Klarinet Archive - Posting 000335.txt from 2009/02

From: "Kevin Fay" <kevin.fay.home@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] Alto Sax Mouthpieces (again)
Date: Mon, 16 Feb 2009 23:45:02 -0500

Gary Van Cott posted:

<<<I really like the classical sound quality (and intonation) I am getting
with the Selmer C* mouthpiece that came with the instrument. However, volume
has always been a problem for me with this mouthpiece. When I was playing
it, I eventually got a Brillhart 7 for dance band work. This can peel paint
off walls, but I don't care for the quality of the sound.

Does anyone have any suggestions for a mouthpiece that would enable me to
play at higher volume levels but retain much of the sound quality and good
intonation of the C*? My budget limit is around $120.>>>

So - you want good and cheap. Fair enough. You can spend $500+ on a
saxophone mouthpiece, and not get anything better than the cheapies. I have
some suggestions:

1) Brilhart Ebolin, from 3 to 5. ~$35.

Is your Brilhart plastic (Ebolin) or metal? The plastic "Ebolin" Brilhart
is stereotypically not a particularly raucous piece; the "Level Air" is
pretty close to a chain saw.. The tip openings on Ebolins tend to be more
open than other brands, though, see
http://www.theowanne.com/mouthpieces101/tipOpeningCharts/Final%20Tip%20Openi
ng%20Charts/Alto%20Tip%20Opening%20Chart2007.pdf. If you have an Ebolin,
your 7 is really very open; you might try the same piece with a more
comfortable tip opening.

A Brilhart 5* is what I personally use for dance band work (light swing). A
Brilhart 3 has the same tip opening as a Meyer 5 - and they're ~$35 at WWBW.

Brilharts were the staple of the big bands in the early 1950s - Benny
Carter, Charlie Parker on alto, even Stan Getz on tenor (with the rest of
the Woody Herman section).

2) Meyer reproduction from Kessler Bros. ~$50.

The Meyer 5 is "the" bebop mouthpiece, used by the likes of Cannonball, Phil
Woods, the Peppers (Art and Adams), and scads of wannabes. A new one will
run you about $90 street price. Note, however, the "new" Meyers have a
higher baffle and consequently a harder-edged sound than the "classic" or
"New York" Meyers, or at least that's the lore. My Meyer 6 is considerably
harder/brighter than the more-open Brilhart 5.

A better/cheaper alternative - you can get a reproduction of the "classic"
Meyer from Kessler Bros. in Las Vegas for about fifty bucks - see
http://www.kesslermusic.com/html/mps/altomps.htm. The Kessler folks have
their blanks made by Babbitt, the company that currently makes Meyers (and
Otto Links, and what seems like pretty much everything else sold at retail).
I have one on order, and will report when I get it. Even if they're the
same as the new Meyers, they're cheaper. (Cheap = Good).

3) Santy Runyon. ~$70.

Someone else suggested Santy's pieces. They're cool - I use an 8 on Tenor.
If you put the extra "spoiler" baffle in, you can scare your children - 2
mouthpieces in one! Plus, they come in cool see-thru colors.

Santy Runyon was a saxophone demi-god in Chicago back in the day. Aside
from playing for Al Capone, he taught Charlie Parker, Paul Desmond, Harry
Carney, Lee Konitz, and Sonny Stitt. The lore is that he was responsible
for the "CONNQUEROR" - Conn's 26M (Alto)/30 (Tenor) - the pinnacle of one
strand of saxophone design.

In any event, his "Custom" mouthpieces are pretty cheap, about $70 with the
"spoiler" at WWBW. FWIW, Marshall Royal used one (stenciled as a Conn
"Comet" - same piece), and did pretty OK.

4) Hite Premier. ~$20.

A final suggestion to try would be the Hite Premier. It's nominally a
"student" mouthpiece, made out of plastic. A couple of doubler animals that
I worked with in musical theater a few years back used them and sounded
great, though - and at WWBW they're a bit over twenty bucks.

There are literally thousands of saxophone mouthpieces out there - the
variety is astounding - much wider than what we clarinetists get. If you
want to drive yourself just a little insane, go to
http://www.mouthpiecemuseum.com/MouthpieceMuseum/Home.html.

OTOH, if you *really* want to geek out, check out the links at
http://mpcroom.hp.infoseek.co.jp/AltoMouthpiece.html. A very nice person in
Japan has sound clips of about a gazillion mouthpieces, so you can try them
out vicariously.

Best of luck!

kjf

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