two. Welcome to the clarinet ninja podcast. My name is Jay Hassler. As always, I'm
doing my best to bring you the finest in clarinet information and entertainment. Today on the podcast, I've got two of my
very closest friends, Josh Goo and Lynn Snider. Josh Goo might know from Quick
Start Clarinet. Great program, great YouTube channel, great clarinet teacher.
We also have Lynn Snider, great claret player, great clarinet teacher. Her internet personality is Queen Reed. And
Queen Reed has been on a bit of a hiatus. But I heard she's coming back. So, we're going to be looking for that.
All of us. We're going to be looking for that. I can't wait to see it. And just let me say right now, if you haven't liked and liked and subscribed, left a
comment, fivestar rating, would you please do it? It really does help this get out in the world, and I would love
it if people could hear the joy, the fun, and really indulge in the clanet
the way we do here at the Granite Ninja. So, no further ado, we're talking to Josh Goo, Lin Snder, we're talking about
things you can get at different price points for your clarinet, things you can do to help your clarinet play in life, and just having a good time talking
about things that have been successful for us and for our students with the clarinet. Enjoy. Lyn Josh, it's so good
to see you. How are you? Good to see you. Great to see you. So, so we're going to solve some
problems today. And those problems are if you got a little bit of money to spend or a medium amount of money to
spend or a large amount of money to spend, what are some good ideas to treat
yourself to uh with a clarinet, a clarinet product, an accessory, things
that are going to really move the needle on your experience playing the clarinet. And so let's go with the the sort of
like lowest our sort of lowest category. We haven't really figured out exactly like what price, but if someone's going
to buy an accessory of some kind, let's say $100ish,
something like that. I'm curious to know, Lynn, has there been a product that has changed your life that falls in
this sort of this sort of category? Okay, I'm going to start out with a concept and it is it's like not a single
thing. It's like I think you have to elevate your read game, right? Like if you've got a hundred bucks, I want to
see you elevate your game on reads. Okay, so this could be like um Okay,
well let me just show you what I have. So what I have is like the Tupperware. And this is the Tupperware is great
because we're going to look in here for just a minute. It's like digging through my purse. Scary, but really informative.
So we're going to dig through the Tupperware. And here's what you find. Like I've got one kind of read case.
This is like the Brad Bane read case. This is great. You can put like your your little um humidity pack in there.
That's another read g, you know, read changer is to have humidity packs. You can have all kinds of read cases. You
don't have to stick to just one. You can keep your court grease in there. You can
keep your earplugs in there. Wear your ear plugs in rehearsal. You can keep
tweezers in there. I can't tell you how many times we need tweezers to like put poke something in, poke something around. So, I'm going to say for the
accessory level, like a hundred bucks, get thyself a Tupperware or other
suitable case to hold your reads. Put your little humidifier packs in there.
That's what I can't like I love these these BVAS. Yeah. Yeah. 49% humidity works for me out here
in Southern California. And um they're going to they make, you know, they make my reads just
consistent, uh predictable, all the things that you want. But then like like the piece to resistance in my read case
really is my little is my read geek. And this is what I think is like a true this
is the game changer for me. So if you don't know what this is, this is just like a little piece of metal that is
sharp on different sides in different ways. And you can use it to like adjust your reads. You really don't have to
know a ton about adjusting your reads, but like if you just want to flatten the backs of your reads, just run the blade
over the back of the reed with this little tool. I think they're like maybe 60 bucks or 70 bucks in that price
range, but that's kind of the re that's the kind of the game changer for me on the accessory level is to up the read
game. No, I think that you you you make some good points. One of the things I'm most interested in is the tweezers because
not only is that good to like pull screws out and and do things like that if that needs to happen, but oftentimes,
you know, as somebody with bushy eyebrows, I do show up to work sometimes and there's one going crazy and I I can't do anything about it.
You can't have that. You can't have your eyebrow touching your glasses. That's really annoying. No, no. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I I agree.
Now, but my big question about it, Lynn, and I hope you're ready for this, is how do you transport that? Does that fit in
your clarinet case? Okay. No, it does not does not fit in my clarinet case.
