Re: Wooden mouthpiece


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Posted by M.M. Carrasco on March 04, 2003 at 20:59:40:

In Reply to: Wooden mouthpiece posted by Dave Madison on March 04, 2003 at 13:57:04:

Hi,

Good for you! Back when I was an apprentice (during the Punic wars) I used to experiment making all kinds of things out of wood. I had good success making mouthpieces out of very close grained woods like Walnut (black is esp. cool looking), Pear, Bass or Beech (even hornbeam, aka Euro Beech). Once I even tried Lignum Vitae but it was very hard to work as is Maple and Ebony. I'm not sure about the toxicity of Cocobolo, but many keyboards are made of this wood. With the world -wide legal phase out of ivory, many high-end organs and pianos are now using cow bone as a substitute and had thought that it might be suitable for mouthpieces since many Serpents had them in ivory.

The mass produced wooden mouthpieces I've seen are actually turned from a laminated block, - impregnated with non-toxic resin for moisture resistance. Mineral oil would certainly be less dangerous than most shop chemicals, but the safest bet would be the food-service oil finish used on making salad bowls, butcher blocks and cutting boards. Most woodworking specialty shops stock this finish.

Have Fun!!!

Moises Carrasco


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