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Mouthpieces An alternative to the Yamaha 4c Alto mouthpiece

Having only started sax again since January - and intermittently due to work pressure - I keep playing my alto, sop and tenor. I currently find my tenor and sop easy to play because I have Vendoren 2 reeds and Yam 5c mouthpieces on these. On my alto I have a 1.5 Legere and a Yam 5c mouthpiece which is difficult to blow because of the strength of the reed!!

All of the advice is on here to read and is absolutely spot on - it is the reed I believe! If you want to try other mouthpieces go to Dawkes.co.uk and they will let you try them - by post.

However, due to GAS and curiosity I am going to try some other mouthpieces and reeds over the next few weeks. Look in the local papers for other players - or on this site. Being remote is indeed a problem but persevere!
 
ProfJames said:
Having only started sax again since January - and intermittently due to work pressure - I keep playing my alto, sop and tenor. I currently find my tenor and sop easy to play because I have Vendoren 2 reeds and Yam 5c mouthpieces on these. On my alto I have a 1.5 Legere and a Yam 5c mouthpiece which is difficult to blow because of the strength of the reed!!

All of the advice is on here to read and is absolutely spot on - it is the reed I believe! If you want to try other mouthpieces go to Dawkes.co.uk and they will let you try them - by post.

However, due to GAS and curiosity I am going to try some other mouthpieces and reeds over the next few weeks. Look in the local papers for other players - or on this site. Being remote is indeed a problem but persevere!
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Hello Professor, thank you for your kind comments. I too have a bad attack of GAS but despite my efforts here and elsewhere I simply cant find anyone to sell me a reasonably priced easy to blow alto :)
 
Daithi said:
Hello Professor, thank you for your kind comments. I too have a bad attack of GAS but despite my efforts here and elsewhere I simply cant find anyone to sell me a reasonably priced easy to blow alto :)
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My Venus is down to £125 posted now, but I can't guaranteee it'll be an easy blow if the problem is you and not your G4M.
For very little cost (£12 each way, insured for £150) you could courier yours to a sax tech anywhere in the UK to have it tested, assuming there are none near you?
 
Pete Thomas said:
I did read it and was actually agreeing with it, but probably didn't word my response very well. (ie the "also" was referring to what you said in the last sentence) I probably need more coffee.

re: gear4music, I have a sneaky feeling that it may be one of those companies that (a) don't do a very good final check QC (if at all) and (b) may source product from different factories so you may read reviews that are actually about a different saxophone with the same brand name.
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Like you I know nothing about the company, but following Stephen Howards review, I took a punt on eBay and got a "vintage"
Alto for a very good price, and I am very happy with it.
 
Yes, I am currently using a Claude Lakey 6*3 which works well for me and fits in well with the styles that I play (mostly Rock,R+b and Jazz)
 
zootsaxenberger said:
Yes, I am currently using a Claude Lakey 6*3 which works well for me and fits in well with the styles that I play (mostly Rock,R+b and Jazz)
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VERy interesting. I Googled the mouthpiece and came across this video on Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIrHzv5CbEo

The poster states "I want to disprove the theory that you have to have an expensive $3000 horn to play pro. Don't believe the hype. Most of these saxes are made in the same city in Houli Taiwan. My point is that if you can play the horn really is just gravy. This is the same for reeds and Mouthpieces. In this video I am plays a regular Rico #3 and 1/2 reed. Plastic Claude Lakey Mouthpiece 6*3 and a Hawk Brand Tenor Sax. Of course some things are more durable and last longer but all instrument break over time."
 
I think you could go round and round in circles here. Correctly set up and leak free, no alto sax should be harder to blow than another. They're all the same size (apart from a big bell, which may need more air). Different mouthpieces offer different levels of resistance, and harder reeds similarly. Unless you know what mouthpiece and reed works for you, you won't know which to try. What works for someone else won't necessarily work for you. No-one can sell you an easy blowing alto for you.

