Lamberson offers his high end mouthpieces in a "pure plastic" (his words) called acetal (as well as in hard rubber and wood). You can read about the material here.
Dumb mpc question #5594395304 (maybe)
What is the best type of plastic for making a sax mouthpiece? Are there any advantages to, say lucite, presplex or ??? over other plastics?
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Fred also says that you can drive a truck over his acetal mouthpieces but he neglects to mention that you should first remove it from your saxophone. 
I've played several of Fred's acetal 'pieces and have a couple more on the way.
SR Tech's "85" alto 'piece is one of the best I've played - it is Lucite as I recall.
Saxscape uses a material that looks like Delrin to me.
Then, too, are all the cool Runyon 'pieces in a variety of colors (I like the amber 'cause it tastes like cream soda).
Bottom line: Design and execution rule over choice of material.
I've played several of Fred's acetal 'pieces and have a couple more on the way.
SR Tech's "85" alto 'piece is one of the best I've played - it is Lucite as I recall.
Saxscape uses a material that looks like Delrin to me.
Then, too, are all the cool Runyon 'pieces in a variety of colors (I like the amber 'cause it tastes like cream soda).
Bottom line: Design and execution rule over choice of material.
Delrin is a brand name for an Acetal. White Brilharts are made from a Lucite.
I am pretty sure that the saxscapes are made from acetal. I think I read it on the site, but I am not sure.
Runyon does make some pretty mpcs. I always felt guilty that I couldn't use one.
His site says: "I do the actual machining, starting from a "log" of cast acrylic, which I shape using a manual lathe and milling machine..."Martinman said:I am pretty sure that the saxscapes are made from acetal. I think I read it on the site, but I am not sure.
Is acrylic the same thing? Mojo?
I'm not a plastics expert. But acrylic is not an acetal. I think Runyons are mostly a polycarbonate (like Plexiglass) with supposedly some synthetic hard rubber foo-foo dust mixed in. I'm talking the Runyons that are made in the red, yellow, blue, black clolors.
The Quantum and XL Runyons are made from Delrin.
The Quantum and XL Runyons are made from Delrin.
Acrylic, acetal and polycarbonate are each very different materials.
Acrylic is a lightweight, rigid and weather resistant Thermoplastic. Acrylic is safer than glass because of its greater breakage resistance, has a higher light transmittance than glass, and half the density of glass. In sheet form acrylic is supplied in a great variety of transparent, translucent and opaque colors. Acrylic, however, is not very scratch resistant. Acrylic does 'ring' nicely if you assemble a block or cantilever.
Delrin® is a homopolymer acetal for mechanical and electro-mechanical parts requiring extreme rigidity and dimensional stability. Glass filled 20% milled glass fibers by weight added to Delrin® base resin give Delrin® twice the stiffness of regular unreinforced Delrin® and impart a far higher resistance to elevated temperatures. Other additives to acetal can create different mechanical properties. I have used the glass-filled material, and believe that it would be a spectacular mouthpiece material, particularly for thin rails. Acoustically, acetal is a 'dead' material...it effectively damps out vibrations. Depending on your particular voodoo beliefs, this could be good or bad.
Polycarbonate, Lexan®, is a virtually unbreakable material with good dimensional stability and rigidity and a wide range of properties, including self-extinguishing properties. It also resist chemicals and provides high tensile strength...generally unaffected by greases, oils and acids. Lexan 'rings' very well. I have seen an all-weather marimba with polycarbonate tines. Again...believe your own voodoo about this one.
Acrylic is a lightweight, rigid and weather resistant Thermoplastic. Acrylic is safer than glass because of its greater breakage resistance, has a higher light transmittance than glass, and half the density of glass. In sheet form acrylic is supplied in a great variety of transparent, translucent and opaque colors. Acrylic, however, is not very scratch resistant. Acrylic does 'ring' nicely if you assemble a block or cantilever.
Delrin® is a homopolymer acetal for mechanical and electro-mechanical parts requiring extreme rigidity and dimensional stability. Glass filled 20% milled glass fibers by weight added to Delrin® base resin give Delrin® twice the stiffness of regular unreinforced Delrin® and impart a far higher resistance to elevated temperatures. Other additives to acetal can create different mechanical properties. I have used the glass-filled material, and believe that it would be a spectacular mouthpiece material, particularly for thin rails. Acoustically, acetal is a 'dead' material...it effectively damps out vibrations. Depending on your particular voodoo beliefs, this could be good or bad.
Polycarbonate, Lexan®, is a virtually unbreakable material with good dimensional stability and rigidity and a wide range of properties, including self-extinguishing properties. It also resist chemicals and provides high tensile strength...generally unaffected by greases, oils and acids. Lexan 'rings' very well. I have seen an all-weather marimba with polycarbonate tines. Again...believe your own voodoo about this one.
I just knew it started with "a". My mistake.
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