Compliments! I appreciated this video of yours! I have thousands of mouthpieces for clarinets and saxophones and many have belonged to important concert performers in history. Among these clarinet mouthpieces I have many made of glass, they date back to the end of the 19th century; the most important brands are Italian and French, but many mouthpieces were made by Italian artisans and do not have a brand. I think that today mouthpieces with these great tonal and dynamic qualities are no longer built! Unfortunately very few clarinetists in the world know what great qualities and potential glass mouthpieces have and in particular historical ones! almin 🌷🌹🌷
My O'Brien Crystal cracked on me; had it since late 70s and it was such a great mouthpiece. Sad it when cracked on me. Use a Pomerico Wizard now and it's good to, but still, I missed my O'Brien (which I got when I was in High School) and recall it didn't cost that much then. Oh well. :)
I bought my first O'Brien back in 1978 or 1980 and I still have it. Wonderful tone, projection and power when needed. Looking at my 1983 WWBW catalog the OBrien's were $33.60 USD (mailorder) / $36 USD (retail). Vandoren Crystals were $75 / $ 101 RIA Crystals $39 / $50 John Denman Crystal $39.50 / $45
@@gottalovetheknowledge4749 Remember Dad paying around $20 for it back then. Definitely worth much more than what I paid for it. Had it not cracked when I was cleaning my clarinet after an outdoor sub-freezing Christmas tree lighting concert (lesson learn; don't use such a mouthpiece in cold weather) I would still be using it. It broke at the base when I was taking it out of the barrel. Lucky for me, I didn't get cut from the glass shards. lol :)
Oh that's a shame. Cold temps are not a friend to glass, nor wood. I've seen many cracks where people's clarinets were in their car, then they started playing them. The inside bore gets warms and expands while the outside is still cold and contracted. At some point the two opposing expanding/contracting forces the expansion overpowers the contraction and a crack occurs. I think I have a video about one way cracks can form in relation to temperature. Glass is similar. It gets brittle on the outside, but when it warms up (and cooling cycles in the cold) it can crack. I'm sure the brittleness (and it was probably already cracked from the environment) it just shattered.
iused a 60,s model 4* for 20+ yrs till a tech broke it during re corking. as luck would have it i had just landed the biggest clarinet job of my career and i was now with out a mpc! i gave up xystal mpcs after this. have a spare if you want to play glass! oh how sweet these obrien,s were!
There's many stories of ppl breaking their crystals even on stage. So brittle of a material compared to Hard Rubber. I still have plenty of O'Brien and Selmer's myself but I mostly play Hard Rubber nowadays too.
I have 3 O' Brian's and 3 Selmers, Just sold a Mitchell Lurie to my High School band teacher from the mid 60's. Did O'Brian make the Lurie or was it Pomerico ?
Compliments! I appreciated this video of yours!
I have thousands of mouthpieces for clarinets and saxophones and many have belonged to important concert performers in history.
Among these clarinet mouthpieces I have many made of glass, they date back to the end of the 19th century;
the most important brands are Italian and French, but many mouthpieces were made by Italian artisans and do not have a brand.
I think that today mouthpieces with these great tonal and dynamic qualities are no longer built!
Unfortunately very few clarinetists in the world know what great qualities and potential glass mouthpieces have and in particular historical ones!
almin 🌷🌹🌷
Thousands? I should do a YT video with you and your favorites.
My O'Brien Crystal cracked on me; had it since late 70s and it was such a great mouthpiece. Sad it when cracked on me. Use a Pomerico Wizard now and it's good to, but still, I missed my O'Brien (which I got when I was in High School) and recall it didn't cost that much then. Oh well. :)
I bought my first O'Brien back in 1978 or 1980 and I still have it. Wonderful tone, projection and power when needed.
Looking at my 1983 WWBW catalog the
OBrien's were $33.60 USD (mailorder) / $36 USD (retail).
Vandoren Crystals were $75 / $ 101
RIA Crystals $39 / $50
John Denman Crystal $39.50 / $45
@@gottalovetheknowledge4749 Remember Dad paying around $20 for it back then. Definitely worth much more than what I paid for it. Had it not cracked when I was cleaning my clarinet after an outdoor sub-freezing Christmas tree lighting concert (lesson learn; don't use such a mouthpiece in cold weather) I would still be using it. It broke at the base when I was taking it out of the barrel. Lucky for me, I didn't get cut from the glass shards. lol
:)
Oh that's a shame. Cold temps are not a friend to glass, nor wood.
I've seen many cracks where people's clarinets were in their car, then they started playing them. The inside bore gets warms and expands while the outside is still cold and contracted. At some point the two opposing expanding/contracting forces the expansion overpowers the contraction and a crack occurs. I think I have a video about one way cracks can form in relation to temperature.
Glass is similar. It gets brittle on the outside, but when it warms up (and cooling cycles in the cold) it can crack. I'm sure the brittleness (and it was probably already cracked from the environment) it just shattered.
iused a 60,s model 4* for 20+ yrs till a tech broke it during re corking. as luck would have it i had just landed the biggest clarinet job of my career and i was now with out a mpc! i gave up xystal mpcs after this. have a spare if you want to play glass! oh how sweet these obrien,s were!
There's many stories of ppl breaking their crystals even on stage. So brittle of a material compared to Hard Rubber. I still have plenty of O'Brien and Selmer's myself but I mostly play Hard Rubber nowadays too.
I have 3 O' Brian's and 3 Selmers, Just sold a Mitchell Lurie to my High School band teacher from the mid 60's. Did O'Brian make the Lurie or was it Pomerico ?
Pomarico made the Mitchell Laurie crystals.
@@gottalovetheknowledge4749 I thought so Thanks, that's the one my old teacher bought from me.
How about obrien 2+
listed on my website No 2* More open than OB* which is about 1.08mm
www.woodwindforum.com/clarinetperfection/obrien/