Right now you should be playing something like a 4c yahama. Just eork on getting sound out of your horn. There are different tip openings for later. There are small, medium and large chambers. They offer different tonal presentations. There are volumes that can be written but if you have a good starter piece stick with it. Changing gear a lot...especially early on just slows progress. Focus on music, mot gear. Plenty of time for that later. Insay all of this and I make mouthpieces for a living. The internet has done a lot for music but also a lot to music. It gets players way over involved with gear when music should be the focus. Its great for business...not so good for development of individual beginner players.

 

Right now you should be playing something like a 4c yahama. Just eork on getting sound out of your horn. There are different tip openings for later. There are volumes that can be written but if you have a good starter piece stick with it. Changing gear a lot...especially early on just slows progress. Focus on music, mot gear. Plenty of time for that later.

Hi Sigmund,

I think I have a decend mouthpiece (Alto Meyer Bros, Medium chamber, tip opening 6, and facing lenght medium), and don't necessairly want to change, just want to understand how all of this works.
Thanks for your comment!

 

That s80 will do the trick for a long time. Im hoping you have a teacher or will after covid. A good teacher is a lifetime investment. If you dont know why you want a medium chamber 6 then why? Im not trying to be a jerk...it may be perfect for you...maybe not. This is where a teacher could really help.

 

Check out the Theo Wanne web page under mpc informstion...he used to call it the mpc university...cant recall exactly but it talks all about mouthpieceparts and such. There is just too much to write in a post...his page just touches the surfsce. Keep in mind a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing

 

Thanks I'll take a look at it!

 

You might want to look at his Meyer type piece. Just a little more expensive than a Meyer and likely made much better. You may want ro consider a size 5 vs 6 but you the 5 is closer to the tip size you have on your s80. Control is important...bigger is not necessary better. You might want to get a tescher before shelling out cash.

 

Which Meyer to look at???

 

Theo makes a meyer like piece called NY Brosbased on the vintage Meyer pieces. Its on sale currently.

 

How different would that be from the one I have?

 

Considerably if you have a selmer s 80
Brighter, more buzz...different animal.
No one can tell you what you will like.
And Im not suggesting that you have any reason to change.

 

No this is good advice. I presently have a Selmer MK7.

 

A s-80 is the mouthpiece....not a super action 80 horn
Anyway, you have a good setup
If you dont have a compelling reason to change then dont


its late here..signing off
Happy holidays

 

The letters or numbers are the measurement of the distance between the tip of the mouthpiece and the reed.
A Selmer S80D is a great mouthpiece for a beginner or a professional. You could probably be happy with that for a while, especially since you have a Selmer sax.
I’ve been playing a long time and I still use the S-80D that came with my soprano.
I wouldn’t worry about mouthpieces until you can play what you have now.

 

Let me go back to the original question of what all of this means.
Like whaler said, the numbers are designators for the tip opening, that is the distance of the inner tip surface of the reed to the inner surface of the tip rail. There is a certain consistency between all manufacturers but there are also deviations. A pretty complete listing of the different numbers is in this chart.

When you look at the chart, you will also see that some manufacturers are not using numerical values but letters, like in the case of Selmer.

The significance of the tip opening is that the wider the gap is, the more air will you need to push through to make the reed vibrate and get a sound out of your instrument. Also, you will need more pressure on the reed to control it so it is not necessarily a good thing to have a big opening. On the down side, an smaller tip opening will be easier to play but not give you the power (for what it's worth unless you are deaf or play in a Rock'n Roll band).

Tip openings are also deceiving, a mouthpiece with a high baffle will play much easier with a "nominally" big opening than one with a low baffle but we can revisit this topic 6 months from now.

Next is the chamber, that is the part of the mouthpiece with the biggest volume and essentially is the entire space inside the beak portion of the mouthpiece. Some are large chamber (typically a more mellow or deeper sound), some are medium (balanced - one size fits all) or small chamber. The smaller the chamber, the brighter the sound but it also introduces more of a challenge to hit the notes correctly, whereas large chamber mouthpieces are more forgiving but also harder to correct (bend up or down) if the instrument is out of tune, which is a feature of saxophones, not a problem.

Larger tip openings can be compensated for using softer reeds and vice versa and it all comes down to the specific combination of player, reed, mouthpiece, instrument and desired kind of music what will work. Change one parameter and you will have to change at least one or two of the others to find the sweet spot again.

Hope this helps!

 

Hey Paulou - you have been given some truly excellent advice above by those who's knowledge and experience is immense. One thing I would like to point is a that the Yamaha 4C and the Selmer S80 (that you have) are these two most recommended mouthpieces for beginning players so you're off on the right foot and can relax knowing your mouthpiece is just fine. Many experienced players swear by their S80s. The advice about a teacher is very important if only to ensure you don't quickly develop difficult to break bad habits. take care and enjoy your journey