I grew up on Selmer mouthpieces, the D in particular (same as HS**), which possesses an open tip and a medium-long facing. A beautiful, focused tone, excellent intonation, and plenty of volume can be achieved with Selmer mouthpieces. And they are exceptional in the 3rd register for projection, stability and fullness of tone. But I did not realize back then just how much resistance was built into the typical Selmer mouthpiece. For a beginner or someone of compromised health like myself, this resistance can be an issue. Generating a wonderful sound on the clarinet does not have to be that challenging, though I am glad that Selmer continues to offer mouthpieces of their particular design for those of us that can make effective use of them.
If you are unhappy with your sound, or you have to work very hard to produce it, or the tuning scale is problematic, then I'd say it's time you found a mouthpiece more suitable to your needs. Below I give my impression of some of the better mouthpieces I have tried and played, as well as a few others. I say my impression, for each player will have their own unique experience with a mouthpiece depending on the many factors that contribute to its performance.
(For harmony clarinets, scroll down to the bottom of this page.)
Great Mouthpieces
The Borbeck MouthpieceToday I play on Borbeck mouthpieces—his custom professional models, the best mouthpieces I have ever experienced. Robert Borbeck learned the art of mouthpiece craftsmanship directly from Frank Kaspar, and his model numbers correspond to Kaspar's. I have a 13 on a Zinner blank, and an 11 on a Riffault blank. Both are awesome and produce a gorgeous sound. The Riffault blank from France is no longer available. The Zinner from Germany is the blank that most artisans are currently using for their best mouthpieces.
All Borbeck mouthpieces produce a gorgeous timber—a rich and vibrant sonority—with super focus and clarity, an immense dymanic range, immediate response and excellent intonation. Resistance is low, and the mouthpiece supports quick downward leaps if the clarinet is capable. My 13 on a Zinner blank has the largest dynamic response, and is capable of the largest volume and projection, of any mouthpiece I have ever tried. It is also the quickest—an immediate response with no discernible delay. It has a beautiful ring while retaining plenty of vibrancy. My 11 on a Riffault blank is slightly more resistant, a bit more velvety in timber and slightly softer in character. It is capable of less volume and projection than the Zinner. The Riffault requires a clarinet with good focus, while the Zinner performs on everything. The two mouthpieces also require quite different reeds. The 13 on a Zinner is happy with most any reed that is strapped to it, and I use the 56 Rue Lepic with it, the Riffault 11 does better with a thinner reed.
Bob and I both live in Las Vegas, so I was able to pick my mouthpieces from an assortment of peerless mouthpieces at Bob's home. Trying to choose a best from a collection of perfect is a daunting task. Bob is a super guy, and I wish everyone could meet him in person and try out his mouthpieces and select their favorite. If you're planning a trip to Las Vegas, why not give him a call and arrange a tryout? If you can't make a visit, he can work with you by phone, internet and USPS. If you want to acquire a custom Borbeck mouthpiece you must contact Bob directly:
Robert Borbeck
phone: (702)798-4428
email: borbeckclarinetmp@gmail.com
address: PO Box 13764, Las Vegas, NV 89112-1764
Borbeck Website
The Fobes Debut Mouthpiece
This is my pick for best beginner mouthpiece—its design is sheer genius. It is a close tip mouthpiece, yet plays well with both softer and harder reeds, thin or thick. Pretty much any reed you strap to it is going to work (within the limits of the player’s embouchure development). It is made of ABS plastic and works particularly well with ABS plastic clarinets (and just fine with hard rubber or wooden ones). In spite of a very low price tag, each one is hand faced by Carl Fobes. Plastic clarinets are light years better than they were decades ago, and this mouthpiece is light years ahead of any student mouthpiece from back then, too. A stunning bargain at $30 new, it is better than a lot of more expensive hard rubber mouthpieces available today.
The Fobes Debut is wonderfully vibrant, has very low resistance, a fast response, and great intonation. It has an exceptional sonority in the chalumeau, and most notably it removes the buzz from the throat tones of all but the most raucous of clarinets. Which is to say that this mouthpiece can turn a dog of a clarinet into a very acceptable performer for the beginner or intermediate. Its biggest weakness is some reluctance in the altissimo, but a beginner does not play in the top register. When the student starts to tackle the top register, it's time to upgrade to a pro mouthpiece.
