Selecting a Vintage Mouthpiece

One of the most important things I do here is to help players selecting a vintage mouthpiece for what they are trying to achieve in terms of sound and response. It is not a science , but rather more of an art, and I use a lot of experience to find the right path.

I have 7 soprano saxophones right now, each very different from the other. And, when I try a single mouthpiece on every one of them, I am knocked out by the differences that I find. Sometimes a piece that plays great on one horn is virtually unplayable on another (I have that right now with a vintage Babbitt Artist piece that will play beautifully on my Yanagisawa S800 but is completely unplayable on both my Selmer III and my Couf Superba 1 ).

When you are considering a change in soprano mouthpiece and are thinking “vintage”, you are entering a new world. The piece that plays so well for your favorite soprano player may be a complete mismatch for you and your horn.

Before I recommend a certain “vintage” mouthpiece to a client, I ask a lot of questions, and if I think it’s a bad match, I say so.

And if I think it’s a good match, I recommend it.

I never want to send out a piece that has little chance of success. Yes, sometimes I miss in my recommendation, and that’s why I offer the guarantee of a full refund. But, far more often, I get it right.