American mouthpiece

[Oric Muso]

I've heard people refer to American type mouthpieces, as apposed to French. What does that mean? I would guess they refer to jazz type pieces, but I'm not certain.

[spike421]

Although I've seldom heard a reference to French vs American facings in many years, possibly the best example of this would be the Berg Larsen SMS vs. the M facing. The SMS is a " French facing" which is shorter (not a radically short facing, however) and has a steeper curve to attain tip opening. The M is a longer (not a radically long facing, however) and has a more shallow or gradual curve. Although these 2 facings are diffferent, I believe they both fall into what would be considered normal or standard. I think this is described on the Berg Larsen website.

There are some mouthpiece gurus on the forum who can probably give you a better description.

[MM]

This refers to Kaspar (American) vs Chedeville (French) designs. But I don't have enough experience on these expensive vintage clarinet mpcs to elaborate much further! Try the Clark Fobes or Walter Grabner websites or the "klarinet" mailing list.

[shotgun]

(Some people consider the Berg "M" facing to be on the long side.)