Fobes Website
...and Others Most Excellent
The Selmer MouthpiecesThese mouthpieces are not for the beginner. They possess a high resistance, meaning a good deal of air pressure and embouchure support is needed to play them in comparison with most other mouthpieces. I have played on the D, C*, B* and HS*. The D has the most open tip of these 4 models, the HS* the closest. All the Selmer classic series mouthpieces produce a very stable, full and vibrant tone, with plenty of hold. I would characterize the tonal tendency of the Selmer mouthpiece towards a broad, robust mellow quality as opposed to clarity or rugged vibrancy. It will not darken or cover the sound of the clarinet it is played on.
The real strength of the Selmer mouthpiece is in the altissimo. The volume, projection, fullness of tone, stability and hold to be had on the D in the high register is matched by few mouthpieces. As the tip comes closer in the succeeding models, the volume capacity decreases slightly, but the other qualities remain. What is to be gained by the closer tip models is more focus in the lower registers, especially the bottom. One must use a softer reed with the open tip to keep focus in the chalumeau, or develop a very strong embouchure. One also gains some quickness in response on the closer tip.
The C* is an excellent mouthpiece and a good place for an intermediate student to start looking. My own preference is for the B*, which provides more focus while retaining flexibility and is very balanced across the entire range of the clarinet—balanced in every way: resistance, tone, focus, stability, you name it. I very much like the tone of the B*, an excellent balance (there’s that word again) between roundness and vibrancy, and it does not have the restrictive quality of the closer facings of the HS* and M13, or even the Gigliotti P.
The HS* is also a well balanced mouthpiece but with a more compact tone than the B*. Much like the M13, flexibility is traded for compactness. Yet the HS* and M13 make a very different tonal impression, the Selmer sounding with more breadth, the M13 with more clarity. The HS* can generate a good deal more volume than the M13 and is more stable in the altissimo.
My experience is that the dynamic range is larger on the Selmers than the Vandorens, but the articulation response is a tad quicker on the Vandorens (and Gigliottis).
One last thing I want to say is that higher resistance is not a mouthpiece flaw. It is a mouthpiece characteristic that some may prefer and some may not. When a stronger reed, like a 3.5 56 Rue Lepic is strapped to a B*, the resistance of the reed dominates the resistance of the mouthpiece, so that the extra resistance is much less noticeable in straight up comparison to other mouthpieces. On the other hand, with softer reeds, the high resistance of the mouthpiece is very noticeable, and a beginner will have trouble producing a satisfying focus on these mouthpieces.
The Selmer 201 series possess high resistance and a quick response. A very full and stable tone, with plenty of hold, exceptionally so in the altissimo. The closer the tip of the model the more easy it is to produce a focused sound and the stronger the reed that can be used. I find the B* provides the best overall balance across the 3 registers.
Selmer Facings
The Vandoren M13 88 Mouthpiece
This is the best Vandoren mouthpiece I have tried—and for $80 on-line, it is an excellent value. It produces a very focused, very compact, exceedingly clear sound, in contrast to the richer sound of a Borbeck or Fobes, especially in the chalumeau. And it retains its characteristic clarity and compactness from the softest pianissimo to the loudest forte. That forte, though, is quite limited—this mouthpiece simply will not play louder than double forte, and even its double forte is more like a loud forte. It is a moderate blowing mouthpiece, with noticeably more resistance than a Borbeck or Fobes. Response is very fast and tonguing is super quick and clean. Balance is excellent across the registers, and there is a fair amount of hold. I find the M13 very restrictive in tone, even more than the Selmer HS*, my own preference being for a larger, more flexible, and more vibrant sound.
The M13 88 has moderate resistance and fast response—exceptionally quick and clean to tongue. The sound is very focused and very compact with an exceedingly clear tone, but not very flexible. The mouthpiece is also very limited in volume, not supporting anything much louder than forte, though the quiet end is exceptionally stable, clear and focused, even at a ghostly pianissimo.
Vandoren Facings
The Hite Premiere Mouthpiece
This student mouthpiece is excellent, and light years ahead of what I learned on. Yet my preference for the novice is the Fobes Debut, which performs and sounds slightly better in the chalumeau and clarion (especially the throat tones). The Hite is better in the altissimo, more accessible and stable in that register than the Fobes Debut—but the 3rd register is an intermediate player's conquest, not the beginner's. Which is to say that a young student might well want to try this mouthpiece given its low price ($20), and band directors might want to consider this mouthpiece with their students who are not in private instruction.
