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Mouthpieces Lawton MP's

thehunt

thehunt

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Studham Bedfordshire
Back to the ol ' mouthpiece debate. Currently playing Jody Jazz HR 7 with Vandoren 3 reeds or rico royals 2 1/2's. On my Mauriat PMXT 66R. Love the sound but still feel i'm getting a bit drowned out in the band. ( Although i have been told i have a big sound ) My teacher has said try out a Metal Lawton MP. What experience do you guys have with these? If so which ones. See sax.co have some for sale. ( any info Jules? )
I like the big sound of my horn and am not looking for a bright sound but do need to rock every now and then. Any suggestions. Thanks guys. :welldone
 
I love Lawtons (see various other threads on this forum and SOTW).

You say that you feel you're getting drowned out. What sort of band is it and has anyone else commented that they can't hear you ?

I find that the amount I can hear myself depends quite a bit on what mouthpiece I am playing, but also very much on the type of band, the acoustics of the venue and also the particular sax. When I play on my Selmer, I seem to hear myself much better than when using my Maxtone tenor (and I believe the Maxtone is similar to a Mauriat). For gigs with a loud covers band I use a Soundback reflector thingy on the mic and I can hear myself very well, but noticeably better with Selmer than with Maxtone.

As for which Lawton mouthpiece, it depends on what sort of music you are playing and how open a tip you like to use. Lawtons come in three basic types: the plain (no letter), the B and the BB. The BB is bright and loud, the plain is more mellow (but still not a piece for classical music I think) and the B is a good compromise which is quite felxible. I use a Lawton 8*BR on tenor which I absolutely love. The "R" denotes one of Geoff Lawton's experimental models with a reflector baffle, but it is pretty much like a B in terms of the design.

I think that sax.co.uk have just got a load of Lawtons in stock so it could be worth a trip up to London.

Good luck

Rhys
 
I've had quit a bit of experience with Lawtons, i used to use a 6LW special that was made of bell bronze, now i use a very old 10b that has a very short shank, as opposed to the more modern Lawtons.

The LW which stood for "low or long window" was used, i think, to enable players to get the low notes to speak more easily, mind you i can get them just as easily with the 10, both of these pieces were made by Geoff Lawton and can be quite hard to find second hand, perticuarly the 6LW which is rarer than hens teeth.

The Lawtons at sax.co.uk i believe are made by his son Jason, i couldent comment on how they stand up to the originals though as i have never played on one.

I love lawtons, and if i were you i would start looking for a good second hand Geoff made one on e-bay.

One more thing to consider with Lawtons, and thats the integral ligature, now some people love them and some people hate them, i personaly find them very good and make changing reeds a very quick job indeed, the brass reed protector can, if pushed on to tightly press on the reed tip so watch out for this.
 
Thanks guys, there are thirteen of us, 2 sops, 4 altos, 2 baris and 4 tenors and the band leader whos swaps between sop, clarinet and alto. I think it is just me, as everyone says they can hear me and say i am quite loud. I was thinking of an 8* tip opening as the next step up, think i'll have to get into London and try some out. We only get miked up when we play a gig so not a problem there.
Thanks
 
Hi

I have a similar view to Rhys when it comes to Lawtons. I've had quite a few and find the B models to be the best compromise. I've also had both original Geoff Lawton ones and the ones made by his son, and I really can't tell the difference. Both are outstanding. Just make sure the reed is precisely placed, as they have very thin rails and are a bit sensitive to reed placement.

I haven't heard of anyone with a bad word to say about the ligature, and it is to my mind the best design of lig ever made. Fraser has obviously heard of some that aren't happy with it. The good news is that even if for some reason you don't like the integrated lig you can just slide it off and use a Rovner, BG or similar fabric lig.

I've got another Lawton (8*B) waiting for me to collect from the Post Office tomorrow - can't wait!

Jon
 
jonf said:
Hi

Just make sure the reed is precisely placed, as they have very thin rails and are a bit sensitive to reed placement.
Click to expand...
Yes what happen's is when you tighten up the screw it tends to move the reed tip to the right ever so slightly causing the thing to chirp and squeak.
For an alternative ligature try a Francois Louis ultimate, these work well on Lawtons.
Click to expand...
 
Ah, I'm with you now Fraser. I did actually have this exact thing happen to me with a Lawton ebonite 8*BB, I'd just forgotten about it. I cured it by dropping a little watchmakers' oil (which I use for oiling the rods on my sax) on the thread. It stopped the torque from tightening the screw twisting the reed plate.

Jon
 
I play on a lawton 6b tenor m/piece gold plated on brass. It's really nice and makes my standard jupiter tenor come to life and pack a really decent sound! It projects well in the big band but when I stuck it on my silver plated weltklang it just didn't sound great!
:) I guess you'll know when you crack a couple of solos and people say 'wow, that sounds good!'
 
saxgirl22 said:
I play on a lawton 6b tenor m/piece gold plated on brass. It's really nice and makes my standard jupiter tenor come to life and pack a really decent sound! It projects well in the big band but when I stuck it on my silver plated weltklang it just didn't sound great!
:) I guess you'll know when you crack a couple of solos and people say 'wow, that sounds good!'
Click to expand...

Similar experience - I played a 7* when I had a Conn 10M and was never tempted by anything else, but it never worked so well on the Cannonball, so I reluctantly sold it. It was a beautiful bit of kit though.
 
I usually play on an Aizen LS (slant link type) ebonite mouthpiece, which I think is great and which enables me to get a variety of tones that I like. I find it very versatile. However, I have a gig on a couple of weeks with an old American rock and roll star who's still doing the rounds and thought I'd try something silly, obnoxious and over the top. I've borrowed (with a view to purchasing) a vintage Lawton 9*BB and I've got to say, I like it a lot. It can be silly and do all of the honking and wailing but can also be much more civilised. It's also very easy to control from the outset. I think I might be investigating Lawtons further in future.
 
I'd always been under the false impression that Lawtons were just crazily bright OTT mouthpieces and wouldn't appeal to me so when I finally tried one and was amazed I thought I'd check out other people's opinions. This forum is a wealth of valuable information.
 
Some are bright, some are not so bright. The word that always springs to my mind with Lawtons is "clean". Considering the 2 that I currently own I'm not entirely sure why that is. Past experiences (on bari?), I suspect.
 
I play one (a plain 7) on a Selmer Série II bari and it's perfect for big band but it's way too bright for my liking on the Conns. I also have a plain 6 on alto and an plain 6* on tenor and both are excellent and powerful yet not overly bright.
I'm currently waiting for a 7*B on bari but expect it to be too bright for me. We'll see...
 

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