[Drake Mouthpieces]

Hi Everyone,

I am launching a new line of Custom Bari mouthpieces. These mouthpieces are made from our propietary ceramic material and are not yet on our website. There are 2 models, both have large chambers with a "venturi" design. The "venturi" is a subtle hourglass shape at the end of the chamber, it helps to produce a push to the airstream and enables greater projection.
We have a rollover baffle design and a step baffle with a rounded transition.
I have attached pics of the Step Baffle design.
These mpcs will be available in the following tip openings: .105", .110" , .115", and .120" and will be priced at $299. They come in a vintage brown sandblasted finish (please see pics)
I am currently taking pre orders and I am seeking a couple of dedicated bari players to run them through the paces.

If you are interested please email me at:
[email protected]

Include:
Name
Tel
Address
SOTW user name

If you are interested in preordering, I am offering a 14 day trial with no restocking fees. The first mouthpieces will be ready in approx. 1-2 weeks.

 

[Mal 2]

The second picture gives a good idea what the baffle is like. This is one of the most difficult things to convey in a mouthpiece picture, so good job there.

What is the barrel size? Will it match the tenor and alto pieces in that respect? If so, that would put it pretty close to the diameter of a Link STM, and knowing this would make ligature selection easier.

 

[Drake Mouthpieces]

The outer body diameter is comparable to the Berg Larson HR Bari or a HR Tenor diameter. I am trying to make all of my mouthpieces (sop, alto, tenor, bari, clar.) match standardized sizing, so there will be many choices for players. Our website will soon have a variety of ligature choices available for purchase with the mouthpieces. Many thanks!

 

[Grumps]

How long are these mouthpieces?

 

[Drake Mouthpieces]

These come in a 5.5". As a comparison, it is about .25" shorter than a modern Berg.
Thanks.

 

[BobbyC]

Odd thing is I was going to send you a P.M. asking about bari sax mouthpieces and if you had any intrest in coming up with a VERY large chamber piece for older saxes.

 

[MyMartinTenor]

Ha Bobby, I sent Aaron an e-mail a few minutes ago discussing the same thing, and asking about the chamber size on these. (Aaron, Bobby and I have traded plenty of messages about mpcs for vintage baris.)

There's a real market niche here for someone to compete with Erik G in the extra-large-chamber bari mouthpiece world..... though that's stiff competition, I'd love to see Aaron or Phil or someone give it a run.

 

[Adam]

Aaron,
E-mail sent...

 

[Drake Mouthpieces]

Thanks for the emails and comments.

These current models have very large chambers.
In fact, I am actually considering offering another model, in addition to these, with a medium / large chamber.

So, its good to hear that some of you need / prefer the extra large chamber.

I will be getting back to each of your emails shortly.
Many thanks!
Aaron

 

[BobbyC]

When I say VERY large chamber I'm referring to a chamber that is larger than the exit bore of the mouthpiece.

I've tried a few vintage pieces with no luck so I have a Erik G. modified V5 on the way.

Do you have any that big?

 

[Drake Mouthpieces]

Right, I hold the same definition for Very Large chamber.
I will get the samples ready for you all to try.
Many thanks for all of the interest.

 

[keilmer]

hmmm...no reports about the tests available ?
:-(

 

[NissanVintageSax]

I have a one his Custom Bari pieces, though mine deviates from his "standard" design. I liked the sound of a Berg, but mine was sparse on overtones (I played a friend's modified Tenney Berg, and loved it , so I described it best I could to Aaron). The result of this Custom Berg-like design (mine's a .118 tip): Once I found the right reed (a Tenor BARI Soft reed), I get a very full color pallette, nice overtones, and a massive range of dynamics, from "peel paint FFF" to "sleepy eye piano". I can't comment on his original design, as I haven't played one yet. My piece is in White, and looks as good as it plays!

 

[Conrado]

Does anyone have soundclips on their bari mpcs?

 

[Merlin]

I wish I'd noticed this thread when it first came out. I could have given a bari piece a good shakedown this season at Stratford.

 

[Johnstone]

Just curious.
I've been using a Lawton 8*B for a long time. Prior to that I had a Meyer 10S and before that a Meyer 6M.
Any similarities in chamber size to any of these?
You can hear my sound on the Meyer 10 on YouTube clips with Maynard Ferguson, and on the Lawton with Woody Herman.

Bruce Johnstone

 

[lexefx]

Aaron,

On your vitage resin cross over - Sounds sweet btw - what length facing to these have stock?

I am shocked how full it is, but sweet when you back out of it!

Still waiting to see an open on for the pass around

Akex

 

[JustABariPlayer]

I have recently had the chance to try the new Drake Baritone Vintage Resin sax mouthpiece, which has been a very pleasant experience for me. It has been a long, long time since I have looked seriously at another mouthpiece, so I have paid really close attention to this one and thought others might want to read about it.

