[Mbarisax]

I just bought a metal mouthpiece for my bari, but the bore is way too wide, to the point that it really leaks air when it is in a normal position on the neck.
In order to seal it, I need to put teflon tape on the neck cork.
The stock mpc that came with the bari (hard rubber Yani 5) has a tight fit, and it is impossible to put it onto the neck when the teflon tape is there to make the new mpc seal.
So switching mpcs is impossible without first having to add or remove the teflon tape.

So I was wondering, if it is possible to coat the inside of the bore of the new metal mpc to make it seal without having to wrap the teflon tape around the cork ?
I was thinking of acid free silicone gell, but not sure if it is not toxic or bad health wise.
It is a cheap metal mpc, so I don't mind experimenting a bit with it,
I bought it out of curiosity how a metal mpc feels and sounds.
I like the sound, and it looks good, only the bore is a problem

 

[JayeLID]

Typically people just do what you are doing...when they are gonna alternate between 2 mouthpieces. Cork trimmed and sanded to fit the narrower one, when you go to the wider use the tape.

I suppose you could try your idea, seems tape is less messy though.

 

[mijderf]

I have had some luck using "Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Strengthening Topcoat" which I think is used over nail polish. With a metal mouthpiece, I have used a fine sand paper (around 400 grit) in the last 1/2" inch or so of the of the inside of the bore to give some texture for the topcoat to hold onto. You don't need much roughness, and little will work well. Make sure only to rough up the area of the inner bore that will sit over the cork.
Then clean that area with alcohol and let dry. Finally shake the bottle and coat the inner bore with a coat of the topcoat and let dry. Some mouthpieces only need a couple of coats. Yours sounds like to could take 4 or more coats to be effective. I once had a mouthpiece that was so loose that it took 6 coats.
It is a good idea to regularly grease the cork. Once, I went a long time without adding cork grease, and when I removed the mouthpiece, a small plastic ring (of dried topcoat) came out of the bore, and I had to re-coat it.
It sounds a bit strange, but it sure beat constantly adding and removing teflon tape. Here is a link showing the product: https://www.amazon.com/Sally-Hansen...as+nails+top+coat&qid=1581465842&sr=8-11&th=1

One other thing I did on my last re-cork, was to use some synthetic cork. It seems to recover its shape better than real cork, and that also helped.

 

[Dr G]

OP - The universe is talking to you. It is trying to tell you to pick one mouthpiece, and commit to it.

 

[B Flat]

What does the universe know?

 

[saxoclese]

I have had good success installing Valentino Synthetic Neck Corks for my customers who play on mouthpieces with different size shanks. They compress for the smaller mouthpiece, but expand to their original thickness for the larger one. JL Smith has a video on his website showing how to install them. They are a bit pricey, but they last a long time when properly installed.

 

[1saxman]

Don't do anything to either of the mouthpieces. You will have to decide which one you want to use. If you pick the one with the large bore, you will have to have the cork replaced to fit it. There is no standard shank bore size. What you are experiencing is very common among sax players.

 

[JayeLID]

OP - The universe is talking to you. It is trying to tell you to pick one mouthpiece, and commit to it.

Or buy a second neck.....

 

[1saxman]

Its not good economy to buy another neck to just try a mouthpiece but if you want to be able to play them both, that's what you have to do. Fortunately, if I understand correctly that you have a Yanagisawa, you can get a neck that fits on ebay. They're cheap and they play okay.

 

[mijderf]

I have had good success installing Valentino Synthetic Neck Corks for my customers who play on mouthpieces with different size shanks.

That is the synthetic cork that I used. It does help, but there are some bores on mouthpieces that will need more than this cork.

 

[turf3]

Stay with the teflon tape (or you can use an old receipt, really any piece of paper) till you decide if you're going to keep the new piece. If you do, then ream the bore of the one that's small.

 

[saxoclese]

That is the synthetic cork that I used. It does help, but there are some bores on mouthpieces that will need more than this cork.

In cases like that I will sometimes glue a 1/32" cork on the neck first and then wrap the new cork on top of that. In reading the O.P.'s initial thread again, the best solution might be to replace the cheap metal mouthpiece with a better one with a more common shank size.

 

[Reet McVouty]

OP - The universe is talking to you. It is trying to tell you to pick one mouthpiece, and commit to it.

+1 on this.

Why do want to continue playing on the stock mouthpiece? At some point you need to own your sound. Perhaps you're not there yet but toggling back and forth isn't going to get you there. Play one MP until you decide it's not right and move on, or if you're lucky it's a keeper.

 

[nvilletele]

They often will shrink in the dryer, if they hadn’t been pre-shrunk.

But be careful not to leave it in too long, as it may shrink too much, and will only thereafter be good for soprano.

 

[Mbarisax]

+1 on this.

Why do want to continue playing on the stock mouthpiece? At some point you need to own your sound. Perhaps you're not there yet but toggling back and forth isn't going to get you there. Play one MP until you decide it's not right and move on, or if you're lucky it's a keeper.

They are very different from one another.
The stock mpc (Yanagisawa 5) is excellent for playing in a concert band and for classic type of music, it has a beautifull warm tone.
When reading mpc reviews, I read that Yanagisawa makes good mpcs
I like it a lot, and it is my main mpc.

The other one is much more powerful for funk and rock type of music, when I want to go all out.
I also immediately managed to get some altissimo out of it, something I was never able to do on the other one.
Using this one for classic, would be like cursing in the church though.

I found a solution for the wide bore, not sure how long it will last, but for now it works.
Using a few layers of painters paper tape, like you use to tape off parts you don't want to paint,
on the inside of the mpc does the trick for now.
If later on, I decide this mpc will become my main mpc, I can easily take out the tape, and recork the neck of the horn.

 

[10mfan]

If you like the Yani mouthpiece, but you need something to make the bigger bore on the metal piece fit better, the Teflon tape or small pieces of paper over the cork will do the job. Settling on one piece would be a good idea because of the difference in bore size.
If you settle on the metal piece, another thing you can do if you don’t want to have your cork replaced at that point, is to use waxed dental floss and wrap it over the cork. The waxed version will melt itself onto the cork nicely once compressed.

If you like both pieces I would just recommend using the Teflon tape or paper so that you can take it off for when you use the Yani piece.

 

[MojoBari]

 

[SaxBass55]

Far less elegant and durable than what I just watched Mojo accomplish, I took one of the spare rubber earbud tips that came with my cell phone headset, inverted the outer ring to allow me to clip the inner part off creating a ring of rubber, and slipped it on the cork. The photo shows my second larger rubber earbud tip, ready to clip off the narrower inner part (the half closer to the cork). The black ring on the cork shows the other one in place. Reusable and removable.
The two smaller earbud tips illustrate that my earbud manufacturer provided options for use with a sopranino as well!

 

[Mbarisax]

Looks good.
The only thing I am a bit worried about, is your epoxy food grade, as we don't want to end up getting a cancer a few years later.

 

[MojoBari]

Epoxies become inert when thoroughly mixed and cured. I doubt your mouthpiece, Reed, bite patch, neck cork are all food grade. But they are safe.