Welcome clarinetists! This website is designed to acquaint you with Gregory Smith mouthpieces.

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Since joining the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1983, I have enjoyed playing in concert the great classic mouthpieces of the past century.

Gregory Smith Clarinet Mouthpieces

In the early 1990's I became acquainted with French style mouthpiece blanks made by Hans Zinner of Bavaria. I found the material and design to be the finest sounding that I had ever played.

So impressed with how they sounded, tuned, and felt in the orchestra and after my own further design and development, I soon decided to begin the Gregory Smith line of mouthpieces. This was intended to continue and further build upon the tradition of the greatest classic mouthpieces of the past century. Following that pursuit, every mouthpiece is extensively hand worked by myself during each aspect of production including the bore, chamber, facing, etc.

Personally sculpting each mouthpiece by hand while playing, I test meticulously for proper voicing, clarity of response, ease of articulation, stability of intonation, evenness of sound, physical comfort, and overall stability. In particular I listen for extraordinary tonal depth and weight, focus, timbre, clarity, size, optimal resonance, projection, and of course the essential beauty of a pear-like shaped sound inherent in the finest mouthpieces. The qualities of tonal richness, luminosity, suppleness, sweetness, and flexibility are the touchstones of each individual finished mouthpiece's personality.

The final result is the Gregory Smith mouthpiece that is embraced worldwide by the finest orchestral performers, soloists, chamber musicians, teachers and top students of today. Unique to the Gregory Smith mouthpiece is that it is the only mouthpiece handmade by a currently performing clarinetist in a select world-renowned symphony orchestra.