Vandoren B75

[ZenBen]

I was wondering if someone (maybe Merlin) might be able to describe to me the inside of the VanDoren B75 baritone mouthpiece. What kind of baffle; the chamber; does it have rounded sidewalls; and anything else. I've seen Merlin write about this mouthpiece, but I couldn't find anything when I did my search. Thanks in advance.

[Merlin]

OK, I'll give it a shot.

Keep in mind that I've modified the baffle somewhat on my own piece.

As delivered, the B75 has a round chamber. The baffle has a slight 'lake' right near the tip. The rest of the baffle forms what I would describe as a long roll-over. The end of the baffle at the throat is rounded out a bit (sort of like a very shallow bullet) into the throat. Sidewalls are straight near the tip, fairing into the round chamber.

Hope that gives you the mental picture you need. Tip on mine is 0.108".

[ZenBen]

Thanks Merlin.

[BbWally]

Merlin,
I have the B75 untouched. I wonder if the tip opening is 107 as it comes from the Mfg? Did you modify that too? I like it. It is very Hot! Lots of Buzz when I need it. I use a Soft reed. Hempke # 1.5. Do you have any comments?
Wally

[Merlin]

The tips of my B75's are untouched - .107, right from the manufacturer.

I use Vandoren #3's on mine. If I were using Hemke's I'd probably be on a 3.5 or 4...but I go for a thick, commanding dark sound with a bit of edge.

[milandro]

I have a B75 and I am rather happy with it, the only problem was that I had only tried it until now with La Voz bariton reeds (I'm new to Bariton and I has a pack of those...) , these were really rather small and barely covered the rails, so, since I needed some other reeds, I went to buy some Vandoren reeds (I thought they would be the best to fit a Vandoren mouthpiece) but they are ever so slightly wider than the la voz and still relatively small to fit this mouthpiece, at least the way my tenor or alt are fitting their mouthpiece

Are there wider reeds than Vandoren? Can I use some other reeds such as Bass Clarinet?

[MM]

No, not bass cl. reeds are they are similar to tenor sax in size. Contra-alto clar maybe, good luck finding them.

Funny, I had a B75 and have not noticed a problem with reed fit. I tried LaVoz, Hemke, Rico Jazz and Hemke.

If I used a Hemke I would use about a 2.5; maybe 3.