[jd]

After years of switching around on tenor and alto for years Im going to try and take the mouthpiece challenge and just stick to one piece for alto and one for tenor .Im selling off a few of my favs but keeping a few goodies just in case I fall off the wagon.with a good reed I can play just about any mouthpiece but I have a couple of metal beechlers (1 tenor and 1 alto) that give me the sound and power/altissimo Im looking for so I figure the rest is up to me.I figure after just playing the same piece for each horn I should be able to get the most of of the horn for my ability .what do you guys think. Mind you Ive experimented add nauseum with practically every brand you can think of.....whos going to join me on the 1 piece challenge? Id be curios to know after a few months whos still in.

 

[hakukani]

I've been on my Tenney STM 9 for a year now. I also have been playing the same legere signature reed on it for almost as long. Now there's consistency!

 

[mike713]

i only ever play one mouthpiece at a time because i can't afford any more than that!

 

[dogster]

I don't even play on the same saxophone always switching from Tenor to Alto and Soprano and double on flutes (Bass, alto ,soprano and piccolo ) lol

 

[segaleon]

i only ever play one mouthpiece at a time because i can't afford any more than that!

As hard as I've tried, playing more than one at a time was simply impossible: couldn't fit them in my mouth

 

[Jazzaferri]

You need Ornette Coleman's lips then.:mrgreen:

I play one sax and one mpce. Granted I just got a new 868 from SopranoPlanet which replaced my Open Sky but I can get it to everything I want and will be playing it until I can't blow anymore. What a relief to have that search over.

I have to add that I have a srtech that Joe modded which I would use if i were ever called upon to play a rock style and I have an old 20's French piece that if I was going to play sop in a classical situation I would probably use as it is dark and not loud.

The likelihood of either of these situations is very small:mrgreen:

 

[ericdano]

Yup...been playing a vintage Meyer bros mouthpiece on alto for about 11+ years now. On tenor, for about 14 years it was a rubber berg larsen 110/2 but about 8 months ago I switched to a vintage guardala mb1 that I had bought in the 90s, kept, but never really used. On soprano, I think I've been using a 85/1 rubber berg for about 14 years or so.

It's not that I don't have mouthpieces, cuz I do. I have two slant sig otto link tenor pieces, a dukoff alto and tenor, a Claude lakey, a ferris, a strayton, and probably some others too.....but I always go back to the default stuff

 

[gary]

I did years ago on alto, which was the only sax I was playing. I had a pre-soloist, I think that's what they're calling them. It was a stock mpc that came with my Mark VI in 1970. I was only playing classical and big band (and not blastissimo, shrill big band) and it worked well.

Jump ahead to another lifetime, and my answer would be simply that I think it depends on what kind of playing you are doing. I think it's definitely possible to play one mpc per horn but with some caveats. For example, I would not want to try playing my Rousseau mpc on alto which I use for wind ensemble, in a pop band; need two mpcs. Nor would I want to try to tame the pop band mpc to blend in a section and with the French horns in wind ensemble. It might be doable but why go through all the trouble?

 

[Dave C]

It's my aim to settle on one piece for each horn.

I've been very happy with a Wanne Amma on alto for a couple of years now.

I've recently taken the plunge on a Gaia on Tenor. So far, I'm very optimistic that the Gaia will be 'the one'....

Wanne mouthpieces: expensive, but good....

 

[saxphil]

Tenney Jazzmaster 7* tenor mpc, ten months and counting.

Love my sound, with the flexible Jazzmaster, on my various tenors.

Some have said, you may have to dial in a mpc to your specific tenor, but I haven't had to.

 

[jd]

I really dont want to do the whole "I need a different mouthpiece for different kinds of music "thing. I believe that Id be better of just sticking to one piece per horn and really getting it to blend in to every situation.You know,just developing a personal sound with one piece.Thats what a lot of the really good players that I listen to do.Like phil woods with his meyer or Sanborn and his dukoff or Koz with his Marienthal with his Beechler etc....Of course many of the greats show up to gigs with different mouthpieces all the time some always use the same piece and usually have an unmistakable sound.I just did a gig with this guy in Ohio who had this amazing alto sound(meyer new york) and he said he had been playing the same mouthpiece since he was 15 (now in his 40s) and doesnt even own a spare.That got me thinking too......

 

[jd]

meant koz with his beechler

 

[BrianMitchellBrody]

No because life is too short.

 

[Nefertiti]

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahha.........................No!

 

[SaxTMan]

I change mouthpieces only when i need too... i'm playing a selmer D and when i play with louder guys (big bands, jams etc) i really need to change my mpc to a way bigger open like my otto link 7*.... the selmer just have it's limit, and also i am a kind of "play quietly" tenor player...

 

[marton]

Phil-Tone Link STM for the past couple years or so. Great piece never felt the need to wander. But recently bought a HR piece 'cause of curiosity. We'll see how that goes for a while.

 

[KeithL]

I try to stick to playing just a single piece on each horn though I own (too) many. For me tenor is the most difficult. Alto and soprano seem so bright to me regardless of mouthpiece- you don't really need something with a lot of baffle to project. On bari my favorite piece right now is a JJ DVNY but I've been playing a JJ DV because 95% of my bari playing is with a funk band doing TOP and Steely Dan. I'm sure this would be to much for a sax quartet and maybe concert band but it's okay for everything else. On tenor I've been using a JJ DV Chi for everything, jazz, funk, and big band. I seem to switch between pieces every couple of years but I try not to do it on a daily or weekly basis.

I think a lot of pros and studio guys can do it all on a single mouthpiece and I'd like to think that I could too if I was on the horn 5-8 hours a day like a pro might be. Like most "weekend warrior" types my practice time is limited by a day job and other responsibilities.

 

[Toot Sweet!]

I sold several mouthpieces because I felt that I was loosing too much time in trying out my mouthpieces instead of practicing. But I still own half a dozen or so for alto and two soprano pieces, and it's difficult for me to settle on one for a longer period.

 

[DXCamp]

I own a total of four alto saxophomne mouthpieces, three of them with different chambers, but have used one of them exclusively for quite a while now.

 

[LampLight]

I'm working my way down: One mostly and two sometimes on tenor; one mostly and one sometimes on soprano. (We'll see how long that lasts lol.)