Okay, we're on the con side of the list now. So, we just talked about the pros. The con side is then you are carrying
some other bag with you when you go to rehearsal. However, if it's like in my
purse, right, in my backpack, in my satchel, um with my music, right, with
my iPad, with um anything, you know, anything else that I'm bringing to rehearsal and I just think that we need
to look at I'm going to throw a little shade here. I'm just going to I think we need to look at flute players who bring
like mountains of things. It's like they're camping every time they come to rehearsal. And I feel like if they can
carry like a threeperson overnight hiking backpack into rehearsal for their flute and their piccolo that I can like
it's okay for me to have a bag that holds my little Tupperware for reads. So that's that's where I'm going with on
this. Okay. So, I'm curious to know if I I have done something like that in the
past and I have always had to carry like a the cheapo for read guard in my case
because at some point if I don't have those reads in my case, I will have no reads. Mhm.
Has that ever has that ever happened to you? True. True. And yes, for that exact reason, I will often have like one of
these like or the the old lava they don't I it's hard to find them, but those old lava
twosided. You just stick them in the barrel or you know right in right on the padding of your case. Yeah. So having
reads in your case at all times that is also great because I have walked out of the house without my read box. And so my
reads are a little bit like chapsticks. Like I have them everywhere. They're in the house. They're like in drawers.
They're in every bag I own has a chapstick. I kind of have reads that show up in every every bag I have. And
it has never like I've never been unhappy to find a read an extra read in a case or in a bag.
How do you feel when you find an extra chapstick in the bag? Do you feel equally as happy about that? I feel very happy about that. Okay.
Yes. I feel very very gratified. Now I need I need to present mine immediately after Lynn because I I my
heart sank a little bit because I I was going to suggest exactly the same Brad. It's a good one. It is good and and I want to go into a
little bit of depth as to why it's so good and I and I'm not going to be able to show it on Zoom all that well. Maybe I'll take a picture of it. The reads sit
on rails so that they're not actually sitting flat on anything. And not only is the Bvita pack inside the case, the
read isn't warping against anything. And I have found that that my reads don't
warp when I put them in this case. I mean, like it's been years now, year and a half, two years, and I've I've been
incredibly this has been the biggest game changer for me uh of, you know, any sort of accessory level thing. And I
when I I first got it, I I kind of I wasn't skeptical because, you know, I know Brad and I love Brad, but I was
skeptical a little bit like, "Yeah, is this really going to make that much difference?" And yes, it does. And then the other thing that it's in my eyline
right now right off screen. Um, I want to share this with you, Josh, because you changed my life a little bit because
you you've got uh the world's slipperiest cork grease from Mike Lohen Stern. And I I I said, "Let me try
that." And I put my fingers in it, which automatically I don't want it because I got to put my fingers in it. Like I don't, you know, when I'm actually about
to play the clarinet, I don't want corkies on my fingers. So I put it on my I put it on my clarinet. I was like,
"Oh, it's very slippery. It's very nice." And then about four weeks later, it was still slippery. It still was. And
I thought, "Okay, you know what I need? I need some of the world's slipperiest cork crease from Mike Lowen Stern. I'll leave his uh his link in the description
so anyone can get it. He's a great person to buy things for. He's a good person. Runs a great shop. really doing
his best to get things that clan players would want. I leave it here on my
speaker so that I can grease my corks at home so I don't have any cork grease on my fingers at work and it lasts for so
long. I don't need to do I don't need to do it very often. And that is it's surprising like what a difference that
sort of quality of life is to never actually need cork grease when I'm on
the gig. I I still have it in my case, but I don't actually ever end up using it now. The the funny part of it is I I
went home and I and I was I'm on the airplane thinking about cork grease. I mean what talk about a nerd. And so I'm
thinking about this cork crease. I'm like I need that cork grease. But what am I going to do? Like go online, order
like one cork grease from Mike Lostone. I mean like I I felt ridiculous doing that. So thankfully uh my friend Todd
Marcus who I I just recorded a podcast with uh was going to go visit Mike Lonster and I said listen man I need you
to get me three because we're going to go out to dinner afterwards. I need three cork reases. I need that. I was texting them all day. Don't forget the
core creases. So, I've got three of them. I think I'm good on cork crease for a long time. Yeah, for me, the Bradbane Reed case and the cork crease
are like the sort of accessory level things that can can make a huge difference in in uh how things work and
uh what your client life is like. What do you got, Josh? I have to say something really quick. Sure. Hey, have you considered the idea of
putting a cork grease in every bag that you own and then you'll always have one? You'll always find one. Well, that's a
great idea. Except then I might be tempted to actually use it and get my fingers greasy. Yes. And then then I'm afraid I'm afraid I want to I'm I'm
trying to treasure my relationship with this cork grease. And so I don't want to take it to a place that I feel any sort
of conflict about it. So yeah. So I I I I love you. I love the idea. But you
know, sometimes when I'm sitting in my chair, my clan's out, I don't want to get up and wash my hands. Like I'm in the chair, I'm done. Like I want to sit
there until it's time to go. And I don't want to get up and wash my hands. And I I I totally think that that's a first
world problem and still a problem, right? Still a challenge for me.
