"clocking" mouthpieces

[arpthark]

I know this thread is a joke (a Joe joke, or a Joeke, if you will), but is "clocking" a mouthpiece something that is actually practiced?

Some precursory Googling suggests "yes"!

This is something that I only practiced when I was a freshman in high school in marching band, playing on a dented-to-hell, chipped/scarred-rim old Schilke 66. I had to position it so that the nicks didn't irritate my face.

Oh, I mean, I did it for "tone."

[Paulver]

C'mon Bloke!! Fight it. Be a man! Make it work the other way!! Then you'll be famous!!!

[Paulver]

Along that line... sort of....... a long time ago I went with a buddy of mine to an Ice Capade's show. He was hired to play in the band, along with the regulars that traveled with the show. He needed me for a ride as there was a ton of snow on the ground, and I had a Scout Traveler 4X4. (I carried a clarinet case with me, and they let me right in with the rest of the band.) Their trumpet player was phenomenal, and he had a great sense of humor. One evening as they were playing some incidental music, I noticed that the trumpet had an odd sound. It wasn't bad, but it was very odd. I looked back in his direction, and there he was, sitting there in his nice suit, with a red bandana tied over his eyes, and playing every note without the mouthpiece, lips right on the lead pipe, and happily playing along with the band..... right into the mic. Never missed a note. I burst out laughing, but nobody else even saw it. As I said.... the guy was phenomenal and had a great sense of humor. The bandleader looked at me, just shrugged his shoulders, and kept on playing and conducting. The tune they were playing was the "Cantina Band" song from Star Wars. Every time I hear that song I think of that trumpet player and chuckle a little bit.

[iiipopes]

Make sure you advance the mouthpiece 4 degrees when you need more low-end torque and retard it by the same amount when you need top-end power.

[bloke]

Make sure you advance the mouthpiece 4 degrees when you need more low-end torque and retard it by the same amount when you need top-end power.

Being from Memphis, I know all about TLC and TCB, but I never considered throwing TDC into the mix.

[Pauvog1]

real comment:

If I had a bad scratch in a rim or a bad dent in a shank end, I might "clock" that mouthpiece.

As far as various mouthpiece manufacturers over the years who have experimented with curved surface rims, to me (??) that seems to accomplish more rim contact against the face, and I'm always seeking less. People are different.

For those who actually think (or know) that they experience different things by turning undamaged mouthpieces different ways, I wonder if they would still experience those things if they did a really good job of cleaning out those mouthpieces' back-bores.

I've really only heard of clocking mattering for high end trumpet players who play on really old / historically not consistent mouthpieces.

Most currently made stuff, particularly the higher end stuff, makes this a non-issue provided the player takes care of their equipment.

[Mary Ann]

Make sure you advance the mouthpiece 4 degrees when you need more low-end torque and retard it by the same amount when you need top-end power.

Don't laugh. The Pivot System pretty much does that.....

[Three Valves]

Make sure you advance the mouthpiece 4 degrees when you need more low-end torque and retard it by the same amount when you need top-end power.

Don't laugh. The Pivot System pretty much does that.....

Reminded me of an Old School tune up with a rotor and strobe!

[tofu]

.

[bloke]

I’m disappointed.

When I read the title I thought this was going to be a discussion of the best mouthpieces to drop in a tube sock and then use to clock members of the ensemble/audience/hot dog line etc not to your liking. For now my LM-10 seems to be my most effective “clocking” mouthpiece.

...so which ones:
Monette or Deck?
Regarding the latter, I would pick it - simply due to its name.

[Tubeast]

Tofu,
what you described is commonly known as "Sock-Clocking" on this side of the equator.
Down-under, people refer to that same procedure as "Clock-Socking", of course.

MY favorite mouthpiece put to either variant of that use is a PT50+.
Just adds more "Clock" to the sock than the PT50 basic version, in my opinion.

Needless to mention that I, in fact, AM an engineer who actually tested a contrabassoon bocal on my BBb to hilarious effect.
I rarely am bored, though, just distracted once in a while...

[Three Valves]

Tofu,
what you described is commonly known as "Sock-Clocking" on this side of the equator.
Down-under, people refer to that same procedure as "Clock-Socking", of course.

That sounds really dangerous.

Tube socks and heavy metal objects need to be banned!