[dirty]

I know a lot of us have enjoyed the superlative work of Ron Coelho (RIP) over the last many years. Reading through the wonderful anecdotes in the 'In Memory of.." thread, I thought it might be fun to share photos of some of the RPC mouthpieces that we own. In the years that I've seen RPC mouthpieces on SOTW, one constant has been that Ron was always trying new things and learning new ways to bring out different qualities in his mouthpieces, resulting in a huge number of variations, customizations and versions.

My own relationship with Ron's work started relatively recently, in 2016, after hearing so much about his mouthpieces for years on here, when I bought a bari mouthpiece from him. Over the next few years, I ended up buying two tenor mouthpieces and another bari mouthpiece, all of which are great and all of which are completely different from one another.

I'll make a little post for each, since there are photo upload limits per post, but here's my collection:

But yeah, let's see your RPCs!

I'm especially excited to see Ron's work over time. You could always tell by talking to him what an active mind he had and how excited he was about the continuous development of his craft.

Also: this is a thread for sharing photos of and probably stories about mouthpieces, purely for purposes of fun and education.

It is NOT for selling mouthpieces or telling you what your RPC is worth. Any attempts to buy/sell should be reported to mods.

If you have to ask what your RPC is worth, it's worth nothing and I'll happily take it off your hands for the price of shipping, reimbursed upon receipt of the mouthpiece.

 

[dirty]

This is a 120B bari mouthpiece I bought from Ron in 2016. This is the only one of Ron's mouthpieces that I have that's made from a Babbitt blank.

The baffle is quite high and long and you can see Ron's extensive epoxy work. I told him I wanted to peel paint and he delivered in a way I didn't think was possible!

 

[dirty]

This is the second mouthpiece I bought from Ron, also in 2016. It's a tenor 120B and it caught me off-guard when I got it because it wasn't like the RPCs I'd seen other people using. Ron later told me that he machined this one from rod rubber, so it was different from the Babbitt-blank mouthpieces he'd been making. I seem to remember Ron telling me that this particular design was one he didn't stick with, but I'm not sure about that.

This one has a slim body and uses an alto ligature. The baffle is pretty high and long and the chamber has a clearly-defined section that is a bit smaller than the bore, giving this mouthpiece a small chamber, I think. I'm not sure if the photos show that. Does anyone else have one like this?

This one is very focused and punchy, with some edge, but a lot of sweetness. I was playing in a cover band doing 70's and 80's music when I got this one and it was perfect. It's loud enough that I need to be careful playing it in small rooms or my ears will ring.

Sorry the interior of the mouthpiece is a little wet in these photos. I washed this one out and couldn't quite get that area inside the chamber dry.

 

[dirty]

In 2018, I reached out to Ron because I was enjoying the 120B tenor mouthpiece, but I wanted something a bit fatter and with a bit more grit in the sound. Ron recommended a 115B, since it would be darker, according to him. In talking to him, I feel like his different tip openings were really different models to him.

At .120", this is one of the bigger .115" tip openings I've played :bluewink:

The baffle on this one is a little shorter and lower than on the 120B that I have, and the body is a lot fatter, more or less a "normal" HR tenor diameter. This one has a squeeze throat into I think a medium chamber, though I admit I'm a little confused what we consider the chamber in this case.

I love this mouthpiece. I've gigged on it and taken it to all kinds of jam sessions and rehearsals, done some recording and had a great time with it. It has a thick sound, with a healthy edge on top that really helps it carry without needing to be harsh. It's pretty effortlessly loud and has an interesting quality where I can push it and push it and the tone just doesn't seem to fall apart no matter how loud I play. This is one of two tenor mouthpieces I really reach for at any given time.

 

[dirty]

Later in 2018, I decided that my 120B bari mouthpiece was a bit too much of a paint peeler for civilized company. I had been talking to Ron about another bari mouthpiece since I had ordered the last tenor mouthpiece and he promised me that he was getting his process dialed in for the bari 'pieces machined from bar stock and that I should order one a bit later in the year once he got everything perfected.

Once he let me know that the bari process was nailed down, I ordered another 120B but asked Ron if he could make me something a bit more versatile than the last one. Something I could use for the same rock and pop stuff I'd been playing, but that wouldn't get me kicked out of a hypothetical big band rehearsal. I still wanted a lot of edge, but I needed a bit more of a fat sound.

I was pretty surprised to see the Ultem mouthpiece in the box when it arrived, since that wasn't on his site at the time that I ordered it. I was also a little surprised that it was a 110B. I was actually wondering if Ron had sent me the wrong mouthpiece. But no, it was what he thought would work best for me. And damn if he wasn't right.

