Mouthpieces PIllinger PL & PLG tenor mouthpieces, vs SYOS Chad LB

[Hamfist]

These are a couple of Ed's pieces that have received very, very little coverage on the www. I was definitely in the market for a higher baffle piece as I have joined a funk band and need rather more cut and projection than the Robusto I was using. I didn't want to go "full Guardala mode" though, so I have been looking around the "inbetween" models.
The last few weeks I have been using a SYOS Chad Lefkowitz-Brown signature piece, in an 8 opening. Despite the piece's incredibly shoddy finishing it actuallly plays amazingly well. I sent the first one back to SYOS - it had deep longitundinal tram lines up both rails, as well as other defects. This 2nd one still has a table and rails that I would never be happy selling to anyone as a new product, and almost no "pop" at all on the pop test. I still can't fathom how it plays so well - bottom notes, softly, too. The first one I sent back didn't play too badly either to be honest.

Anyway, I contacted Ed PIllinger about his PL and PLG models. Incredibly there is very, very little online about these models and I believe the picture I will post of the PL's baffle is the first anywhere on the web.
Ed kindly offered to send me an 8 of his PL and a 7* of his PLG for me to try.
I have not owned a Pillinger before but I have seen Eds work before and the finishing is always flawless. To my untrained eye PL looks like a decent rollover baffle into a small-medium sized chamber, the PLG has a rollover at the tip which merges into a long Berg-like step baffle into a smallish chamber. PLease remember that small and large in terms of chamber size are all relative and I am used to fairly Link -sized chambers. The SYOS Ed LB piece has a highish but short step baffle, into a smallish chamber. The pics I post should hopefully be useful.

I will say here that these are all shades of excellence IMO. Anyone looking for a reasonably bright, yet not laser-like, MP for cutting through with an electric band would do well with any of these. I played all these with a Java red size 3 reed, on my TJ Custom Sig RAW horn.
The PL is the least bright, and fractionally less focussed of the 3. The PLG and SYOS pieces are remarkably similar in tone, although get there from very different directions. One thing I did notice was that the PLG was a lot more resistant to blow in the lower octave, which I was not used to. After playing it for a while I was realising that my brain could easily adapt to it, but the difference was there nonetheless. I'd say the PLG was a tad brighter than the SYOS piece but very much in the same ballpark.
Here's a link to an audio clip of the 3 (the order is PLG, PL, SYOS). Apologies for my rough and ready jazz line. I did try and play the same for each one.
I'd be interested to hear what differences you can hear between them via decent headphones or speakers.

Pillinger demos PL PLG SYOS.mp3

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[Hamfist]

 

[GJ77]

I’ve got a PL, and whilst it’s not my every day mouthpiece, it’s superb.

 

[saxyjt]

The last few weeks I have been using a SYOS Chad Lefkowitz-Brown signature piece, in an 8 opening. Despite the piece's incredibly shoddy finishing it actuallly plays amazingly well. I sent the first one back to SYOS - it had deep longitundinal tram lines up both rails, as well as other defects. This 2nd one still has a table and rails that I would never be happy selling to anyone as a new product, and almost no "pop" at all on the pop test. I still can't fathom how it plays so well - bottom notes, softly, too. The first one I sent back didn't play too badly either to be honest.

I find the finish is simply not in line with the pricing! None of mine did it for me. It's a good concept, but I can't stand that their quality standard is so low.

As for your recording, I can't really hear a difference!

 

[Ivan]

Here's a link to an audio clip of the 3

Regrettably the third recording had none of the squeak/instability on C3 which you have on the first two

Maybe a rough finish suits you, or maybe you were more warmed up

I couldn't hear a tonal difference between each

 

[Hamfist]

Regrettably the third recording had none of the squeak/instability on C3 which you have on the first two

Maybe a rough finish suits you, or maybe you were more warmed up

I couldn't hear a tonal difference between each

Interesting. I didn't notice that, well spotted.
The SYOS piece is certainly the one I was much, much more used to, as I have been playing it exclusively for many weeks. The Pillinger pieces have slightly smaller and narrower beaks, which I know I tend to squeak a bit more with until my brain re-adjusts. I can't guarantee it, but I suspect that was the key difference.

 

[Hamfist]

As a complete aside, I clearly found it very difficult to play the tune exactly the same each time, despite trying to. I put all sorts of different emphases and dynamics in on each one.