A few months ago I found a lovely old Lelandais alto mouthpiece and it changed my alto playing for the better. Effortless projection and a sweet versatile tone with good intonation top to bottom with very little input.
I went to play it today and picked out a new reed and found the reed hard and unresponsive. I put it to one side and selected another from the box. Same. Not wanting to root through the whole box or start scraping reeds I picked another reed from another box, different make. Same. Hard, stuffy, unresponsive. I checked over the alto. Nothing obvious. Wash out the mouthpiece. Always the last thing I think of. A quick rinse under the tap and a brush out with a soft toothbrush. When I was wiping it dry I heard a click. Odd. I searched out my reading glasses and had a closer look.
There's a crack a from the tip all the way along the beak, back to the body of the chamber. Gutted doesn't really cover it. Probably 70/80 years old and not a mark on it and it splits on my watch.
The search is back on. I think I'll stick to metal or plastic.
I went to play it today and picked out a new reed and found the reed hard and unresponsive. I put it to one side and selected another from the box. Same. Not wanting to root through the whole box or start scraping reeds I picked another reed from another box, different make. Same. Hard, stuffy, unresponsive. I checked over the alto. Nothing obvious. Wash out the mouthpiece. Always the last thing I think of. A quick rinse under the tap and a brush out with a soft toothbrush. When I was wiping it dry I heard a click. Odd. I searched out my reading glasses and had a closer look.
There's a crack a from the tip all the way along the beak, back to the body of the chamber. Gutted doesn't really cover it. Probably 70/80 years old and not a mark on it and it splits on my watch.
The search is back on. I think I'll stick to metal or plastic.