Mouthpieces What have I got?

[jeremyjuicewah]

Hi all. I have been given a couple of tenor mouthpieces by teach. I bought a Kelltone marked with M when I got the tenor, because of the ones I tried it suited me and the sax best. I now have a Selmer marked S8 and also D and a Buescher with no other markings but the name. I dont think I am experienced enough really know whether these mpcs are just right for me, but I can play them all and they all have slightly different characteristics. I have tried different reed strengths on them all but 3 rico plasticised seems best on all three. It doesnt matter much what they are, I am glad to have them, but when I get another one I would like to be able to make some comparison to what I already have when I go shopping. Can anyone say how open or closed or baffled or what characteristics they each ought to have? Many thanks
Mike

 

[kevgermany]

Jody Jazz have some excellent tip opening charts.

The Selmer sounds like an S80, not S8. Has the marking partly rubbed off? Selmer's D opening is quite closed. But it's a good mouthpiece.

Have never heard of Kelltone.

With the Buecher, it's old, and probably quite closed as well.

Don't worry abut the tip opening. If they play, then be happy. And work up or down from current reed strength as you need.

 

[jeremyjuicewah]

Cheer Kev. I was wanting to place them somewhere so I can move in the right direction in search of the perfect mpc. Yes, the Selmer is an S80

 

[kevgermany]

Mouthpiece museum may help a little:

http://www.mouthpiecemuseum.com/MouthpieceMuseum/Buescher.html

http://www.mouthpiecemuseum.com/MouthpieceMuseum/Selmer.html

 

[jeremyjuicewah]

Thanks Kev. I'll check it out on works time later on.

 

[jeremyjuicewah]

I found that quite interesting, but the Buescher is not old enough for that. The Buescher site jammed my computer up, bit like their moutpiece does to the reed. Thanks for the info Kev.
Mike

 

[kevgermany]

I found that quite interesting, but the Buescher is not old enough for that. The Buescher site jammed my computer up, bit like their moutpiece does to the reed. Thanks for the info Kev.
Mike

If the reed is jamming on the mouthpiece, (i.e. when you blow it closes up and no air goes through), it's probably a close tip, and would play better for you with a harder reed. If you put a reed on it and on a mouthpiece whose tip size you know, you should be able to confirm this.

However..... It's probably a good exercise in embouchure development/control to learn to play it, the narrow tips seem to need a lot more fine control, both in breath and embouchure. Having said that I can't get on with them and prefer something much bigger.

 

[jeremyjuicewah]

Good morning Kev. I agree with you about playing the mouthpiece. It is amazing what a month's perseverance will achieve with any piece of equipment and I believe that when you have mastered something you could not previously do, the time was not wasted. I borrowed two wide metal mouthpieces yesterday, just to try, never used one before. One was (I believe) 65 and the other 125 (do not ask me what the numbers represent. The wider one was big enough to hold a cigar in. I had to used a 2 reed to get any sound at all from this one but though neither was right for me just now, I got an inkling of the sound these big gaps make. I think its the way to go but I do this stuff one step at a time, even though my steps often get crossed over.
thanks and best wishes
Mike

 

[kevgermany]

Good that you're getting somewhere. Mouthpiece tip openings are either in thousandths of an inch or millimetres. 125 is imperial and reasonably large, 65 is narrow, even for an alto.