[3 Olives]

I am buying a True Tone for my 13 yr. old son. He has been playing for a year, practices every day, and is interested in jazz. I'd like to buy a mouthpiece that would fit the kid and the horn. I was told by a SOTW member that Buescher mouthpieces are fairly common and I should ask for recommendations. Any recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Al Stevens]

Tenor, alto, soprano?

 

[3 Olives]

Sorry, Alto.

 

[silvin]

A Morgan 6L or a Meyer 6M should work pretty fine!

 

[Rackety Sax]

3 Olives, do you have a price range in mind? The recommendations above are good, but the prices differ greatly. The Meyer is a machine-made mouthpiece available for under $100, with inconsistencies endemic to machine-manufactured pieces. The Morgan runs more than $150 new but is an outstanding hand-finished mouthpiece that could serve your son well indefinitely.

 

[silvin]

Chitownjazz, you're right about industrial vs handmade mouthpieces, but he may have the opportunity to try many (Meyer) and choose the good one!

 

[ToreH]

I've been there.

I started my son on a red Runyon Custom 6 on his Buscher alto.
This is a cool but safe piece at §53, works well all the way from a concert band to jazz.

a nice price and a good service at :

http://www.saxplus.com/runyon-custom-mouthpieces.html

 

[Al Stevens]

I just got a Morgan 7L Jazz for my Buescher Aristocrat alto. Love it. I was using a Meyer 5M. It was okay, too, but the Morgan is better suited for the Buescher.

 

[Grumps]

A Buescher mouthpiece is going to make the TT sound like it's coming from a victrola. Not a sound a kid today is going to be aiming for.

 

[Rackety Sax]

A Buescher mouthpiece is going to make the TT sound like it's coming from a victrola. Not a sound a kid today is going to be aiming for.

... or from Sigurd Rascher, which very well might be a sound a kid today might aim for.

But, this kid is interested in jazz, so I agree that the Buescher mouthpieces are inappropriate - unless it's 1920s jazz he's interested in!

 

[3 Olives]

Thanks for the imput. I understand where you are coming from, silvin. Though we have a number of music stores close by, they pretty much are 60% guitar, 20% music and music books, 20% everything else. We'd be lucky to find one Meyer 6M as the few mouthpieces available are targeted at the rental market. chitownjazz - I'd say my budget is less than $200.00 as I want to buy a mpc without defects that will play fine for a long time. My son takes excellent care of everything he owns so it is worth it to pay a little more.

 

[fred12]

A year or so ago I bought a True Tone alto, didn't like the original mpc, sought advice on SOTW and decided to try a Morgan 3C at the advice of a worthy senior SOTW contributor. Got several different mouthieces from WWBW for a trial. I thought that the 3C was the best sounding, but I took the best 3 mpcs to a lesson with a teacher who is a pro sax player. He immediately chose the 3C too, and I have been using it ever since. Your choice will depend on your player's unique embouchure and desired sound, but it is interesting to note the number of responses you've gotten suggesting Morgan pieces. Good luck.

 

[Rackety Sax]

A year or so ago I bought a True Tone alto, didn't like the original mpc, sought advice on SOTW and decided to try a Morgan 3C at the advice of a worthy senior SOTW contributor. Got several different mouthieces from WWBW for a trial. I thought that the 3C was the best sounding, but I took the best 3 mpcs to a lesson with a teacher who is a pro sax player. He immediately chose the 3C too, and I have been using it ever since. Your choice will depend on your player's unique embouchure and desired sound, but it is interesting to note the number of responses you've gotten suggesting Morgan pieces. Good luck.

3 Olives, if you get tangled up with the different Morgan models we can help you sort that out too.

 

[3 Olives]

chitownjazz-I am a bit tangled up on which model to buy. I have had several members PM and recommend the Jazz Alto 6 M, Excalibur 6 E, 7 E, 6 EL, or 7 EL. They all sound like good choices. Any imput would be appreciated.

 

[silvin]

Here is a sample of a Buescher Aristocrat serie I alto with a Morgan 5L mouthpiece and vando 3 reed:
HERE!

Maybe it gives you an idea ...?

 

[Rackety Sax]

chitownjazz-I am a bit tangled up on which model to buy. I have had several members PM and recommend the Jazz Alto 6 M, Excalibur 6 E, 7 E, 6 EL, or 7 EL. They all sound like good choices. Any imput would be appreciated.

OK, let me take a stab at explaining the three different "dimensions" among the jazz mouthpieces (to complicate things even more there's a classical line to, I'm not addressing that here):

1) Chamber size (medium or large) - This refers to the size of the "innards" of the mouthpiece. The large chamber will have a darker sound than the medium.

2) Profile (Jazz or Excalibur) - The Jazz is a "standard" style while the Excalibur line is a "thin shell" model (that is, the rubber itself is thinner, as if you took a Jazz model and sanded away some of the material all over). The marketing hook for these is added "brilliance", I suppose because the thinner shell vibrates more freely.

3) Tip opening (5, 6, 7 or 8) - Hope this one is self-explanatory. I believe most would suggest a relatively new player stick to the lower end of this scale, a 5 or 6.

That doesn't really tell you which one to choose, but at least gives you an idea what the options are. Obviously describing the differences is difficult. I would say you couldn't go too far wrong with the Jazz model in either a 5 or 6 tip opening and either M or L chamber. If your son is used to playing a narrower tip opening such as a Selmer C* he may need to step down a half strength in reeds on his new Morgan.

Oh yeah, there's a "Vintage" model too, but that seems to have a significantly smaller following that the Jazz and Excalibur.

 

[Pinnman]

chitownjazz has summed it up well, as ever. To take things a stage further, I would suggest:
1. a Large chamber Morgan because this suits the TT better (IMO, of course);
2. The Jazz rather than the Excalibur because the extra brightness of the Excalibur is not necessary and may be counter productive at such an early age;
3. a 5 tip opening, because this is quite sufficient for relatively young players.

Two other mouthpieces I would not disdain are the Yanagisawa hard rubber 5 tip opening - a very well made piece which is very suitable for all round playing - and the Barone Jazz 6 or 6* tip opening - which has plenty of projection but can be played with a purer, less edgy, tone than the Morgan when occasion demands.

 

[Rackety Sax]

chitownjazz has summed it up well, as ever. To take things a stage further, I would suggest:
1. a Large chamber Morgan because this suits the TT better (IMO, of course);
2. The Jazz rather than the Excalibur because the extra brightness of the Excalibur is not necessary and may be counter productive at such an early age;
3. a 5 tip opening, because this is quite sufficient for relatively young players.

Two other mouthpieces I would not disdain are the Yanagisawa hard rubber 5 tip opening - a very well made piece which is very suitable for all round playing - and the Barone Jazz 6 or 6* tip opening - which has plenty of projection but can be played with a purer, less edgy, tone than the Morgan when occasion demands.

Great suggestions too, and I've read on the forum that the Yanagisawa's are available pretty regularly and inexpensively on eBay as "pull-offs" by new Yani owners. And Phil Barone has been selling his handmade New York hard rubber pieces on eBay for $106, another excellent deal.

As for pure tone, listen to silvin's track above - he's got that really sweet Paul Desmond thing going, but that Morgan would be capable of a gutsier sound too if desired.