The HIte Premiere has low resistance and fast response. A good hearty sound in the chalumeau and an accessible and stable altissimo. An excellent inexpensive mouthpiece.
The Gigliotti Mouthpieces
I have a Gigliotti with the open number 4 facing and one with the close tip P facing that Gigliotti himself preferred. The 4 has low resistance with good focus and is excellent in the altissimo—full and stable, with plenty of volume, though not much hold. The closer P facing has more resistance than the 4, especially in the 2nd and 3rd registers, which is to say it is an unbalanced mouthpiece. It is more focused than the 4—an especially nice focus, somewhat compact but not as restrictive as an M13 or HS*. It has a very clear sound and excellent stability with good hold, and the pitch can still be bent quite a bit without losing tone. It has a very fast and clean tongue response much like the M13. I find it to have a very attractive round tone.
The Gigliotti P has moderate resistance and a fast response, sounding quickly with good dynamic range and a quick, clean tongue. It possesses an attractive tone that is round and focused and stable and somewhat compact, and the pitch can still be bent quite a bit.
The O'Brien Crystal Mouthpiece
There is a quality to crystal mouthpieces that distinguishes them from hard rubber or any other material. Velvet and silk come to mind, but I really can’t nail it down—you have to hear or try one for yourself to understand. That said, things like focus, projection and response are entirely dependent on the design and facing of the mouthpiece, and so like hard rubber mouthpieces, not all crystals are created equal. I own an O'Brien, no longer made, though used ones can still be acquired on eBay. My model is from the late 40's or early 50's, having the 3 flutes per side of the original mold and no brass cap on the tenon, with a number 4 facing (about as open as a Selmer D). O'Brien faced many of the old Selmer crystals, and the O'Brien mouthpieces from the 50's and earlier are the most sought after.
The O’brien 4 crystal has medium resistance, quick dynamic response, gorgeous pianissimo, velvety timber, can be silky, too. Nice focus, with a moderate articulation response. Intonation very stable across dynamic. Good volume.
Harmony Clarinets
Alto Clarinet: The Selmer C*I started playing alto clarinet in 2009. The Bundy mouthpiece that came with the Selmer resonite alto was a dog (why do they do this to beginners?). I picked up a brand new off-the-shelf Slemer C* for around $30 on eBay, and found that it was very free blowing—completely absent the resistance Selmer mouthpieces are known for in the soprano line—and possessed an exceptionally clean and fast tongue. It had a wonderfully vibrant, robust and focused sound in the chalumeau, but was distressingly weak and airy in the lower clarion and fussy in the altissimo. At least at first. After repadding the clarinet with Music Medic Roo pads and adjusting the mechanism, the reluctance of the lower clarion and altissimo disappeared, and after playing on the horn for over a year, the tone of the lower clarion became much more robust. In fact, the altissimo now possesses a far easier and fluid response than any experience I've ever had on the soprano clarinet. Which is to say I am very happy with my Selmer C* mouthpiece, and I'm no longer in a rush to acquire a custom made alto mouthpiece from, say, Walter Grabner. Still, I hope to try one of Walter's mouthpieces one of these days when I feel that I have progressed enough on alto clarinet that I will be able to recognize a superior mouthpiece. If the C* is this good, what will the Grabner be like?
The 202C* has low resistance and a super fast response—exceptionally quick and clean to tongue. Very focused with a vibrant, robust tone. The lower clarion plays reasonably well, and the altissimo responds like a dream, all the way up past high G.
Bass Clarinet: The Fobes Debut
The price tag on bass clarinet mouthpieces is breathtaking, though not quite so heart stopping as the price of the instrument itself. Luckily, Carl Fobes offers his hand finished plastic Debut mouthpiece for bass clarinet at a scandalously low price. His soprano clarinet Debut mouthpiece is my favorite beginner mouthpiece. And as I am a beginner on bass clarinet, maybe I shouldn't be surprised that I love his Debut for bass clarinet. Yet the entire range of the bass clarinet is terrific on this mouthpiece, even up past high G in the altissimo, so much so that I have a hard time imagining how any mouthpiece could be better. One of these days, I hope to give his pro model bass clarinet mouthpiece a try, but I'm in no rush. The Debut is a stunningly great mouthpiece.
The Fobes Debut for bass clarinet has low resistance and a super fast response—exceptionally quick and clean to tongue. Very focused with a vibrant, rich tone. The lower clarion plays very well, and the altissimo responds like a dream, all the way up past high G.