Okay, Josh, take it away. What do you have? What do you have for us? Yeah. So, uh first I'm I'm going to flex
a little bit on my uh read storage situation. Um, so I have in my case,
well maybe in my case just right in there my three leger reads that are all
the reads that I pretty much ever play on just right there always conveniently in the case. Um,
which if you're playing on cane reads definitely leveling up your read storage and the humidity and everything is is
fantastic. And I was thinking on this kind of first accessory, my first thought also went to reads. Uh, and I
would say just spend money to get like a few boxes of reads and and have more
reads to try. I think uh I think that's a a kind of common misconception that people will sort of um have their box of
reads and try to get through the box of reads before they buy another box of reads and and that leaves you sometimes
struggling with some not so great reads in that box that you're just like you hate to just throw them away cuz you
paid for them. But also just working through them is sometimes kind of torturous. and maybe having them as as
practice reads and getting experience with different reads and trying out your read geek on them is is all good ideas.
But at the end of the day, I think if you just work through more reads, you're going to find more better reads as well.
Um, so that was my first thought for sure uh at this level. But since both Jay and Lynn talked about reads, I'll
also go with the like totally self-promotional side of it as well. um
and say when it comes to playing, getting fancy new equipment is great and
makes things a little bit better and it's fun to have the shiny new thing that makes you want to get out your
instrument and play. But also learning how to play the clarinet is is very valuable and and beneficial too. And
maybe even before I go the self-promotional route, maybe honestly just taking a lesson uh could be
extremely valuable. uh to spend a h 100red bucks to take one lesson with a good teacher can be a total gamecher. Uh
or you could also get the next generation clarinet method at quickstartclarinet.com/nextnextgen
book uh which is my my clarinet method book of course which has the the PDF and I think there's over 160 videos in there
explaining how to do everything and what the goal of it is and there's timelines to kind of make it very step by step as
well. So, as kind of a broad idea, uh, more reads and invest some money in
actually learning how to play the clarinet rather than just having more fun stuff to play with on the clarinet.
I I think that that's true. The thing that my question to you, Josh, you think there's 160 videos you had to make those actively, right? I mean, you just you
lost I mean, I guess after 100, you probably lose count. Is that is that what happened? Yeah, I did it I did it uh at like the
end of 2023 is when I put in the videos. If I'm remembering right, I think it's like 164 videos.
It's a lot of work. I I I I bow to your your uh ability to
complete a project like that. I mean, it's uh that's difficult to do. Uh yeah. No. And yeah, I think we'd all agree
that like actually getting some direct feedback about your playing is definitely the most important thing. It
is the less it's like the least tangible thing, right? in in terms of when you're thinking moving forward in time, but
then after you've taken the lesson or after you've spent the the the time with you know you, me, Lynn, anybody like
it's it's uh it's very tangible what that is what what that does and and how that moves the needle. Oh, my question
to you is what are those are those legeries just floating around or are they in a case inside the case? I I
didn't so did you use words because people listen to this audio only as well. uh like what what actually were
they in inside your case? Yeah, it's hard to see. I I took a little like block of foam and and kind
of stuck that into just like the open compartment for like whatever they want
you to store in the case in that department compartment. Um and I took a little block of foam and then cut little slits in it and then you can slide the
the reads in so they don't move around at all when I'm moving around. So what I'm hearing is that your reads are held
in your case in the same way that if Macgyver were a clarinet player, he would have his reads in the case, right?