When I opened the box, I saw the Drake mouthpiece was just as advertised – shaped like traditional resin mouthpieces. Although I like really beautiful and showy mouthpieces, we all know that how it plays and sounds are the only important issues. The mouthpiece is completely black with what appears to be an aluminum ring around the end of the mouthpiece to reinforce it. If you look inside the mouthpiece, you can’t easily see where the ceramic insert is. As I looked at the mouthpiece I really noticed was how even the rails were, how flat the table had been finished, and that the tip of the mouthpiece was a great match for my reeds. This looked like a very promising start!

It's plays quite differently than my Lawton of course, but I think that is a result of trying to push the Lawton to speak better and faster on high notes in particular, often by shifting my embrouchure. The Drake mouthpiece seems to require almost no movement by comparison. I was chirping a lot at first just because of that, but the chirping happened less and less and went away as I used it over several days. The Drake seems to speak more easily and quickly over most of the range, but really shows off on the higher notes.

I started playing a lot of exercises where I had trouble with the palm key notes and above, and I quickly noticed a big improvement on my playing. The palm key and particularly the altissimo notes seem a lot fuller to the point that they sound more like an extension of the range and not a trick range. I'll grant you that bari parts rarely use notes above palm Es (my highest written note I've ever seen was an A above the pal keys), but I want to be able to use it up in the stratosphere on solos and warmups. The Drake mouthpiece made it easy to hit the notes in the altissimo range and allowed me to play passages much more quickly and more lyrically up to the the second A above the palm keys. Much better control up there!

The sound as a whole is excellent and it sounds very rich and consistent across the instrument. I know that some people have complaints about the Bb Selmer MVI, but this horn has always played well for me and I've had virtually no intonation problems with this horn. This is still the case with the Drake mouthpiece even when adjusting the tone color between the middle d and c#. The low notes are still very full and powerful. The sound is rich but still has a nice edge to it. The recording of Aaron playing this mouthpiece on his site is a good example of this.

One of the really interesting things about playing the Drake mouthpiece has been the ability to not only play loudly with a huge sound, but also to play down to a whisper. I have even been able to get some serious subtones at extremely soft volumes. All this range and I still had great intonation! When I played it with a local big band, they could hear me easily and I got rare comment from the director to play a little less loud. LOL

The best thing that I like about the mouthpiece is how much it improved my articulations. Starting and stopping low notes has always been tough for me. With this mouthpiece, the improvement is dramatic; not only can I articulate quick, precise figures, but I am double and triple tonguing fairly easily.

The only change I'd like to see about this mouthpiece is that I'd like to see that metal ring changed to that copperish color Mr. Drake’s other mouthpiece rings seem to have. I find that much nicer looking, but that is only a cosmetic change and my personal opinion.

Anyway I look at the Drake mouthpiece, I really like it and would suggest that it is a great mouthpiece for a player who wants to sound and play their best. Now all I have to do is start gathering some funds for mine!

Jim

 

[soybean]

Thanks for the thoughtful review. I must try one of these. How would you compare it to a vintage Berg hard rubber?

 

[JustABariPlayer]

I should tell you that it's been quite a while since I last played a Berg hard rubber mouthpiece, so please keep that in mind. The thing I liked most about the vintage Berg Larsen hard rubber mouthpieces was the big and powerful sound that they had. Unfortunately for me, I didn't like their long lays, which I found difficult to deal with. Also contributing to the problems I had with the Bergs was the uneven side rails and the tip of the mouthpiece that never fit any of the reeds I used. Perhaps I was just unfortunate about the Bergs I tried out, but I saw more than one of these mouthpieces where the side rails actually wandered like old rail road tracks. Maybe the mouthpieces had been really picked over before they hit the midwest, but I thought those mouthpieces with serious problems like that shouldn't be up for sale. These days, we can usually contact a manufacturer through the internet and discuss issues like that, but that was a lot harder to do back then. If I could have found a Berg mouthpiece that played for me, I would have bought it and probably still have it.

Comparing the Drake Vintage baritone sax mouthpiece to the Bergs I had tried is a night and day thing. The Drake is based on a style from that time period, but differs in so many ways. It is relatively short overall compared to those Bergs, has a much shorter lay, superb attention to detail, and is easy to control. I wasn't as proficient on the high end of my sax when I last tried a Berg, so I can't compare things in that area, as well as how much effort it took to articulate either. I can say that I really like the sound of the Drake and hope to really surprise some people who haven't heard me for a while. I've been out of playing for over a year with a broken wrist and other injuries, so this has been a good time to try the Drake mouthpiece versus my tried and true Lawton. You should really listen to Aaron Drake playing this mouthpiece to hear one. I think the old Berg tended to have less of an edge, but in modern bands it is generally much harder to be heard, so some edge is a big plus to me. By the way, I tried the .120" tip opening.