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Cork Grease, the least debated sax item ... let's go!

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#41 ·
I also apply paraffin wax to newly installed corks and "iron it in" with a heated pad slick. I only use Dr. Slick to lubricate the cork the first time I insert the mouthpiece all the way to the end of the cork to insure the cork is cylindrical. After that initial installation, cork grease is rarely needed if ever if the cork is properly fit due to the layer of paraffin. An exception might be when trying a mouthpiece with a slightly smaller shank.
 
#43 ·
After trying many types,the only cork grease I ever try and get a hold of is the "Yamaha" synthetic cork grease that comes in the small white pots.

Doesnt smell like sheep due to the lanolin in the Rico stuff.
Stays the same consistency regardless of temperature.
Easy to wipe off where it's not wanted.

My $0.02c
 
#45 ·
motteatoj said:
Yes, I did a search.
The last time someone asked about the best cork grease appears to be about 2005.
Surely some modern advancement in grease laden technologies have come around since (ya, that's a joke).

So, let's do this....
Best cork grease, and why...
What makes a cork grease good?
Gooey/liquidy vs. medium chap sticky vs. the firmer chunkier varienty.

Considering there are opinions about everything here, there must me some thoughts.....

For me, despise the liquidy type, and the other end 'too firm', I'm like Goldielocks on this one, should be just right.
But how does one know what brand will be that 'just right' one, or is it mearly an age thing?
Click to expand...
Whats wrong with you people? Haven't you heard of improvisation??? Thought thats what sax playing was all about..... :) :) :)

I have been known to really rub the grease into the cork but the idea I thought was to get a really snug fit and I find using a cigarette paper (Rizzla Blues are nice and thin) and licking the sticky strip bit and wrapping it around the cork neck makes the mouthpiece fit really snugly if I havent got any cork grease to hand.
 
#48 ·
I want to invite all of you to my new facebook group called "CORK GREASE GROUP". There are some heavy hitters in this group! After all, you can never run out of things to say about cork grease. I remember the Selmer plastic red box with the white lid, the smell was so distinctive. My Bundy alto in 1972 had this type of Selmer cork grease.
 
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#49 ·
milandro said:
I have some lemon scented that used to come with the Taiwanese saxophones that I was helping to sell as export manager , unfortunately I kept only that but It is not the only one I use, I have thin grease which came with a bassoon that I use when the cork is new, then a number of different ones, depending on what is needed , purple , I think, is " La tromba" , can't remember if it has any scent

https://www.thomann.de/gb/stoelzel_fett.htm
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Vaseline Lip Therapy 0.25 or 0.35 oz tube.
Works great, doesn't take a lot of room in the case. Way cheaper than cork grease. Just need to keep the cork moist, right? Used this on my MK VI alto, tenor & soprano for years.
 
#52 ·
True story - When I was a teenager, my clarinet teacher was an old Italian guy from Naples. He was born in 1894, came to the US in 1913, played with the SF Symphony in the 1930s. He said that when he was a kid, his mom used to make cork grease for him by filtering lamb chop grease through a piece of cloth. "And remember, if you ever run out of cork grease, you've always got some right here," and rubbed the side of his nose.
 
#54 ·
PeterS said:
True story - When I was a teenager, my clarinet teacher was an old Italian guy from Naples. He was born in 1894, came to the US in 1913, played with the SF Symphony in the 1930s. He said that when he was a kid, his mom used to make cork grease for him by filtering lamb chop grease through a piece of cloth. "And remember, if you ever run out of cork grease, you've always got some right here," and rubbed the side of his nose.
Click to expand...
Was your teacher Gino Cioffi?

Did he, by any chance also play with the Neapolitan school embouchure ( upside down )

read about it here

https://forum.saxontheweb.net/showthread.php?167262-Playing-With-Mouthpiece-Upside-Down/page5

Image
 
#56 ·
Some cork grease products use Coconut Oil, Jojoba, Carnauba...
I've meaning to try something like that.
I let mine get too dry and they have been sketchy. Thicker wax just wipes off.

I just put some silicon based tuning slide grease on them and heated it up.
 
#57 ·
milandro - Interesting thread - I didn't know that the "upside-down" embouchure used as recently as the 20th century. My teacher was Paul Pone, not Gino Cioffi. Paul had been a student of Gaetano Labanchi in Naples. He used and taught a reed-on-bottom, teeth-on-top embouchure, and never mentioned any other way of playing.
 
#60 ·
PeterS said:
milandro - Interesting thread - I didn't know that the "upside-down" embouchure used as recently as the 20th century. My teacher was Paul Pone, not Gino Cioffi. Paul had been a student of Gaetano Labanchi in Naples. He used and taught a reed-on-bottom, teeth-on-top embouchure, and never mentioned any other way of playing.
Click to expand...
Well, Cioffi abandoned the upside down embouchure because he felt that (although he preferred it) it made him stand up in a bad way against the backdrop of all the other players.
 
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