That that's what that's what I got here. Yeah, more or less. I think we've all played legair at some point in our life. The challenge for me
with legair with a regular read case, a traditional read case is you're sliding the tip under something and I found that
if a legger tip gets bent, game over. And so there's a huge risk in using a
traditional read case with a legger read. Like I always put them in uh one of the flat glass ones that folds over
and I never did it where I stuck it in anything. Have you guys found that that's that's consistent with what your
experience has been? Yeah, absolutely. I will say too, it wasn't just my own pure genius that came
up with this kind of way of storing them. It came from uh right before I switched to Leger, I got the Lowmax
Humida Pro case, which is also another great read case. Uh Brads are are also very good and they have the kind of the
same idea where the the tip is is free so it's not warping against anything and it's humidity controlled and and
airtight, but in the Lowmax ones, they have kind of a a row of foam that you slot your your reads in, which is where
I stole the idea from. Yeah. Well, but but the fact that you're willing to implement it yourself, that's the part that that Do you have a garage
where you live? Yes. Oh, see if if I just had a garage, I could I could I could do stuff. No, I
couldn't. I'm completely incapable of of doing anything like that. I think Clarinet are a crafty bunch.
Like, in general, think we're a crafty set. Yeah. Well, have you built anything, Lynn?
Oh my gosh. I don't know. I've built like IKEA things. I mean, is that what we're talking about? I meant for the clarinet.
Everything I do feels like a hack of some kind, right? So, um, I have used
hair ties to hold my liatures on my readons in place of a liature, right?
I've done things like that. We've, you know, you're we're using tape to hold a pad down, like a painters tape on my
clarinet. Like, all kinds of things have to happen when something goes wrong, you know, at a rehearsal or at a dress
rehearsal or anything like that. You just have to get crafty. years ago, I I was sitting at dinner in
between shows and I came up with the greatest clarinet case design ever and I
I dreamed and I said it out loud to my my foolish friends that I was with. I'm going to create a case that's so good
and it's going to be called the Jace. And 100 years from now, people are going to people are going to say to one
another, I think a long time ago, they used to call this a case.
But as one would expect, I I've taken no action on this. And and there's nobody in the future
that's going to say that. There probably never was going to be anyway, but can't fault a guy for dreaming. All
right. So, let's say you have uh you you you saved your money or you you're fortunate enough to have a few hundred
bucks. What what what types of things should we think about that that that would either
be fun, make our clarinet playing better, make us look more beautiful while playing the clarinet. What do you think, Josh? What do you got?
So, thinking about this with a few hundred bucks, that does get into where you can have some impactful equipment
for sure. Uh definitely when I was thinking about the kind of lower tier pricing too, when it comes to tangible
equipment, it's pretty much just mouthpieces and or sorry, just reads and maybe liatures. You could get some some
decent liatures for under 100 bucks, but like does the liature really make that much difference? Like well well that's true and liatures they
didn't used to be a fortune but the the liature market is exploded. What's up
now? Liatures are super expensive now. So thinking about like yeah maybe you could get a liature that's not going to
make that much of a difference but with a few hundred that's where you can start to get into like mouthpiece territory
for sure. And I think the mouthpieces are probably the most impactful, maybe
second to the read. I I would probably put read most impactful mouthpiece second cuz that's where the the sound is
happening and the the vibrations there. So mouthpieces are are a good thing to start exploring at that price range. And
I think they don't get talked about a whole ton. Um, I play on the Shedville
mouthpieces and I've did a pretty thorough review where they sent me like all the models they have and I played
all of them and really quite enjoyed all of them and they have nice kind of characteristic differences to them that
I think actually align very very well with what they say in the marketing materials which is is nice. So like the
Umbra is their their dark like fullbodied one and that's completely how I felt on it. Uh, I'm currently playing
on the SAVV, which gave me just like a little bit more kind of flexibility and
and energy to the sound that I I kind of liked. Uh, and I also really like that
they have the different models in different tip openings. So, if you like having an open tip, you can get an open tipped umbra and still have kind of the
qualities of of an umbra or a closed tip umbra and still have the qualities of it, but can more easily match the the
mouthpiece to the reed, which I think is cool and not super common amongst the the different mouthpiece manufacturers.
Let's all share whatever we think about the difference between uh a mass-produced mouthpiece, which I'm not
throwing shade, but like like a Vandor, like Vandor is they're not handfinished versus mouthpieces that are made by hand
and why somebody would want one versus the other. Anybody got any ideas?
