[The Big Woo]

I'm not sure if this is just a sound that I need to get used to, or if there's a design issue. I sure hope that someone may have some experience with this Buescher model.....
This lovely hard rubber Mpc is supposed to be from roughly 1935-41 according to the original owners' grandson, whom I purchased it from.
I've never run across one like this that sounded so dark, ever....It's a beautiful dark sound, perhaps too dark, and it also doesn't seem to blow as freely as I'm used to w/ my Selmer Paris mpc's nor my Conns.

I'm using my Rovner leather ligature. I tried a #2 reed and it was beautifully dark but not free blowing/blocked when I pushed it hard, almost like playing a kazoo. Then I tried a #3 and it was far too open and difficult to get consistent sound from. So now I have a #2.5 reed and it plays very smoothly and well, but just sounds so unusual that I'm having a hard time getting used to it.

For a while there I was almost doubting that it's for a Tenor sax because of the sound quality.....
Is that normal for this era and model of Buescher? Thanks in advance!

 

[paulwl]

That's a tenor mouthpiece, all right - see the "Bb" stamped right on the top?

I know these pieces well. They typically have an opening around .060", far more closed than anything commonly played today. And as you are noticing, they don't sound like anything today.

It's a tone color that has mostly been obsoleted due to electronic amplification and several generations of changing tastes, but it is mellow. It used to be the voice of the tenor sax in every ballroom and radio studio, shaded with dynamic swells and sweetened with singing vibrato. In certain narrow classical circles, it survives as a woody, almost clarinet/bassoon tone quality.

Typically, once a good player gets their chops around this sound, they'll use a 3 1/2 or even a 4 reed. The goal is to get a reed that doesn't close up on the high notes (=too soft) but doesn't crack or muffle the low notes (=too hard).

It's not a sound you'll hear in today's music. It takes some gumption to play that way. It might be for you, tho, if you feel it...

 

[maddenma]

And that's one of the best descriptions I've read about it.

I have one for each horn. Keep them around, mostly just to keep the complete instrument as it was originally intended. Almost never play one, but put a #3.5-#4 Rico on it, a 2-screw lig, and that's the sound.

 

[The Big Woo]

Oh sweet, thanks so much for the great info on this Paulwl,
I saw the "Bb" but thought it may have been mislabeled due to the unique sound.
"Mellow" is a great way to describe these. Projection is super mellow and deep for sure, and I never have to worry about being too "in your face" with the sound it produces. I could definitely see the woody sound for classical you mentioned. I'm thinking it will be a great mouthpiece to pull out for a deeper or more intimate composition, maybe like a slow version of "Summertime" or even Mancini's "The Pink Panther" when I feel like deepening them and slowing them down.

I love my Selmer C* Soloist but when I switch from the The Buescher to it I feel like the Selmer is playing with a torn reed, haha....Strange beautiful sound though. I'll have to find the right singles to play this Mpc with.

Maybe I'll jump up to a 3.5 reed and see how I feel about it.
Thanks again for the great info!

 

[Hornlip]

Yes on moving up to a stiffer reed to make the most out of this mouthpiece (same goes for the Eb Alto Mpc's from the same era*).

I've got one of these that came with a True Tone tenor, I think the first stock Buescher mouthpiece of any kind I had handled. My experience with similar era and style tenor mouthpieces had been pretty bad; they always got a sound like lost cows to me. I was surprised how well the Buescher piece played on the TT, for one, and that it got a good tone, though as Paulwl pointed out above, it's an old-fashioned tone. But it played so well and sounded so interesting that I've kept it.

*Incidentally, anybody know when Buescher switched from these as their stock mpcs to the "Tru-Lay" mpcs? I have been under the impression that the change happened either with the New Aristocrat or early in the Aristocrat era.

 

[paulwl]

With the Aristocrat now called "series 1," about 1935.

 

[maddenma]

... and then promptly dropped for the white ones shortly after WWII.

 

[saintsday]

Here is what the alto version sounds like played by a master:

I fairly regularly do a 5 hour round trip to hear this sound. It's addictive.

 

[warp x]

Here is what the alto version sounds like played by a master:

I fairly regularly do a 5 hour round trip to hear this sound. It's addictive.

Beautiful!

 

[saintsday]

Beautiful!

Yes. Isn't it amazing what many hours of practice every day for many, many years can achieve. It's pure bonus that he is also one of the most gracious people I've ever met.

And at least a minor tragedy that a player that outstanding can't find funding to record professionally.