Mouthpieces Mouthpiece Table Width

[AlistairD]

Hi,

Looking at a new mouthpiece I've got, the table width is wider than on some of my other mouthpieces and I find that narrow reeds (e.g. Vandoren) do not fit very well, where as an Alexander fits the table very well. Hence the Vandoren's are more prone to squeaking...

Has anyone else come across this?

 

[Paul_Dennis]

Hi Alistair,

interesting comment. I've not noticed this on my alto mothpieces (Meyer 5m and Rousseau Jazz JDX) which Hemke reeds fit perfectly. I have two tenor mouthpieces, a Yamaha and Selmer C* and on both the Hemke reed seems just a little more narrow than the table.

I've not tried other reeds and assumed that I would see the same with all of them.

As far as Vandoren's squeaking, I've never been able to play comfortably with them. I'm not sure if the problem is with their cut, or what. I know that a 2 1/2 Vandoren is considerably harder than a 2 1/2 Hemke or Rico Royal and always put my problem down to this.

 

[AlistairD]

Soooooo, it's not just me....

Looking at the Vandoren on the mouthpiece table, it has much less overlap on the rails than the Alexanders and I wonder if that could be the reason they are more prone to squeaking (for me anyway). I've not tried Hemke so don't know how wide they are but Alexander's are the widest I've seen, followed by Daniel's (which are my normal reed) then prbably Rico's and F. Louis (but who can afford them) and then Vandoren.

On my Jody Jazz, the difference isn't so noticable as the table width is narrower than on my Lebayle.

 

[Paul_Dennis]

Hi Alistair,

how do you find the Jody Jazz. I've read some good reports on the mouthpiece. Does it have a high baffle?

 

[AlistairD]

I like it.... It's an HR Classic. Now it has a removable baffle/spoiler and generally I play it without the baffle and spoiler. With the baffle and spoiler I can make some really horrible sounds....

I wanted something a bit darker and smoother hence the HR Lebayle (ideally I wanted a wood one, but found a nice used HR one which was shipped from Canada.)

 

[Bobby G]

I usually find the table is very slightly wider than the reeds on my alto (Selmer Soloist D and Meyer 5 mpc) and my tenor (Yamaha 5c and Selmer C* mpc). I use Rico Royals or Jazz Select, or Vandoren ZZ reeds, all 2.5, sometimes La Voz on the alto. I've found most reeds to be good, although I haven't by any means tried them all, the only ones I don't use are Rico and Vandoren, which I too find a little inflexible.

I put squeaks etc down to my own sometimes sloppy embouchure. There doesn't seem to be a gap along the rails or the tip, regardless of which mpc/reed combination I use, although as you no doubt know positioning the reed slightly differently (points of a millimetre) over the tip affects the sound quite a lot.

Cheers, Bob

 

[wolfmaiden]

At 7:54:37 PM 01/06/06, Bob Green wrote:
I usually find the table is very slightly wider than the reeds on my alto regardless of which mpc/reed combination I use

I bought an SR Tech pro mpc last year and had problems with reeds being too wide - contacted SR Tech about it - apparently their metal mpc's are designed that way to inhibit reed warping (would have thought this would have had the opposite effect i.e causing the reed to warp away from the table..???)......but, the only problems it caused me was lip irritation, as the edges of the reed cut into my lower lip - ended up filing down the rails of the reed slightly - end of problem - only use DC or Rico Jazz on it, so don't know about other reed widths.

 

[Bobby G]

I have a metal mpc for my alto. The table is exactly the same width as the reeds, but at the rails the mpc seems to be very slightly wider than the business end of the reed, so there is no overhang as long as the reed is positioned quite carefully. Also, of all my mouthpieces (about 8 for all 3 horns), the profile of the mpc tip is closest to the profile of rhe reed tip. It's a nice piece if you like a metal mpc on alto, although I tend to favour ebonite.