Anything they want to share? I don't know. I think it comes down to like personal preference. So, and and
also kind of um you know how much you want to start pulling your hair out over
a mouthpiece search. I mean, I think a lot of us end up
either trying really hard to not go down the rabbit hole and we go anyway, right? Or we're kind of successful at avoiding
the rabbit hole. But the rabbit hole is there. Like the mouthpiece rabbit hole is there and you can go down it pretty
far as it turns out. Maybe I know from personal experience,
maybe I don't. But but you've heard from your friends, I'm sure. Yeah. Yeah. I've heard it can be like
this. Yeah. Yeah. I've heard you can spend years, you know, of your life, you know, trying to find a mouthpiece. That's just what I hear. Um but I will
say this, it's kind it's a moving target, right? Because you're me I'm talking talking about me now. We're
changing all the time. like how what I want to play on now is different than what I wanted you know 20 years ago in
terms of um of like feel like the experience of it like what kind of response I want what I'm willing to put
up with. So, for example, for years I played the B40 liar, and there were things I really loved about it, but I
eventually got to where like that feeling of of resistance and blowback that you get, and I'm not sure how I
think might be might be where the baffle is or how, you know, how it's designed, but the blowback was like, "Oh, I can't
I can't handle this anymore. I it's not I can't tongue fast anymore. I can't do all these things on it anymore." So, I
think I think when it comes down to like um like stock mouthpiece versus, you
know, handmade, I think you've got to before you go looking, I think you have to figure out what you think you might
be looking for. Um, you know, kind of like so I kind of went in when I was ready to kind of move away from the B40
liar. I was like, well, what I need is something that sounds, you know, like
lots of good core, but also less fight, like I don't want to fight it anymore.
So, um, I think having that idea can go a long way. And then once you have the idea, stock or not stock, you can kind
of find your way to it. I'm looking for responses to this. I mean, I I'll state this as my feelings and I'm going to say this strongly, so
disagree with caution, but uh, like I think a beginner student uh, as a child or as an adult should as soon as their
clarinet gets there, they should either have a Brad Bane overture or a Clark Phobes debut milepiece and just not use
the one that came with it ever. And that that should be everybody's starting place. Yeah. And I guess when I mean stock, I
mean like mass-produced. I should say that because I don't like any of the stock like whatever came with your
clarinet. Please don't use that. I I 100% I love the the debut. That one I
know like a bunch of my younger students have that and it is great. The Yamaha 4C
is fine. You know, like those things that kind of get you out of your, you know, your training wheels. Yeah. Well, the ammo 4C is is fine, but
for the the little expense of the the Brad Bane or the Clark phobes, it's it's might as well just go ahead and do it.
And but while we're on this topic, is there a way that you can delineate when somebody should move from their Brad
Bane or Clark Phobes or 4C? At what point should they start to experiment with a new mouthpiece? I mean, I think
the stock answer would be when the mouthpiece is holding them back. But what what indicators do you get from
students that the mouthpiece is holding them back first? Uh with the kind of beginner mouthpieces, I also want to throw in the
Bun Protege into that is is also a very good be beginner mouthpiece. Um but
yeah, I kind of am that yeah the the Bane the Debut uh the Premiere by height
also like if if it's like the debut feels too expensive for a student um that can be also a good one to to get by
with. Uh but yeah, definitely like don't play the the mouthpiece it came with unless it's one of those mouthpieces
that came with it. Uh as far as kind of when you need to move on, I always kind of feel like even
personally, not even from a beginner to intermediate level, but even as an advanced player, I personally feel like
it's time to start thinking about mouthpieces when none of the reads feel good. Uh, so you you go through a lot of
reads and and you remember back in the day like you would be able to find a handful of reads in a box or maybe two
reads in a box and they felt good and and were were playable. But when you feel like you've gone through two or
three boxes and you can't remember the last time you had a really good read that felt really good, then it might be
time to mix things up with the mouthpiece a little bit. I like that. Sometimes when when my reads aren't
working, I can go to my box and I take out my tweezers and I shape my eyebrows a little differently. Yeah.
Game changer. Yeah. Or put some cork grease on your fingers. Yeah.
