Mouthpiece conundrum

[eb424]

Be careful giving advice like that, I got excoriated for suggesting something similar. Was told that I didn't know what I was talking about, that my 40 years of saxophone experience was irrelevant.

Personally I find all the reeds play about the same, once I get them where I want them. So I just buy a medium strength of a reliable brand, so I can rely on them to be cut evenly and have reasonable cane quality. But I'm too old to fall for chops in a box any more. My chops, my sound, well, they're what they're going to be, for better or for worse.

Hi @turf3.. I take most advice on here as most who comment are proper players with years of experience and honestly i'm not tryingvto buy that..I know that time and practice is key and for an ameteur player feel i am pretty committed..I aim for at least an hour a day when i go in the van its usually 3 hours of unstructured practice.. through buying pieces i know what i wan from it thats why the durga is up for sale. I prefer the size of metal pieces not the material per se..I can play the Gaia ok with a java 2 5 but it sounds so much more complex with a 3 which is just a tad to resistant..i'll sort out the issue cant and dont want to go back to largevhr pieces...easier on the emboucher but not what i want..

 

[eb424]

Sure, if you want to get a bright screaming rock and roll sound you don't get a Rascher mouthpiece; if you want to play in a classical quartet you don't bring a Berg 0 chamber. But what I'm seeing is a lot of dithering about a 7 vs 7* vs 8 facing on mouthpieces of essentially identical design concepts, then a constant parade of reed changes, all for perceived differences that are probably less than whether you got 11 hours or 4 hours of sleep last night. What I'm not hearing is a bunch of discussion about tone and endurance building exercises, or hours in the shed.

All I know is that over the decades I've been playing, when I'm in practice I don't have reed or mouthpiece problems and when I'm out of practice I start hunting round for whether a different mouthpiece or reed might fix the problem. Then I realize "I haven't been practicing!", I spend some serious time on fundamentals of sound production, and suddenly I don't need anything refaced, the same ol' box of reeds suddenly all play better, and I don't need a new horn.

Wonder why that is?

Do you think Tiger Woods with a $100 set of golf clubs from the local pawnshop, or me with a $3000 set of clubs, will score lower?

But thats you.. tbf the tiger woods anology is bs.. the v7 and tw are completely different design concepts...both rollover baffles beak on tw is different. different design chamber true large vs medium tw shorter table, shorter facing curve. I'm not an idiot trying to buy chops in a box and have worked hard to get where i am..the v16 is a great all round piece but the Gaia gives more in the high registry for certain songs yes mainly rock its brilliant but sounds fuller with a 3 which is a tad resistant..its not what you patronisingly call dithering over a step between a 7 and 8 tip its whether i could get the most out of the piece by playing a 3 reed more comfortably..i can play a 2 or 2.5 but as my initial post states a 3 sounds less reverby and more complex deeper but i have less control. I have tried adjusting reeds with a geek to get a 3 to play more like a 2.75 have tried rigotti 3 sost and 2 5 strong.

 

[eb424]

Can be a pro with a student saxophone, whatever that is, and a simple mouthpiece. I have no idea what a complicated mouthpiece is.
The object, for me, is to play in tune in a sympathetic style to the ensemble I'm with and the venue we're in.
Several outside band gigs this weekend and several indoor. One indoor, solo with backing tracks.
One vintage design mouthpiece. One Chinese saxophone. Different approach resulting in different sound. From my end anyhow.
I think playing SATB and clarinet produces a flexibility in your chops that can be applied from one to another. Everyone should try it.
Four hours a day for a decade and the kit begins to do what you make it do. What's it called? Oh yes. Taming the saxophone.

Couldn't agree more @Colin the Bear..you have something i envy feedback..and experience... i'm working on getting the experience..but at the mo have to get feedback fron here which isn't always easy..;-)

 

[eb424]

@eb424 -you might be in for a wait but maybe you could find someone wanting to trade the other way and do a swap/part exchange. I've no experience in the area, and I maybe wrong, but surely refacing down a size is going to involve removing a lot more material than going the other way to maintain facing curve etc.

I just play for me - no intentions of performing etc. I do have lessons and I practice for an hour a day most days, but have to be careful not to make it in to a chore.

Personally, on alto I really struggled for a year - tried the usual Yamaha 4C then a D'addario Select Jazz as I found the Yamaha soulless and to be honest I was putting so much effort in concentrating to play decently on either of the two pieces it was distracting me from other areas of my playing and holding me back quite severely, I bought a Theo Wanne Water and it was a light bulb moment for me and my playing has much improved and surprisingly, after six months going back to the other pieces I can play them much better.

Now I've started on tenor I feel like I'm re-learning my embouchure all over again and trying to stick with a Yamaha 4C, I think I get a decent sound out of it (for me), but feel I need a bit more of an open tip - trying a harder reed strength doesn't make that much difference for me. Would love to have a try on the Theo Wanne Ambika 3 just to satisfy my curiosity as it seems like the closest equivalent to the Water for Tenor but is roughly 10 X the price due to materials and production methods. Thing is though if I had the same experience, I'd dip in to my savings in a heart beat. A Yamaha 5C or 6C is cheap enough I suppose.

Hi @greenstripe thanks know how you feel ml. I am going the other way get settled on the tenor before the alto madness..lol..originally bought the Gaia as it was a good price and the reviews were good the piece was meant to be linkish..its so much more but where a link is flexible with the tip opening i have the tw is better in the higb registry but not so good for ballads..with a 3 reed its more complex deeper and sounds great but isn't so free blowing .