PPT mouthpieces
PPT mouthpieces

Ligatures Anyone tried 3D printed custom mouthpieces?

nigeld said:
I’ve ordered a Giovanni Chirico baritone model.

But the choice felt rather random.
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I've ordered a tenor James Arben model. Curved baffle, large chamber, looks to have 60% brightness and 80% power. I'm hoping for a free blowing powerful piece with a spread sound. I thought the large chamber might help with keeping the palm keys in tune (I have a tendency to sharpen them).

please be blue please be blue please be blue
 
trimmy said:
Definitely, Ruby Red is my colour 😉
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I bit the bullet, so to speak, and ordered a custom model, Went for very dark with medium projection. Ben Websterish. They came up with a low semi circular baffle with extra large chamber and my usual tip of a 7.
I don’t know how they do it but it’s amazing. Because I’m an old fart, before @trimmy comments, I went for black on black. Always struggled with low D but can now play it even at a whisper and with the confidence that every note I play is just gonna pop out.
Thanks SYOS.
 
I'm not mature enough to go for a custom model!

It appears that 50% Off campaign generated a large number of orders as they warned me that my order could take longer than usual...

I'm really curious to see what these pieces are like. And hoping I don't get a really odd color... Although I just checked and they all look cool in some ways. I'll probably order other ligatures to mismatch the color. I find it's more fun with different colors.
 
saxyjt said:
I'll probably order other ligatures to mismatch the color. I find it's more fun with different colors.
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I got ligatures in other colors, especially for use with my other mouthpieces that are black or in the case of the PPT, white:
12982
 
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The psychology behind the Signature series is interesting.

I don't believe that playing the same mouthpiece as a professional player will make me sound anything like them. Yet getting a signature mouthpiece is strangely alluring nevertheless. I do not feel competent enough to order my own custom mouthpiece. Maybe when I order a mouthpiece that a good player has spent time customising I am hoping that some of the goodness will brush off on me.

The fact that they were half price made a big difference too. 😉
 
nigeld said:
The psychology behind the Signature series is interesting.
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It's both a valid idea and a crazy one. From the MPC designer's point of view, whether PPT, Link, Selmer, Vandoren, Yamaha or Syos, the parameters are a lot of what makes the sound, right? So it seems reasonable that Sonny Rollins and Coltrane sounded vastly different and unique partly because of those parameters. Incidentally, I'd be happy to hear more opinions on this topic. Maybe I should post a separate piece to get thoughts?

If only I could get the exact Kenny Garrett sound from the kind of mouthpiece he plays! Unfortunately, there's much more to it than bore, opening and whatever other magic spells are in the formula. . Getting back to custom and plastic, I'm anxious to get to Paris this year and try some different pieces to actually understand how these parameter affect my sound. As a beginner, I struggle with finding the proper embouchure to get the tone I hear in my head. The Syos site is the first I have seen that talks about strength and darkness, I have little inkling of what that actually means. That's it, I'm going to post and try to get answers on these vital issues!
 
Phil said:
Disclaimer: I have not played one of these.

However, having made mouthpiece for 15 years I remain of the opinion that most designs...to get the best results require play testing. This is especially so with a mouthpiece with a rollover baffle. The difference between a mpc that plays and one that sings comes down to a baffle adjustment of a gnats a$$ and adjustments in other areas that impact balance and tone.

However..there are designs that are less unforgiving where a well made piece can perform well....so in these cases a printed mpc may do quite well.

But yet another consideration is the voicing of a piece. Even if a piece plays well is it voiced in a positive manner? That starts to become subjective and when it machine made...if it is deadly accurate, it comes down to who designed the piece.in the first place.
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I would suggest you take up the challenge and try one yourself Phil and then you can give your honest opinion.
In saying that you’re a mouthpiece manufacturer so Hmm?
 
I dont believe a maker can give an unbiased opinion and Im not all that interested in trying every piece on the market that comes out and giving my 2 cents. What I think or write and what any maker writes should be taken with a grain of salt...especially if they are comparing their pieces to another. There is so much hype out there that Id suggest believing no one. I do believe in certain production processes over others but that too is not unbiased. Id be a fool and a liar to say Im not biased. If someone with experienced credentials approached me for a mpc comparison Id probably let them do it. I dont suggest that the technology cant create a good mouthpiece. I do think there are certain designs that run a high risk of failure when they are not play tested and hand adjusted. This is why you dont find many rollovers made by machine. If they are a gnats ass off they dont reach their potential. Some designs lend themselves well to a high tech approach. Aside from that.I really dont think its my place to pretend to make unbiased comparisons..
 
altissimo said:
"We have a policy of keeping information posts on topic" - when has that ever happened??
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We try to make it happen by moving off topic posts to the off topic forum. As you can see:

cafesaxophone.com

Off Topic posts

Off topic posts may be moved here.
cafesaxophone.com cafesaxophone.com

We do our best but sometimes we miss some. Generally one or two OT posts in information threads are OK but once it goes off on a tangent we move those posts to a separate thread which keeps the original thread more useful for people seeking info.
 
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trimmy said:
Impressions on playability ?
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Only had a short go on it so far, but it's really easy to play, very free blowing, quickly tried about 4 different reeds on there and it liked them all...pretty easy altissimo. I went for 10/10 brightness, 10/10 volume, small chamber, step baffle...in fluorescent lime. Not my most understated bit of kit! Sounds very loud and punchy, but playing it in my spare room isn't a great measure of volume/projection - most saxophone stuff sounds loud in there. I need to get to know it a bit more but first impressions are good. I'll try to get a recording up sometime next week, and I'll try it out properly at an outdoor wedding gig I've got next Saturday.

I didn't really like the ligature that came with it - seemed to come loose pretty easily, so I swapped it for a rovner style one that I had on a saxscape piece. I quite like the contrast, it looks like a big chocolate lime sweet.
 

Similar threads... or are they? Maybe not but they could be worth reading anyway 😀

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