[John Kasaian]

What is the best type of plastic for making a sax mouthpiece? Are there any advantages to, say lucite, presplex or ??? over other plastics?

 

[Rackety Sax]

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.

 

[Dr G]

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.

 

[MojoBari]

Delrin is a brand name for an Acetal. White Brilharts are made from a Lucite.

 

[Martinman]

I am pretty sure that the saxscapes are made from acetal. I think I read it on the site, but I am not sure.

 

[jazzbluescat]

Runyon does make some pretty mpcs. I always felt guilty that I couldn't use one.

 

[wersax]

I am pretty sure that the saxscapes are made from acetal. I think I read it on the site, but I am not sure.

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..."
Is acrylic the same thing? Mojo?

 

[MojoBari]

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.

 

[shmuelyosef]

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.

 

[Martinman]

I just knew it started with "a". My mistake.