The first thing to rule out is your saxophone. It really is the most likely source of the problem if you have trouble with a beginner mouthpiece and 1 1/5 to 2 reed. Post it to a tech who can confirm it's okay or fix it as DavidUK suggested. Then any free blowing mouthpiece should be easy to blow (with softer reeds if needed). You can then experiment with other set ups. If you have a problem after that, you need a teacher to check your embouchure.
 
There have been lots of good responses in this thread. I am going to try to clarify the issue by distilling the topic down to a few salient ideas.

Hard to blow = Resistance

Location of resistance
- mouthpiece and reed (set-up)
- instrument or neck (crook)

Causes of resistance in set-up
- reed too stiff for mouthpiece (mismatch)
- defective, warped, or chipped mouthpiece

Causes of resistance in instrument
- leak around neck cork
- leak at neck tenon
- leak in upper body pads
- octave pad(s) not closing properly

If the mouthpiece and neck can be played apart from the sax without undue resistance, that narrows the search to the instrument itself, and its connections.
 
After performing the above, perhaps posting a sound clip of your tenor and alto would help.
 
Saxdiva said:
I think you could go round and round in circles here.
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I agree - that's why I have nailed it on the wall as an ornament. I cant stress too much that I simply don't have access to a teacher in this remote location - I am quite willing to accept that my embouchure or something else is wrong but what completely perplexes me is that I got such a beautiful tone so quickly and easily from my Jericho tenor.

Huge thanks to everyone for your valuable input and I hope your comments and ideas may help someone else in the future with a similar problems, but for all sorts of reasons I think its rather a lost cause - I am very lucky to have the easy to blow tenor - I should/must be satisfied with that :)
 
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My teacher has students with G4M tenors and altos.... just get a professional to check it over or someone in a shop they will tell you right away if there is an issue. G4M sometime get it wrong in the final assembly, and people with issues return them and they are sent a new one which has been triple checked to make sure that all is order before it is sent out again... (make sense to do it the first time round!)

I am currently using a yamaha 5C (as sax.co.uk had no 4C in stock on the day I went in) and I think it is a fine mouthpiece, the Bari esprit II that came with my tenor sounds terrible in comparison, the 5C is a much better build and much more free blowing! but I actually came on here to day to compare mouthpieces myself and I would like the otto link master tone 6 which I have blown and love, but just going to see what other options are out there first. get to a shop and see what options are in your budget....

Dan

Ps Pete, if you see this on this thread, I found a copy of your saxophone instruction guide from like the 80's!!! also one of the reason why I finally got around to getting a saxophone ! so thank you!
 
samohtdang said:
My teacher has students with G4M tenors and altos.... just get a professional to check it over or someone in a shop they will tell you right away if there is an issue. G4M sometime get it wrong in the final assembly, and people with issues return them and they are sent a new one which has been triple checked to make sure that all is order before it is sent out again... (make sense to do it the first time round!)

I am currently using a yamaha 5C (as sax.co.uk had no 4C in stock on the day I went in) and I think it is a fine mouthpiece, the Bari esprit II that came with my tenor sounds terrible in comparison, the 5C is a much better build and much more free blowing! but I actually came on here to day to compare mouthpieces myself and I would like the otto link master tone 6 which I have blown and love, but just going to see what other options are out there first. get to a shop and see what options are in your budget....

Dan

Ps Pete, if you see this on this thread, I found a copy of your saxophone instruction guide from like the 80's!!! also one of the reason why I finally got around to getting a saxophone ! so thank you!
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Are you sure it's a Tenor Bari Esprit II and not a Tenor Bari Esprit?

I found the Tenor Bari Esprit TomMapfumo lent me to be a tricky blow compared to the Windcraft Student MP I inadvertently bought instead of the Etude model. Still prefer the Student to the Etude now I have both. It's no doubt due to my inexperience.

My Yam 4C alto is far easier to blow than my Runyon 22.

;}
 
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