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Walter Grabner

Ed

Founder
Staff member
Administrator
http://www.clarinetxpress.com/

When people ask me what Bass Clarinet mouthpiece they should buy I always tell them the same thing: Walter Grabner.

Walter also makes some great soprano clarinet pieces. He's a great guy to deal with as well.
 
Of all the clarinets and saxes I've played the bass clarinet seems to be the most mouthpiece dependant. Not having a clarinet embouchure per se I was having trouble getting the upper end and above of the clarion range to speak. So out of desperation I purchased a Walter Grabner 'Laurie Bloom' bass clarinet mouthpiece. Wow, can I just say wow? I could play the full range of the instrument from the day I received that mouthpiece. (Note, the music on the page linked above is hauntingly beautiful too.)

So I started showing this mouthpiece to real bass clarinet players. Every single one of them, no really--no hyperbole here, every single one of them wanted it. They are expensive but what a find. A number of junior and high school band teachers have written this down for their kids if their parents can afford it. This mouthpiece is that good.
 
I've come to use Walter's mouthpieces exclusively on soprano and bass clarinets. Nothing short of extraordinary....right up there in the same league with Gregory Smith and Richard Hawkins.

As I've written on other threads, the first Grabner mouthpiece I used was his LB on bass clarinet. Being deeply impressed with it, I HAD to try his Kaspar-style pieces on soprano. The Grabner Kaspars came as a revelation to me. I mostly use the K14 and K11 models (however, I also have the 442 K11e and K14e versions). They have a truly beautiful dark, warm, vibrant, and ringing sound....exactly as Walter describes them on his site. With a Grabner Kaspar I'm able to have the dark, ringing clarinet sound of my dreams but I also discovered that its a big sound that projects like gang busters. It easily projects in a big band (as well as classical wind ensemble) without breaking a sweat.

Walter has hinted that he might begin a line of saxophone mouthpieces. I told him that I want to be first in line to try one.

Roger
 
I have a CXZ_SW1 sitting on the table next to me as I type this. It's a piece I want to compare with my vintage Bay, modern Fobes, Hawkins, and some others. If I could just remember where I put my vintage Bay, modern Fobes, Hawkins and the others!
 
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