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Saxophones I need an Alto, help and advice needed please.

Selmer C* is a great all-round alto piece. I play other pieces too occasionally but I really wish I'd started with it - or at least made it my first upgrade mouthpiece instead of trying about 10 other pieces.
 
A Bari Esprit 11 M.P. for £14.00 sounds amazing! it must be plastic for that price? Nothing wrong with plastic though thinking of Yamaha 4C. I can spend out a bit on a M.P. though, as I am selling my Soprano, so dont mind spending on one fantastic M.P.

Durable hard composite, not plastic as in Yam 4C - maybe a bit like Graftonite. Re mouthpieces it all depends what you want. If it is for Jazz and similar then something by Ed Pillinger, Morgan Fry, Phil-Tone, Mouthpiece Cafe, Aaron Drake would be really good - The Mouthpiece Cafe Espresso is a custom made "Selmer Soloist" type piece and plays superbly, as does the Aaron Drake "NY Jazz"
All depends on what you are looking for.
 
Don't get mixed up and think that paying a lot for a mp is the way to go. Price in my experience is a function of fashion, popularity and prejudice. Collectability rather than suitability and quality put the price up.

My vintage lelandais tenor piece has the wrong label and was a quarter of the price of having the right label.

Professional players looking for that certain something and with an embouchure and lungs that blow up a hot water bottle may be able to get the best out of a cutting edge piece. The rest of us are just trying to make a pleasing sound with what we've managed to get so far.

The Machismo thing kicks in and the widest tip with the hardest reed seems to be the target.

Try the Bari. You may not want another piece for ages. I was pleasantly surprised with the sop mp. The £14 included lig and cap which I don't think the alto does.

I take great pleasure in telling people "No it's not a selmer it's a gear4music from Taiwan with a student plastic mouthpiece".
 
Perhaps to avoid the slight stuffiness I could go to a selmer C** ? I do like the more rounded full rich tone, as opposed to the 'raucous sound'

Hi John

Hope you are getting on well with your new alto,having blowed it i knew it was good,as for a mouthpiece as per my PM keep looking on Ebay/forums for a good buy.
As Colin as said new Selmer S80 will cost about £105 which is fine if you know thats what you are after,if its not then you will at best only get 50/60% of that value to sell on,there are 2 mouthpieces on the way to you see how you get on with them.
I have spent fortunes finding the right sound and my main three mpc's now on alto together didn't come to £200 but would have cost me £500 if i had bought them new and they were all bought on Ebay.

Best of luck with your search.
 
Forum members who have tried the Bari Esprit II and Clark Fobes Debut rate them above the good old Selmer S80 C*. I can send you both for a loan if you like - no problem, so you can see what you think!

Kind regards
Tom
 
I would appreciate that Tom, I am amazed on how you are so willing to help us 'floundering players' I will Pm you with my address, thanks , John (ex-beBopSop) now Alto something........
 
Altonotive? Tom helped me enormously as well with mouthpiece recommendations and I still use my Windcraft Etude. Superb mouthpiece for my level.
 
Both mouthpieces packaged and ready to go. I'm currently using my Mouthpiece Cafe Espresso 7 so in no rush!
 
Hi Tom, got the Bari Esprit II and Clark Fobes Debut mps, and tried them out, I am not too good at describing the finer points of mps, but here goes anyway (comparing to the s80 selmer C*)
the Clark Fobes Debut =very much like the selmer, but bottom end notes (B,Bflat) a bit 'honky/loud/harsh' otherwise about the same.
the Bari Esprit II= I liked, bottom notes (B,Bflat) a tad harder to get, but again not much difference to the Selmer.
The Selmer I am using belongs to the person I bought the sax off and I have to post it back, so what to buy?
overall I found all 3 of these mps a bit bland or lacking expression, (ok it is probably me as well) but what I would like is a mp, just one, I could buy and keep, sound/tone wise I like Phil Woods,but I think his mp is a Meyer new york? which is not available, so one near it may be? what are the 2 Selmer metal pieces like? Sorry to ask about mps I know you must get a lot of the same questions, in fact this reminds me of nearly going mad a few years back when I was asking the same questions, Thanks again Tom for the loan and I will post back tomorrow, regards John
 
If you use exactly the same set up as another player you won't get exactly the same sound unless you have a head transplant.