That's that's a good point. I mean, like Reed's not working. If if all of a sudden you can't get anything to feel
good and you're kind of doing the same thing that you were doing before, something unknown has changed and that
unknown thing is you you need to evaluate that. I think one of the ways for us, I mean, since we're probably we
all probably all have 50 mouthpieces or more in our home, it's pretty easy to change mouthpieces and say, "Oh, wait a
minute. Got it." But if you don't, you know, going to a shop and and trying some mouthpieces is a great idea. Do you
do you have any indicators of when when a student needs to change their mouthpiece? Yeah. like as as a teacher uh it's when
they start when they as the student are starting to pick up on nuances in their playing that they are becoming unhappy
with. So part of it it's like you know if you have if I I don't know maybe it's
like food or wine or something there's like some like there's a point at which you don't like I don't know the
difference between Mediterranean salt and French I don't know I don't know I'm making things up now but there's like
food food nuances and wine nuances that that sometimes I can't tell. I'm not the one to like venture into that. But once
like a student is starting to pick up on some of their own playing like, "Hey, how come I can't do this?" or "How come
it sounds like this?" or "How do I sound like you?" And sometimes they can't articulate it very well, but you can
tell that they have a growing discomfort with what they sound like or how they feel when they're playing. And that's
one of like the early like the early cues um that comes from them that signals to me that they're ready. But a
lot of times they don't know that they're ready. And and we as the teachers are like, you need to you need
to break up out of you need to break up with your mouthpiece. This is a this is a dysfunctional relationship now. You
need to go on and find something healthier for you. When you started talking about wine, I was really hoping that it was going to
go a different direction and and you were going to say something like, "Let's get a bottle of wine." And eventually the reads start to you start to accept
them a little bit more. It's okay. After the bottle of wine, you don't really care so much. So that does that
is one way of eliminating the mouthpiece issue. Well, and this is unrelated, but some of the best advice I ever got is if
you want to perform drunk, you have to practice drunk.
Just throwing that out there. Not suggesting it for anybody, but just saying that that like, you know, being
drunk and playing can take a whole bunch of different directions. So, you do have to know what's going on ahead of time. Yeah.
Yeah. For sure. With with a with a confidence that all your reads are great.
I want to throw it with the mouthpiece upgrade, too. like the the very like tangible point of also just look at your
mouthpiece and see how it's doing. If it's like really beat up, if you can tell that like the rails are no longer
flat, if there's dents and chips and stuff in it, then that's also a great great time and great way to know it's
ready for a new mouthpiece. And the suck test is always important, right? I mean, to make sure your read ceiling. If your reads ceiling, it
doesn't Yeah. game over, right? I mean, and and then you do have to check a number of reads. you have to get your regeek out of your your box and and and
flatten it and make sure that you know you're actually getting good information. But that is like I've had
some really really nice mouthpieces, lots of them. And uh there's there's one day all of a sudden I was like
something's wrong. And my first thought is it's me and then after thinking that for a couple weeks I I realized no my
mouthpiece is warped. And if your mouthpiece is warped you can't see it really. I mean, so for me,
the suck test is always always the way to go. Um, can you can you explain the suck test
real quick? Because even for me, it like took me a second to remember what you meant. So, for listeners, I'm sure they would appreciate that.
Sure. I mean, you get Let's We're going to pretend I have a liature because I've got a hundred of them, but not within
arms reach. You have a hair tie that will work. I don't surprisingly I don't I don't use
them very often. U and on the other side of my head, there's actually no hair. Um, so yeah, I mean your reads on and
you put your mouthpiece on a big part of your hand and you suck in
and then you get a pump if you're if it if it passes the suck test, which means that the mouthpiece is flat and the read
is flat. So the challenge with it is if your reads suck and you're trying to put
like you may it may not be your mouthpiece. like you have to have a couple mouthpieces, a number of reads, and and try all that stuff. And you have
to remember that it has to create a full seal on your on your hand. And I just
want to say this, this is an M30 that I bought during the pandemic that I took off my floating shelf right above my
camera and a read from Brad Bane's readc case, totally dry that suctioned on my
mouthpiece because this read case is some Thank you, Brad. Um, I'm like a
walking advertisement for Brad Vain. Uh, yeah. So, that suck test is is important. It needs to suck for a couple
seconds, right? And then and then and then pop. Uh, and and the Reedge Geek is the the magical cure for that because it
used to be that you had to have a a piece of sandpaper and a and a flat
surface, right? Which is no good if you're actually at a rehearsal because you that that's to me the
rigging does a lot of things, but that's the one that I use the most. I know how long I normally play a mouthpiece before
I switch. Josh, what's the longest you've ever played a mouthpiece? Oh, that's a fun question.
