Largest Chambered Mouthpiece

[MonchMan]

Just was wondering, What piece has the largest chamber?

[shmuelyosef]

A Woodwind New York B5 that came with my Conn 12M has, by far, the largest chamber I have ever seen. Seriously concave sidewalls, much bigger than the neck O.D. and really wide besides. Had to use a Rovner bass sax ligature on it...ligaphone worked but just barely.

[mark_m]

How's it play?

[shmuelyosef]

It's, well...interesting. It plays with really good intonation, and the darkest, smoothest, sound I have been able to achieve on bari. When I got it, it had two big chips in the tip rail...Mojo refaced it for me, but stuck with the original racing curve, and left it at about .105 tip. It's very friendly with hard reeds, but it's a lot of work to get volume from it.

[mark_m]

Has nobody yet played the Ralph Morgan "double-chamber" bari piece??

I might have to just order one and wait a while to find out what this piece is about...

[MojoBari]

I've seen "double chamber" as another term for a squeeze throat design (see Theo's site). Sometimes there is a bulbulous chamber after the throat. This is probably what Ralph's bari piece has since its a more vintage design.

Rovner's double chamber is different yet.

[mark_m]

That Rovner piece looks wild. Does the deep window cut effectively increase chamber size, using the bottom of the reed as the chamber ceiling? Would they fall into the "large chamber" group? How do they play?

Re the Morgan, well I'll check out Theo's site, haven't seen it illustrated. So the idea being the chamber is considered to extend up into the baffle area, and the squeeze delineates two chamber areas, but really just a pronounced squeeze throat, yes/maybe? The effect being to add some punch/projection but still with a full large chamber?

[MojoBari]

Rovners are strange, but they work. The long window would effectively increase chamber volume, but I believe Rovner compensates by bringing the chamber and bore roof in some.

I think the main advantage of the long window is that it lets Rovner machine the chamber easier. Its also a marketing novelty. But it is not significantly better or worse than a normal table/window design. I've had clients pay me to modify their pieces this way, but I try to talk them out of it.

[shmuelyosef]

Has nobody yet played the Ralph Morgan "double-chamber" bari piece??

I might have to just order one and wait a while to find out what this piece is about...

I just inquired with Dave at JunkDude and the Morgan bari pieces are unavailable for the indeterminate future...

[mark_m]

bummer

[awholley]

I have one of the Morgan 1C mouthpieces. The chamber is smaller than the main bore (kind of like a Larry Teal). I'll sell it if someone wants it, or would be interested in trading for a Buescher bari mouthpiece.

If you are looking for a large chambered mouthpiece, try the Caravan. The comments made earlier regarding the Woodwind mouthpiece also fit the Caravan. (Dark, smooth, volume requires effort).

[Merlin]

awholley - I'm interested in your Morgan!

mail me at: merlinw@allstream.net

[Bar-Ron]

If anyone is interested its not the largest bore but is quite large and plays smooth and rich , try a Ridenour artist mp. Good classical sound like a caravan but with more volume. The facing allows a faint breath to move the reed and plays evenly. Brings a warm round tone to even bright horns. However needs some air to project.
I put it on my Martin and it was smooth and big. Even sounding throughout and played up high well,no thinness. Sounds like a string instrument.