[danrosesax]

Hi I have been looking into getting a meyer mouthpiece here and i want to know what the best possible quality one is to buy. I want to have that Phil Woods, nice round tone (which I know meyers are capable of) but I just don't want to end up buying some crap quality mouthpiece. I've heard bad things about the richie cole mouthpiece and also that about 1 out of every 100 regular meyers are good nowadays. What would you suggest is the best possible way to go?

 

[hakukani]

There may be other opinions, but I think you can get the meyer sound with one of Phil Barone's NY hard rubber models, or one of the Morgans.

 

[Adderleysfasthands]

i would suggest a grained berg larson mouthpiece, with a round chamber, go to www.saxophones.co.uk and go to mouthpieces then alto mouthpieces to find it, i have one and with a la voz medium reed it can completely fill the room its great! and really rounded

 

[retread]

Saxquest sells Meyer alto pieces selected and perfected by Doc Tenney. I've very happy with mine, best alto piece I've tried, but I don't sound like Phil Woods. Maybe I need more than the right mouthpiece?

 

[Rackety Sax]

DRS, welcome to the forum.

This topic has been discussed quite extensively here. You may want to familiarize yourself with the search function. You can turn up a lot of great information on this and many other topics that will interest you as well.

For my two cents, the stock Yanagisawa mouthpieces that are often available in as new condition for 60 bucks or so on eBay are really nice mouthpieces and a terrific bargain. The tip openings are sized like modern Meyers. I think they are more flexible than a Meyer, especially at the loud end - you can really get some volume out of them if you blow.

The Berg suggestion doesn't make sense to me - I think of them as almost the opposite of a Meyer. Not to say they can't be fine mouthpieces though.

 

[AG]

the Meyer Phil Woods plays on (or one like it) would cost a $1000 or more.....they're the old Meyer Bro.'s pieces, and you'd think they're made from solid gold; even the early Meyer NY USA pieces (model that came right after) aint cheap. I have one of those (earliest version w/rounder chamber) in a 7 med that I truly love, and it cost me $400 which is probably less than they go for now. the Meyer NY Ltd might not be a bad alternative, but even those fetch $400 & up now on ebay. it's just ridiculous what mouthpieces, especially vintage ones cost now.

anyway, even if you bought one only Phil Woods is gonna sound like Phil Woods. there are no chops in a box. different pieces work differently for each person. I'd get a good piece that worked for me & just do a lot of playing/practicing.

 

[gary]

Amazing how often follks don't read the original question.

BTAIM, that Phil Woods sound you are looking for came from a size 5 Meyer, which in the day Phil and others were playing Meyer 5's is equivalent to today's size 6.

I heard Larry Monroe last week (not a household word but excellent player and Berklee Administrator) and off-hand asked him about his mpc and he said it was a stock Meyer. Not refaced, nothing fancy, just a stock mpc. Also not everyone subscribes to the opinion that current-production Meyers are wildly inconsistant. So...

My advice is to get about four or five stock Meyer 6M's, try them out, and pick the best of the bunch.

 

[Martinman]

I heard Larry Monroe last week (not a household word but excellent player and Berklee Administrator) and off-hand asked him about his mpc and he said it was a stock Meyer. Not refaced, nothing fancy, just a stock mpc. Also not everyone subscribes to the opinion that current-production Meyers are wildly inconsistant. So...

I am borrowing a stock modern Meyer 5m from a friend, and it is a killer. No modifications needed there...

 

[DJ Mix]

The small chamber Meyers are nice, too. The small chamber gives a little more projection. I have a 6M small chamber and it really screams and has a nice "bite" to the sound.

A friend of mine has a New York Meyer 6m Medium chamber and it played like a million bucks when I tried it. THAT is the best Meyer to buy.
You got about a grand?

 

[nitrosax]

Just about EVERY mouthpiece maker today has some version of a Meyer and or Link mouthpiece. ]

Barone, Ponzol, Jody Jazz, SR Tech, Pillinger, Bari, Beechler(a bit different), Springer, Vandoren, Morgan, Lamberson, etc...

It all depends on your budget and your level of interest in quality. To an extent you GET what you pay for. But I too have played killer stock Meyers and HEARD players who play on stock Meyers that sound KILLER...
If you`re on a budget go somewhere that has stock adn play about 20 stock Meyers and narrow them down to a good one...(By the way, Phil Woods mouthpiece is not a current 6M--its more like a 7M(.80) with a tad smaller chamber...Its not quite a small and not a medium chamber--that is one of the differences in the old vs new Meyers..