Not including like when I was in high school. Yeah. As a grown-up. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
I think it's been probably 3 to four years is the the max,
but it's not necessarily because I ever felt like the mouthpiece I was on was terribly worn out and desperately needed
replaced. It was often more just because I wanted to experiment with something else and and have fun with something
else. What about you, Lynn? Okay, so are we talking like a single mouthpiece or like a certain model that
you just keep replacing? Well, I had thought about it, but I want to know both answers. Okay, so single mouthpiece would probably be I
had a B40 liar that I played probably for like five years straight, a single one and I loved it. Um, and it did just
finally kind of wear down and I just needed to replace it and I wanted to have a backup and things like that. Um,
so I moved on. But it was there was something about that one that just was well suited to me, well suited to how I
play. Um and and I and in general I was on the B40 liar model for like a period
of like 15 years probably. Yeah. Um that was one that was recommended to
me when I studied with David Breeden who was at the San Francisco Symphony. Um that was what and he had pulled me off
of what I was on before which was a Jigglyotti. Um a Jigglyotti which I loved. Um and he was like no you should
have something I want something that sounds more like this. and I'm he steered me in this direction. Um and
then yeah, so that was that was that was my longest was probably that amount of
time. Yeah. Well, you know, in hearing you talk about it and I'm I'm pulling out the
dumbest thing I possibly could, which is I I played on B40s a lot. That's actually sort of the model when I when a
a mouthpiece guy is saying, "What do you like to play?" I go, "I say B40." Even though I haven't played on one in years. That's the the part that that is is most
usable for those to those guys to figure something out. But I never played on the liar. But now that I hear you talk about
it and I'm hearing the word spelled differently, L I A R,
I I want to play on a on a liar. I would like my mouthpiece to be
villainous in some way. See, and and I I'd never thought of that before. I would have I would have definitely
played on a 40 wire had I thought of that earlier. Yeah, that would have made me feel very very
happy. That's great. That's great. Um, cool. So, I think I think we derailed Josh, were you talking about
the mouthpiece? I can't remember who was talking about the mouth. Yeah, I think I got us on the the mouthpiece topic. Yeah.
Yeah. Okay. Right. So, yeah. So, like I think mouthpieces, what would you say is the span of what a mouthpiece costs,
Josh? Oh, you can get as cheap as like $30.
Well, I'm talking I'm talking about a mpie somebody would upgrade from you or over. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That that's an interesting thing, too, cuz I adore Brad Bane's mouthpieces, but the price point
for the Brad Bane mouthpieces are not like your first mouthpiece upgrade. That's your like, okay, I'm going to get
real serious about this and I want the I I equate his stuff to like driving a sports car kind of where like it's it's
very responsive and and does all the things that you want is is awesome, but it's like you have to be ready to to
handle the sports car to to make that investment. And so I I think if you want a really
solid mouthpiece, the the Vandor are around 150 and those can be very solid.
the um Bun uh custom signature ones that they're
making now, the like the McGill and the Shiffron and those things. I think they're in the $2 to $300 range and
those are fantastic. The Shedvilles are the $2 to $300 range. So, I kind of feel like $2 to $300 if if you want something
like really serious. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I you know, I I think we
probably all have. I played on Vandor for a lot of my career, a lot of it. And I think they're they're fantastic. I I
think it's it's a it's a wonderful company that's making a product that is very good at a price point that doesn't
alienate people for sure. Um I had been playing on a Brad mouthpiece for a year
and a half since Ireland in 2024. I guess that was the end of August. I I think it's fantastic. Um, but but you're
right. It's it's it's a price point that you can't say, "Hey, go from your, you know, your your beginner mouthpiece to
this." That that somebody needs to be at a place where their their plane is
refined enough that they know what they want. Like that's a lot of money to spend, but it's I think it is money well
spent. I mean, I I mean, I'm fully outfitted with Bradban equipment and I I fully endorse it, but it is it does come
at a higher price. Um, but Brad also makes uh a Prescott line. Prescuit.
Prescott. I think I think it's Prescuit. But uh that that he has one that is like the mouthpiece I play. It's called the
Prescuit Dark. I'm not sure what the price point on that is. I know it's less than the one I I am playing on, but I I
tried a couple at the convention this last summer. It was really, really great. Thank you, Lind Snider, Josh Goo
for talking to me about this. That's only part one. We have another half an hour's worth of material for you. Check
it out next week. a special episode coming one week sooner than usual.
