MOUTHPIECE - SIMPLE SYSTEM early 20th Century

[astrolabe]

Hello all,

I have purchased a very old Simple System clarinet and the mouthpiece is broken beyond repair.  The barrel will only accept mouthpieces with a tenon of 21.5mm.  The current mouthpiece is 21.2mm.  I have found that newer mouthpieces are too big (starting 22.3mm).  Does anyone know where I might source a new old mouthpiece for this neat old instrument?

The clarinet is marked with an oval Makers Mark that is quite worn but looks like Josef Justl - BRNO)  It is a lovely dark wood that I imagine is African Blackwood.   The google tells me it is likely made between 1900 and 1925, but I'm not sure of the accuracy of that assertion.

[Windsong]

Welcome Astrolabe-

It sounds Austro-Hungarian/Czech.  Please post photos,  as you are able.

You will most likely either have to purchase several old MPs to find one that will fit, or you will have to shave down a newer one.  I have had to do this on more than one occasion.  Without a lathe, consistent material removal can be achieved with a very sharp chisel, or other knife variants--even a fresh razor, dragging the blade across the cork stanchions until you have satisfied the internal dimensional requirements for your barrel.

[astrolabe]

Windsong.  I do happen to have a lathe and a nice chunk of Grenadilla and have been toying with the idea of turning a new mouth piece.  The throat geometry concerns me a bit, but I think I will be able to figure it out.  It's a neat clarinet that I found in an antique shop without a case.  I paid $40 for it. I'm struggling with inserting pictures.  Will do so as soon as I figure out how.

[EasyG]

Do you have a friend with a 3D Printer?  There are free files online for mouthpiece designs.  I haven't tried any, yet, so I can't give any insight as to how well they would work or hold up.

[astrolabe]

EasyG... I have a 3D printer and have downloaded and printed a couple of STLs from the web.  They are all too big.  Meshmixer isn't a great way of shrinking just the tenon, so I have been thinking I would design my own.  It will take some time to get the geometry correct.

[EasyG]

The Clarinet halloween mouthpieces on Thingiverse look like they might be a decent quality design, as well as have a more open licensing that allows for rework.  I'd be happen to modify one up for you and email it to you if interested.

[Windsong]

Astrolabe,
Can't you just chuck up an existing MP on the lathe, and chisel it down .020"?

EasyG,
Does this technology allow for a detailed scan of an existing mouthpiece, and the ability to re-create it?

[astrolabe]

I have printed a mouthpiece and ligature.  I'll try to chuck it up tomorrow and take some of the tenon down.  It might do the trick.  Looks like I need to repad the whole thing as well.

[EasyG]

Windsong,

There is technology to scan stuff that you could then print.  Scanners start around $200, I think.  I don't have one, so I can't speak to how well they would work.  I also can't say how well a 3D printed mouthpiece would sound versus the original.  There are companies that do 3D Print Mouthpieces, so I assume that they work well enough. FDM printers build the part up by extruding a thread of material, over layers upon layers.  So, the finished product isn't quite the same, as it was made by lines stacked together.  A resin printer might be a better solution for this, buy I haven't worked with resin printers and don't know how well they would work. 

Another method of duplication might be to pour a mold, although I think this could be challenging as well and might actually require 3 different sections to the mold to capture all of the angles affectively.  I might actually try this, just for the sake of curiousity.

[EasyG]

Astrolobe,

I measured a few mouthpieces that I had around. Here are the diameters that I've measured, none of which were correct for you.

21.70 = Yamaha 2*
21.74 = Perfectone
21.82 = Vito 2V
21.92 = Premier by Hite
21.86 = Selmer GoldenTone
22.05 = Selmer HS*
22.10 = Selmer HS**
22.08 = Vandoren 5RV

[Windsong]

Thanks for the detail.  It is certainly interesting.