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RE: What is a good mouthpiece & reed?

Author: paul
Date: 2000-01-31 16:23

There are lots of other brands of mouthpiece and reed out there, but here are a couple of well known examples of what folks are talking about. Keep in mind that what's mentioned here is what I can remember on the spot. I'm sure you will see many more postings with lots of great information on other brands and models of mouthpiece and reed.

A mouthpiece can be pretty cheap, yet very good at the same time. Check out the Hite brand of mouthpieces. The folks who frequent this BBS have good things to say about the quality of the product and great things to say about the price ($25 or so US retail). Add a 5 unit box of Mitchell Lurie reeds (less than $10 US retail) and you have an excellent setup for a beginner grade horn. Just use a standard metal ligature that you can get for less than $5 (US retail) and you're set.

Intermediate grade horns can do well with a Vandoren mp and Vandoren reeds (either regular or V-12 style). Lots of folks claim to like the Vandoren 5RVLyre and B45 mps and the Vandoren reeds. I personally own each of these mps. They are pretty good products. Expect to pay about $50 to $90 for the mouthpiece and about $16 to $30 or so for the reeds (US retail, best price via mail order or the Internet sources, worst price off the shelf from a small music retail shop).

As for the pro grade stuff, you may not find any consensus anywhere for a single very best anything, but I believe there some superlative mouthpiece makers out there. The names of two prominent US mouthpiece makers, Mr. Smith and Mr. Borbeck, come readily to mind. I personally own a Borbeck pro grade Model 13 mp that was hand finished by Mr. Borbeck. This is a high quality product at a correspondingly high quality price. I believe it's worth every penny. Almost any Frank Kaspar inspired mouthpiece (like Borbeck's products) will be absolutely excellent, especially the ones Kaspar did himself. Be prepared to pay for the premium quality product. The closer you come to actual Kaspar products, the higher the price. Since Mr. Kaspar passed away years ago, his products can command whatever price the market can bear. I won't even venture out on a limb for name dropping brands or models of pro grade reeds. Many pros work on their reeds constantly, taking an ordinary reed out of the box that would be good enough for novices or intermediate players and making it truly perform.

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