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Thoughts on the Selmer HS Star Mouthpiece?

I've been using mine for a while now, and I really enjoy the focus it gives to my sound, as well as how it gives me much smoother access to all registers. I actually prefer it to the Vandoren mouthpieces I've worked with. However, I don't really see it talked about very much, so I'm interested in hearing about other's experiences with it.
 
The Selmer HS* was my first experience of a mouthpiece other than the one that came with the instrument. I had a buffet Evette with the standard Buffet mouthpiece. It was like blowing into a railway sleeper. I bought an old B & H Edgware in a junk shop and it came with a Selmer HS*. After repadding the Edgware sounded pretty good, so I tried it on my Evette and it completely transformed it. I've moved away from it now, but it was surprisingly good.
 
I've played an HS* on my soprano clarinets for over fifty years. I got a "free" one with a junk clarinet out of the bin at the dear departed Hunlith Music (on Broadway, in downtown Saint Louis). The cork was shot, and it was an old style mouthpiece (with the pitch engraved on the table), but it was worth the effort to bring it back. It does "green up" at times (from devulcanization of the rubber), but it still works like a charm.

Since that time, I've tried other mouthpieces from a variety of makers, but in the end always return to my old reliable. I even had Hite make me a duplicate. (It works about as well; the "God Bless" on the end of the tenon bothers me a bit, but what can you do?)

I've always viewed mouthpiece chasing (where people constantly try different beaks with the attitude that the perfect mouthpiece is always just one more trial away) as being a fool's errand. It's cheaper than switching horns every little whipstitch, but (in the long run), nothing beats time spent playing the horn through standard exercises.

Your mileage may vary...
 
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