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Landreth Mouthpieces

7K views 16 replies 10 participants last post by  vbluesman 
#1 ·
Has anyone tried a Landreth piece? Any thoughts?

During a late night insomnia-induced ebay shopping trip a few weeks ago, I purchased a Landreth Modern Vintage 7* tenor mouthpiece. It still hasn't shipped yet and I haven't been able to find out much about them, so I'm wondering if anybody knows what I can expect. A very gracious friend lent me his Berg Larsen metal mouthpiece and I think the logic behind me buying this piece was to find something to replace the Berg for when I need to give it back to it's owner.

Whenever the mouthpiece shows up and I get a chance to play on it I will try to update this post with a little review, but in the meantime, does anybody have any experience with these pieces? How does it compare with Berg Larsen and other popular metal mouthpieces?
 
#2 ·
Jesus!!! We are truly in the golden age of mouthpieces!!! There are so many options out there that it's actually too much. We are getting spoiled. Not good really, not at all!!! I hope you like your new piece.
 
#3 ·
Not here yet? How can that be? It says on the website that a custom piece takes one week to complete from the time Payment is received.

https://www.landreth-mouthpieces.com/shop/modern-vintage-model-tenor

G'luck.

Has anyone tried a Landreth piece? Any thoughts?

During a late night insomnia-induced ebay shopping trip a few weeks ago, I purchased a Landreth Modern Vintage 7* tenor mouthpiece. It still hasn't shipped yet and I haven't been able to find out much about them, so I'm wondering if anybody knows what I can expect. A very gracious friend lent me his Berg Larsen metal mouthpiece and I think the logic behind me buying this piece was to find something to replace the Berg for when I need to give it back to it's owner.

Whenever the mouthpiece shows up and I get a chance to play on it I will try to update this post with a little review, but in the meantime, does anybody have any experience with these pieces? How does it compare with Berg Larsen and other popular metal mouthpieces?
 
#4 ·
I *just* got the email that it has been shipped. Maybe ebay orders aren't as fast as orders directly on the website? No clue. I also live in Canada so I'm used to shipments taking a while. I'm not in a huge rush though! I'm more anxious to receive the cornet I ordered the next night :toothy10:
 
#6 ·
Best o' luck with that. I have to wonder whose machinery is being used to make the blanks - sounds like someone abusing access privileges after hours.

It would be interesting to learn how these blanks are made - additive manufacturing, lathe and mill, or CNC?
 
#7 ·
I ordered 2 Landreth pieces to try.

One blank and one finished.

I will report once I've played them.

At that price it's worth a try to see if it's any good. Plus I work in an environment that as long as it's not ruined etc. I can fix it up :)



Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
 
#10 ·
I ordered 2 Landreth pieces to try.

One blank and one finished.

I will report once I've played them.

At that price it's worth a try to see if it's any good. Plus I work in an environment that as long as it's not ruined etc. I can fix it up :)

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
I'd love to know what you think when you try them! I'm expecting mine to show up sometime next week, maybe the week after if shipping gets slowed down.
 
#8 ·
I'm pretty sure this is the guy who was/maybe still is also selling sax mpc refacing services on ebay under the name southwest sax. I don't know anything about the pieces he is making, but I purchased a couple reface jobs for a very reasonable price (I think it was $40 or $50), and was quite happy with the results. I sent him a couple beater mpcs. One was an old 1920's Conn eagle bari piece that had previously been refaced badly, and the other a no name 20's soprano piece. They came back as nice players. Certainly worth the relatively low cost.
 
#11 ·
Quick update!

My mouthpiece has finally arrived. I haven't had the chance to really play it yet because my tenant downstairs works nights and out of courtesy I won't play before about 2PM (PST). My first impressions: The mouthpiece looks nice, pictures in the ebay listing were pretty accurate. The table is a little bit scratched up but the scratches aren't deep. If anybody does order one of these mouthpieces, don't even bother trying to use the provided plastic ligature. Mine broke within 10 seconds of putting it on, and it ruined my reed.
 
