What equpiment does clarinetist David Shifrin use? Clarinet, mouthpiece, ligature, reed etc..?

Question

He has such a beautiful sound. I'm curious what equpiment he uses. Thanks!

Answer 1

Haha... good question!

I found a bio of him, but no mention of his equipment... it had a picture though, and when you blow it up- you still can't tell!  He turns his clarinet in photos so that you can't see brand names, and in some photos it's airbrushed out, etc! LOL

http://www.imgartists.com/?page=artist&i...

On the Clarinet Bboard though, there is talk of him using either a Buffet R13 (most likely- most pros use these, but not all) or a Yamaha CSG.  The barrel and bell are Backun (specifically crafted for him).  

http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard...

However, it's also been suggested that he uses a LeBlanc Legacy (also created by Backun): http://pro-light-news.com/html/11/e10903...

As far as mouthpiece, the only thing I can find is from a blog... it's by Roger Garrett, the clarinet professor at Illinois Wesleyan University:

About 17 paragraphs down, it says ".......David Shifrin and Bob Spring both play on very open, flat tabled mouthpieces - and probably would have difficulty with a hollow table/closed facing mouthpiece design..."

(http://test.woodwind.org/Databases/Klari...

Usually with a wide tip, a softer reed is used.  So I would imagine he uses Vandoren (maybe the V12?) at a 3 or 3.5 strength... but that's just a guess.

Anyways, I hope you get some more answers... because I'm curious now too! LOL

Good Luck! :)