mouthpiece comparison

[luther66]

Hi,i play a yamaha c4 on tenor sax,and quite well too,im looking for a little brighter sound but still have a nice ballad feel to it,id like a metal mouthpiece as i think there i little brighter than the rubber or ebonite,can anyone advice me for a metal mouthpiece as comparisont to the playability of the yam c4

[Pete Thomas]

Hi,i play a yamaha c4 on tenor sax,and quite well too,im looking for a little brighter sound but still have a nice ballad feel to it,id like a metal mouthpiece as i think there i little brighter than the rubber or ebonite,can anyone advice me for a metal mouthpiece as comparisont to the playability of the yam c4

Metal mouthpieces aren't brighter. It's the dimensions of the mouthpiece and the player not the material that determine the tone.

[bartone]

I play a Yamaha 82Z (laquered) and chose a Ponzol M2 (s) 110, and a softer reed than I'd been playing - around 2.5 Vandoren ZZ. Really brightened up my tone, but you've got to have very distant neighbors. Preferably deaf neighbors.

bart

[luther66]

So,does anyone know if i can get a metal mouthpiece that is around the same playability as the yamaha 4c ???????????????????????????????????

[knighttrain]

Please re-read Pete's post above. Metal does not equal brighter.

[Pete Thomas]

Please re-read Pete's post above. Metal does not equal brighter.

Except they often look brighter of course...;)

[Jolle]

one advice : pick up your sax, go to the next decent sax store and try some of the mpc's out. Playability heavily depends also on the structure of your own mouth, teeth and lips, so it differs from person to person. My mouthpiece (BergLarsen) is like hell for my saxpal, but I wouldn't want to trade it for his (although his is more expensive).

greetzz

[Grumps]

When I was a kid, having a metal sax mouthpiece was the ultimate in cool. So it didn't matter that the pieces I had were better suited for doorstops; they were cool. Even just five years ago, I never would have expected to be playing mostly hard rubber mouthpieces on my horns. Just the thought of them made me think of a junior high band room and stiff, lifeless playing. Silly me, I know, but I'm glad I outgrew that sort of thinking (for the most part) and rediscovered hard rubber mouthpieces. It's certainly alright if metal is your preference. Just don't expect more from them beyond what is capable solely from the design of their form.

[renegade]

Just tried the Yamaha 7CM mouthpiece with a Vandoren java #2 for my Conn 24M alto and I am quite satisfied with my sound. The sound is much brighter.

[Ike Webkins]

Metal mouthpieces aren't brighter. It's the dimensions of the mouthpiece and the player not the material that determine the tone.

In my (very small) experience, this seems partially true...

For a very experienced player, this can be well observed, as he will compensate (more or less consciencely) for slight variations given by the vibration (or the mechanical impedance technically speaking) of the material of the mpc.

For a less experienced (and thus less trained) player, all the parameters have more influence, and it is very difficult to forecast the reaction of a given set up, as the final sonic result will be given by the player itself of course, but also by the complex interactions between all the parts, including the player (and its anatomy, embouchure, air support, etc...), the reed, mpc, horn..

IMO, the quite sole possibility to be sure (for each and everybody) of something in this field is to try and test by ourselves ;) but the result will probably be "true" only for us :(

my 2cts

cheers

ike