3 Olives said:
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.