Expert: Colin Murray - 10/28/2009

Question
Hello Colin. I am enlarging the throat of my mouthpiece which is a Bach 8.5BW to get a free-er blowing and more flexibility and I'm also looking for a somewhat thicker sound. I'm only going to enlarge it one step up (from 5.85mm to 5.94mm) My question is Should I have the backbore also modified to get a good combination between the throat and backbore? Or not necessarily the backbore has to be modified? I understand the tighter the backbore the more brilliant is the sound; And the larger the backbore the mellower is the sound. Correct me if I'm wrong. Thank you in advance.

Answer
Hi Emmanuel,

I wouldn't open the bore of the mouthpiece if I were you. If you're looking for less resistance and a darker sound, you should try a deeper cup, and try a non-cushion rim for more flexibility. Try a Bach 9 or a 7 or 7C. If you're married to the 8.5BW, you could open the backbore a bit, but you need to get a mouthpiece maker to do that. If you do open the bore (throat), you may have to open the backbore a bit at the top to reduce the cylinder length of the bore section after opening it, but really, that's splitting hairs. A larger backbore will give you a darker sound, but it will take more air and your intonation and focus may suffer. In the long run, I think you'd be better off looking at a different mouthpiece.

Hope that helps,
Colin Murray