G`luck

 

[gary]

(By the way, Phil Woods mouthpiece is not a current 6M--its more like a 7M(.80) with a tad smaller chamber...Its not quite a small and not a medium chamber--that is one of the differences in the old vs new Meyers..

Thanks for adding that, Nitro. My main point was to look for a size larger in modern Meyers than what your 1950s idols played but I'm glad you completed the picture. Morgan had an interesting article that might be found somewhere on the internet now entitled something like "A Meyer is not a Meyer.." where he shows the differences in chambre sizes etc over the years.

 

[patseguin]

I would not buy any modern Meyer. Buy a Morgan Jazz 6M.

 

[MM]

How different is a small chamber Meyer to a medium? They are few and far between. Is it more like a medium chamber Beechler?

 

[nitrosax]

I think the Beechler small chamber diamond pieces are a lot closer to a meyer bros.or new york meyer M piece than the current stock meyer M pieces. In general the medium chambers of beechler and meyer are BIGGER than the older meyer chambers that is why so many people buy current 5Ms and 6Ms and work so damn hard and dont know why they cant get the phil woods sound^^ They think that a Meyer 5 is a meyer 5 is a meyer 5 but in reality phils is like a current small chamber meyer 7 or maybe even 8 ...
I like a small chamber alto piece forbebop....
Cheers

ditto on the morgan pieces as well...

but a lamberson will crush a morgan...if you can find one!

 

[MM]

It's hard to believe...the Beechler small chamber mouthpieces have such VERY small chambers that the NY Meyer mpcs would be similar. The closest I have seen personally is a couple of early Babbit Meyers which were different from today's blanks with a bit more squeeze and rollover baffle (and played better) but not at all like a Beechler small chamber. Anyone else care to comment?

Medium chamber Beechlers Diamond Inlays definitely have smaller chambers than medium chamber Meyers and give a more aggressive sound. Unfortunately their facing quality may not alway be good.

 

[gary]

Here you go folks: "a meyer is a meyer is a meyer" by Ralph Morgan
This might clear up some of the questions and/or misunderstandings: http://www.dornpub.com/SaxjPDF/meyer.pdf

 

[super20dan]

no way a beechler small chamber and the old ny meyer have even close to the same chamber size. i used to have a nymeyer and have a small beechler now. the m beechler is closer playing to a ny meyer

 

[Tin Man]

For my two cents, the stock Yanagisawa mouthpieces that are often available in as new condition for 60 bucks or so on eBay are really nice mouthpieces and a terrific bargain. The tip openings are sized like modern Meyers. I think they are more flexible than a Meyer, especially at the loud end - you can really get some volume out of them if you blow.

Are the yanagisawa stock mouthpieces like the vito or vito 2 mouthpieces? because i have a vito mouthpiece i got and it is my current mouthpiece with a nice medium/large chamber with a low baffle.Really good sound out of it.

 

[HOUSTON NONET]

The Pillinger 6M alto mouthpiece is finest alto MPC I have played in the last 42 years. So great that I sold my NY Meyer 7M I bought at Penders Music in Denton Texas in 1969 to the great NY based multi-woodwind artist Marty Erlich who used it recently in Paris performing the Theme from the movie Taxi Driver with the Symphony. The Pillinger 6m has everything a NY Meyer has and more.

 

[jamiejazz]

Houston Nonet, that's interesting what you said about the Pillinger. I've had the resin (HR) one for a few years and can never decide on it. The tuning is great and I always get a great honeymoon period on it; but after a while I hear it as a bit empty. I often play with an excellent 1920's band and that's the gig that puts me off the Pillinger. I don't find that I can focus the sound enough for heavy duty stoccato (this band features slap-tounging etc) as the note spreads too much to really articulate accurately (classical studies, Klose et al are absolutely knackering to play on it).

I was with a friend last night who had Ed make a mould of Stan Sulzmann's Tenor Link. He loved it for a while but after a few weeks found the same thing.

Ed is a really nice chap and the standard is so high that I've always wanted that mouthpiece to work for me. He's going to reface a 1980's Meyer 6 for me soon and I'm excited about that.

Best,
Jamie