For these two mouthpieces, Morrie Backun worked with world-renowned clarinetists Corrado Giuffredi and David Shifrin to produce mouthpieces that are (I would presume) similar to the mouthpieces they personally play all the time.
Two great clarinetists. MAN are the mouthpieces different! Like opposite-side-of-the-spectrum-different. I'll explain.
The Giuffredi mouthpiece is super open, free-blowing and flexible. I actually play one now about 20-25% of the time. It feels very similar to my Vandoren BD7, and plays similar (Vandoren #2.5-3) reeds. It's got a lot of freedom, but with that freedom comes responsibility—if you can't control a wide open mouthpiece, you will struggle with this. If you can, the Giuffredi comes with a million colors in its palette.
The Shifrin is super closed. It's got a great compact sound, and is suitable for chamber music and orchestral playing. You'll want to pair this with a harder (Vandoren #4-5) reed to get the best out of it. Lots, and lots of ring in this mouthpiece with the right setup.
I recommend purchasing individual reeds to try these mouthpieces. It's always better to use a new reed that matches the mouthpiece than to try a current reed with a new mouthpiece. You don't get a sense of the mouthpiece that way, because your reed is "used" to your current mouthpiece.
Finally, please have a look at my Trial Policy for details on Backun mouthpiece trials.