Most of the sound comes from you. I'd either invest in your own S80 or go for the Bari for a few months till your chops develop a bit. The Bari is a good mouthpiece and little money to invest in your progress. No doubt you'll move on and join the rest of the us in the never ending search for that certain something.
 
If you have just got an alto sax then I can't remotely imagine that you have developed your own sound. You also do not say what reeds you use - different mouthpieces often benefit from different reeds. Playing two mouthpieces for just a day will teach you precisely nothing IMHO. You sound in quite a hurry to get it all sorted very quickly, which I cannot see as possible at this stage. You also have to bear in mind that the mouthpiece that Phil Woods uses is a very old Meyer, not remotely like the ones that are currently made. Folks on SOTW say that the nearest you will get to his original mouthpiece is the Mouthpiece Cafe NYC mouthpiece.

My advice is to slow down considerably, learn about the mouthpieces you have in the next few weeks and try other reeds so that you can make an assessment over a reasonable period of time. At the end of the day you have switched from a soprano sax to an alto sax and are quite new to the tone and sound of said instrument. If all of the mouthpieces sound similar to each other then you have not yet developed ypur sound sufficiently to know. Apologies if that sounds a little harsh, but I do think you are moving far too quickly to be able to make a good decision. The Mouthpiece Cafe mouthpiece, for example, is far brighter than a Selmer S80 C* could ever be - but you seem to like Phil Woods sound - he plays a bright sounding Yamaha 82Z sax.

So, all I am suggesting is slow down, take your time, and possibly try some alternative reeds to gradually see what the sound you like to produce and which mouthpiece helps that. FWIW I would say that the Clark Fobes is the brightest of the three mouthpieces.

Also I would not worry at all about whether you can blow a low B or Bb - how long have you been playing the instrument? Given the short period I would suggest that it is your personal tone that sounds a bit bland, not the mouthpieces, which do not have a tone, as such.
Kind regards
Tom
 
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Definitely worth trying different reeds, it surprised me how much they can vary the tone of a mouthpiece. :)


Jx
 
Hi Colin, I mentioned phil Woods just to give an idea of the sound I would like, just to let you know which musical direction I want to go in, mainstream jazz I suppose, As for a head transplant its funny you should say that because it was in one of the daily papers last week, that it may be possible! So I checked with Howarths and Sax and co, but none in stock yet! I do understand what you mean though, but I am impatient....
 
More haste = Less speed. With practice you can sound great on any old rubbish.
 
Hi Tom, I dont mind harshness,(where did I put me anti-depressants?) seriously though I am impatient and just like to get things sorted, I have had alto's in the past,so not completly new to them,The low B or Bb wasnt realy too much of a problem, but I was trying to compare the 2 mps you sent me to the Selmer C* and my conclusion was that if I pick up the sax with the Selmer on it the low B and Bb is there straight away easy to play, but with the other 2 not, I know I have to work on my tone etc, but if I can just pick up a mp and it works, why make extra work for myself by changing it? I know while I am typing this some one is screaming at the screen 'Dont change it then' but the selmer is just on loan so I have to buy one anyway, I just thought I could play safe buying the new mp and not have to buy another one for quite a while if ever.My uncle who has played for 50 years on a Selmer Mk 6 used a C** all that time (and he was good) I asked him one day have you ever thought of changing that mp for a more up to date one he said 'what for?' I couldnt answer that,that said a lot for the mp and mainly his tone.
Finaly if an experienced player were to play a Guardala £1000.00 mp and then a Yamaha 4c £24.00 in a blind test, would the listener or player notice so much differnce? And would 'I' still sound bland on the Guardala? (yes)
Thanks for your help and advice, John
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Since I am currently in an alto love affair and messing around with several mouthpieces, I would advice to start with the standard thing:
Meyer 5
Unfortunately Meyer mouthpieces are no longer reliable, so a modified one can be the answer.

My personal choice, no doubts, would be (of course) a Pillinger NYT 5, that is at the same level as my newly acquired Meyer NY.
Other makers do Meyer clones, Morgan Fry also adjusts original meyers, Jady Jazz HR is not that far.

The funny thing is the facing matters: I have much more fun with my NYA 8L, but it does not sound as "alto" as the 5.
 
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