#12 ·
Has anyone tried a Landreth piece? Any thoughts?

During a late night insomnia-induced ebay shopping trip a few weeks ago, I purchased a Landreth Modern Vintage 7* tenor mouthpiece. It still hasn't shipped yet and I haven't been able to find out much about them, so I'm wondering if anybody knows what I can expect. A very gracious friend lent me his Berg Larsen metal mouthpiece and I think the logic behind me buying this piece was to find something to replace the Berg for when I need to give it back to it's owner.

Whenever the mouthpiece shows up and I get a chance to play on it I will try to update this post with a little review, but in the meantime, does anybody have any experience with these pieces? How does it compare with Berg Larsen and other popular metal mouthpieces?

I've noticed this posting has fallen off. I too was curious about this mouthpiece, so I bought one on eBay (Modern Vintage 110 22 lay in stainless steel).

I chewed through the bite plate in 2 weeks time but repaired it with a 2 part epoxy.

My first impression was that the mouthpiece has an awkward feel, but attributed it to the shorter facing and so far the only reeds I've found that works well are Vandoren Java
Red #3.

I've played this piece on several gigs and have never struggled from hearing myself. The tone is a good combination of a Berg, Guardala, and Otto Link double ring to my ears. Over all the tone is a good balance of thick and thin sounding (I feel that the Java Reds have a lot to do with this).

I've payed around $60 for this mouthpiece and I am happy with my purchase.
 
#13 · (Edited)
I've had nothing but good luck with E's work. His Zia design is incredible and his Zephyr is a vintage Link design that plays so well I don't see a need to buy a vintage Link. His Modern Vintage is, indeed, a unique piece. But it plays well once you get used to it and certainly doesn't lack for tone or volume. I bought a whole bunch of his acrylic tenor pieces raging from around .098 up to .120+ and found them inexpensive, easy to play and with a nice even tone. Oddly, they played better for me as I went up in tip size. E and I had a nice discussion about that. I even had him modify one with a baffle as an experiment that became a great learning experience for both of us.
I always found him easy to talk to, apologetic if a piece went out a little late and quick to accept negative feedback as a way of making improvements down the road. His refacing work was great and his prices were very reasonable.

Sadly, this morning I received a message from E that he was leaving the mouthpiece business. I won't go into his reasons. But the way he described it, it was a sound business decision based, in part, on too many negative experiences with buyers not wanting to part with their money.
It's a shame because he had some great ideas.
 
#14 ·
That's sad to hear...

I bought another Modern/Vintage from someone that previously purchased it. This was only slightly different facing wise. The price was right and I am using both pieces to learn about facing lengths. It's crazy because no one "really" offers different facing lengths as an option.

Also, this 2nd mouthpiece has a
white bite plate that seems to be denser and holding together.
 
#15 ·
I have 2 MVs with a 22 facing and 1 with a 19 facing. The facing lengths do make a difference. Can't speak about the bite plate issue as I play with either a .5mm or .8mm patch on all my pieces, metal especially. The best piece I ever got from E is a blue ceramic/composite tenor piece that's so incredibly dark and smooth it's like butter. When my Eddie Bayard blues Link or my Saxscape Uptown Dark aren't dark enough, the Blue, as I like to call it, takes the blues to a whole 'nother level of blue. It's the polar opposite end of the spectrum from the MV, but it really shows how versatile E's mouthpiece skills are.
 
#17 ·
I just got today a Landreth sterling steel tenor mouthpiece that I bought virtually new on EBay. It has a mini Berg like spoiler baffle and the longest Bullet chamber I have ever seen. It plays really well, nice sound, even dynamics up,and down and good power to it. I'm keeping it, I probably won't gig with it but who knows. (It has a .107 tip opening.) It's a shame the business side of making mouthpieces forced Mr Landreth to quit.
 
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