EZ
07-20-2006, 05:27 AM
A quick review of a couple Zinner C-Mel mouthpieces I purchased special order through SOTW's mosplace. Superb dealings there, by the way.
I purchased both a CT-78 and a CT-62 - both in a 7 facing. The 62 (.086" perfected) is a very slightly streamlined design with a squarish window and slightly higher baffle than the 78. The 78 (.084" perfected) is similar in design to a Meyer large chamber. Tonally, they are similar with the 62 having (to no surprise) a little brighter sound - either could be used to cross over from legit to jazz without offense on either side. I set up the facings at 23mm length and used tenor reeds. I like 25mm on Bb tenor, generally, so I decided 23 was the way to go.
The intonation with these pieces was fantastic. I had been making do with a Rico Royal A3 as no tenor pieces seemed to suit me on C-Mel, though a short shank soloist came close.
The warbling tendency was lessened considerably when playing with a RJS 3H, but came back a little when going with a softer but more agile Plasticover 2.5. A little extra air helped keep the waves clean. With practice, I'm sure that problem would be eliminated through a little muscle memory development.
Zinner uses fantastic hard rubber. The finishing of the pieces (table, curve, and rail quality) were quite good, though of course I felt a need to tweak a few things to make sure everything was as good as it could be. The tip rails were a little uneven in thickness, but perhaps only to an obsessive perfectionist like myself. For the price (about $125 a piece, shipped from Deutchland) I was quite impressed.
While the "unusual key" threw me off, I played through a little Eb Omnibook and really liked what I was hearing. A little more soulful than alto and a little more sprightly than tenor. I was also able to play through some of the Hite etude complilations with pleasing results, though it will take some time to get used to those pinky stretches as the ergos of my Series I New Wonder are maybe not so Wonder-ful.
So if you want your C-Mel to sound "like a saxophone", I highly recommend the Zinner pieces and further recommend SOTW's mosplace as a reliable source for obtaining these doo-dads.
It's been too long since I've played any other modern C-Mel piece to compare the Zinners to them, but the Zinners played so well and had such a reasonable price, I wouldn't feel a need to look elsewhere. Just a little hard to find!
C you later. Har dee har har...
I purchased both a CT-78 and a CT-62 - both in a 7 facing. The 62 (.086" perfected) is a very slightly streamlined design with a squarish window and slightly higher baffle than the 78. The 78 (.084" perfected) is similar in design to a Meyer large chamber. Tonally, they are similar with the 62 having (to no surprise) a little brighter sound - either could be used to cross over from legit to jazz without offense on either side. I set up the facings at 23mm length and used tenor reeds. I like 25mm on Bb tenor, generally, so I decided 23 was the way to go.
The intonation with these pieces was fantastic. I had been making do with a Rico Royal A3 as no tenor pieces seemed to suit me on C-Mel, though a short shank soloist came close.
The warbling tendency was lessened considerably when playing with a RJS 3H, but came back a little when going with a softer but more agile Plasticover 2.5. A little extra air helped keep the waves clean. With practice, I'm sure that problem would be eliminated through a little muscle memory development.
Zinner uses fantastic hard rubber. The finishing of the pieces (table, curve, and rail quality) were quite good, though of course I felt a need to tweak a few things to make sure everything was as good as it could be. The tip rails were a little uneven in thickness, but perhaps only to an obsessive perfectionist like myself. For the price (about $125 a piece, shipped from Deutchland) I was quite impressed.
While the "unusual key" threw me off, I played through a little Eb Omnibook and really liked what I was hearing. A little more soulful than alto and a little more sprightly than tenor. I was also able to play through some of the Hite etude complilations with pleasing results, though it will take some time to get used to those pinky stretches as the ergos of my Series I New Wonder are maybe not so Wonder-ful.
So if you want your C-Mel to sound "like a saxophone", I highly recommend the Zinner pieces and further recommend SOTW's mosplace as a reliable source for obtaining these doo-dads.
It's been too long since I've played any other modern C-Mel piece to compare the Zinners to them, but the Zinners played so well and had such a reasonable price, I wouldn't feel a need to look elsewhere. Just a little hard to find!
C you later. Har dee har har...