Macclesfield of all unlikely places!

[JonF]

Hi Lewis

Interesting, my favourite mouthpiece is my RPC115B, my second favourite my Lawton 8*B!

I've never really had a problem with squeaking on Lawtons (played on them for years, and had a 7 as my first mouthpiece (thanks, Dad)), but I have always found them a bit reed fussy. I have a theory, which may be barking, but it's that mouthpieces with narrow rails are more fussy about reeds. Lawtons, metal Yanagisawa and Guardala King all fussy and have narrow rails. RPC and ROC Britone - thicker rails, much less picky. Baritone Runyon Smoothbore - huge wide rails, could get a good tone with a lolly stick.

As I said, I may be barking mad here, but it's a theory that has at least some anecdotal evidence.

Jon

[Lewis]

Finally cracked it; quest over.
As I have said previously, I could not really trust the 8*B Lawton because of a tendency to squeak. I have therefore refaced a Jody Jazz ESP by copying the facing of the Lawton, the JJ having, for starters, a very similar initial roll over baffle.
This does everything; transforming a very good mouthpiece into a joy.

[alan]

Lewis - I can understand totally that, whatever the reasons for the Lawton squeaking, once it happens then there is always a tendency to be dreading the re-appearance... You (we) need a mouthpiece we can thoroughly attack, without the thought at the back of the mind, that something we do might cause the dreaded squeak/squeal. Curtails the aggressive/adventurous playing just a little.

There's only so many times we can unashamedly claim it as a 'real' harmonic... I can always remember a comment from one of my neighbours - when I first learnt clarinet - "You're getting better, you're not squeaking as much".

That comment then really allowed me to practise the squeaky bits to death - I'd been a little considerate before - but on the basis that if she's counting, I really gave her something to count !

[Lewis]

Alan, clearly you understand; it is all down to confidence, & indecision caused by nagging doubts.
Happily, my JJ with the Lawton floor (Jawton) does everything that I ask of it, &, with that confidence I feel that I can do anything. A very good feeling; any mistake is down to me; I can no longer blame my set-up.

[xXmikebuhXx]

I'm trying to open forum but sometimes there are no images on it :(

[csax]

I'm trying to open forum but sometimes there are no images on it

Mike - Can you give more info, or even capture a screen shot as a jpeg file (.jpg) and email it to me ?

al[at]csax[dot]net - just replace the bits in brackets with ' @ ' and '.'