Is it possible to close a tip without otherwise altering or modifying other aspects of the mouthpiece? I have one I'd like reduced, but I want the design, baffle, etc. untouched and original. I want the same mouthpiece with a smaller tip, in other words. It is 110 now and I want it down to 100 or 105
Yes, you can close a tip opening off by lowering the table but don’t kid yourself, you’re not going to feel the difference with just a five or ten thousandths change, it’s practically nothing and it’s not going to make it brighter at all because it’s not significant enough. Back when I used to see people in my shop I’d ask them what tip opening they’d like to try. If they’d ask for a 7 I’d hand them an 8 or even an 8* and nobody EVER knew and I did it all the time in an effort to overcome myths about facings. The difference between reeds is a much greater variable than five or ten or fifteen thousandths. Think you can tell? Well you can’t. If you have two mouthpieces with different tips and juggle them back and forth, you’re experiencing back pressure from the chambers, even between two mouthpieces of the same model unless you’re talking about the difference between a 5* and a 9.
Players obsess way too much on tip openings and facings when in fact the chamber is a much bigger contributor to how a mouthpiece feels. Furthermore, unless it’s a CNC machined piece or carefully hand-made, there’s tremendous differences between mouthpieces even of the same type so you’re actually experiencing the different internal dimensions, not the tip opening and it’s largely psychological too. LARGELY psychological.
The system by which sax mouthpiece makers came about was handed down from clarinet mouthpiece makers where you actually can feel a slight change in tip opening. You can feel five thousands on a clarinet or soprano but no way on tenor or bari because the reed is much longer thus there’s more leverage thus it’s easier to play. My opinion, take it or leave it. I’ve been around a while. Phil Barone