Mouthpieces What's the deal with Harry Hayes' mouthpieces?!

RichardDevenport

New Member
2
Hello Gents

I've seen only one other snippet of historical information on Harry Hayes' mouthpieces - coincidentally from this forum.

My dear sax tutor Ray died several months ago - his wife was kind enough to give me several of his mouthpieces which have been 'lurking' in the drawer since 1992.

Lets cut to the chase here - this Harry Hayes 'Brilliance' Mouthpiece is the richest, most versatile and controlled mouthpiece I've ever laid my lips on. Maybe that's because I've never had enough money to buy a good quality metal mouthpiece, hence having no benchmark to go by in terms of metal mouthpieces, but who knows. This thing is glorious by my meagre standards.

However, I can't find a single thing on it. I have attached a few images for your perusal via link....I really have no intention of selling this thing, I have dearly fallen in love with it.

So far, only two things established:

i. Harry Hayes manufactured mouthpieces (in what capacity I am unsure, this could well have been a brand endorsement) as well as being a relatively famous sax player

ii. The manufacturing establishment was in Shaftsbury Ave.

Any further information to the history of this beauty and its potential worth would be greatly appreciated. I count myself very lucky to have known Ray, and know a person so dear as his wife to be so generous to give me this gem!

http://imgur.com/a/qKei9
 
Repairer in the shop was his pupil: my friend Willie Garnett.
I have seen the blanks, allegedly from the Whitechapel bell foundry. They were handfinished, then sent for plating.
I tried some great ones, but all to small tips for me.
According with Willie Garnet, before the 60s, anyone playing more than a 6* was considered a lunatic.

I think I started a thread about them, a while ago.

A legend says that Marcel Mule wanted to meet HH, to learn from his jazz style
 

Similar threads... or are they? Maybe not but they could be worth reading anyway 😀

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