Garrett plays on a custom Fred Rast soloist, and it's a long shank he uses now. It is opened up to a .096" and is fixed up to play best with hemke 3 reeds. Yes, Kenny uses Hemke 3 reeds on a .096" tip. and sometimes he even has to clip new reeds to get them the way he wants. I have had a couple of these mouthpieces, but they were too much work for me so I sold them on ebay. Fred Rast sells these modified soloist for $250. check out his website: www.rastmusic.com
In looking at Rast's desription of those modified Soloists it really sounds like there's not a lot left of the original design internally. They don't sound like that stock, that's for sure.
I have a Short Shank Soloist E that has a really interesting sound and resonance that I like, however it sounds so small for kind of work that I do. If I could get the same sound but much bigger, I’d be a lot happier with the mpc.
I saw Kenny Garrett a few years ago and he get quite a big sound out of his, has anyone had a soloist opened up by this guy Fred Rast? 96" sounds like it may do the trick.
Fwiw I asked a mpc tech in London to open up my Soloist and he was like: shock: no way!!! He told me I may lose the core sound if I opened up this mpc). I have been using an early 70s metal link 7* for many years and maybe just the change is difficult for me. I would have to say the Soloist has a little more sweetness/roundness to the sound.
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