One of my favorite things about this mouthpiece is that Ron didn't actually make me the mouthpiece that I put on the order form, he just went based on our conversation (the usual 2-hour, freewheeling affair that involved child prodigies, The Voice, Fred Lamberson, German-made Bundy Baris, "perfect" resistance, etc) and made me my favorite mouthpiece I own. It's really perfect. Even though it's not what I asked for. It's what I needed.

It's fat, it has a ton of edge that really makes the tone burn in a way that I just can't get enough of. It feels so expressive and powerful, but controllable. It's exactly what I like in a bari mouthpiece. I'm so, so glad that I placed this order. I hope the Ultem makes the mouthpiece last forever and I expect to make many more happy memories with this mouthpiece. I've been more focused on my clarinets lately and haven't had much opportunity to play bari in the last few months. Pulling that horn out and putting on this mouthpiece today, I remembered immediately how this mouthpiece helps get me into a place where I can just play the way I want to play. It feels so natural and so comfortable.

Oh, and I had this one measured and it's got a .118" tip opening and probably the most symmetrical facing of all of my RPCs. Not symmetrical, mind you, but less extreme than my 115B tenor mouthpiece (which is quite deliberately asymmetrical). I love the feeling that Ron just tweaked the mouthpieces until they played the way he wanted and didn't worry too much about how they measured.

It's hard describing Ron entirely in the past tense. I didn't know him as well or as long as many people here, but I really loved talking to him and seeing where the conversation would go. It was always an adventure.

I know that Ron's brilliance and eccentricity will live on every time we use his unique and remarkable mouthpieces to bring music into the world. I wish I'd just ordered that Ultem tenor mouthpiece last year when I thought of it, but I know that I don't really need it. I'm very fortunate to have these great examples of Ron's work that I can play on whenever I want. Thanks for that, Ron.

 

[10mfan]

Very nice thread, bro.
Well done.

 

[Grumps]

Yeah, great thread. I'd show pictures of mine, but I'd have to clean them first. So maybe I'll just post pictures of the spares.

But a couple things:

First, in regard to the ultem high baffle mouthpieces. Was Ron able to have the blanks made in a way so he didn't have to add an epoxy baffle?

Second, how many of you with high baffled tenor mouthpieces made at least fifteen years ago have had the tip openings measured? The ones I had were .09" more open than marked. A 120 was actually .129" and a 125 was actually .134". I once talked to Ron about this and he admitted that he would mark certain mouthpieces less open so as not to scare a customer away from it. I always felt Ron's forte was making easy blowing, wide open tipped mouthpieces.

 

[lostcircuits]

Yeah, great thread. I'd show pictures of mine, but I'd have to clean them first. So maybe I'll just post pictures of the spares.

But a couple things:

First, in regard to the ultem high baffle mouthpieces. Was Ron able to have the blanks made in a way so he didn't have to add an epoxy baffle?

Yes! I should elaborate, Ron made the blanks from cylindrical Ultem stock himself

 

[dirty]

Yeah, great thread. I'd show pictures of mine, but I'd have to clean them first. So maybe I'll just post pictures of the spares.

But a couple things:

First, in regard to the ultem high baffle mouthpieces. Was Ron able to have the blanks made in a way so he didn't have to add an epoxy baffle?

Second, how many of you with high baffled tenor mouthpieces made at least fifteen years ago have had the tip openings measured? The ones I had were .09" more open than marked. A 120 was actually .129" and a 125 was actually .134". I once talked to Ron about this and he admitted that he would mark certain mouthpieces less open so as not to scare a customer away from it. I always felt Ron's forte was making easy blowing, wide open tipped mouthpieces.

All of the mouthpieces I have aside from the first bari 120B were machined entirely from solid bars of rubber/Ultem in his workshop, according to Ron. In person, it's quite clear on the first mouthpiece that Ron built the baffle out of epoxy, but none of the others have any epoxy in them. Not sure that that's as visible in the photos.

I'm not sure when he stopped using Babbitt blanks entirely, but he was selling mouthpieces machined from bar stock as early as 2016, when I bought that first tenor mouthpiece. From what he told me, he started with tenor mouthpieces and then figured out the bari mouthpieces. Both of the mouthpieces I got in 2018 (one HR and one Ultem) had a similar design, with a squeeze throat that would have been difficult/impossible to do with epoxy. By the time I talked to him in 2018, he was pretty happy to have moved away from Babbitt blanks for the high baffle tenor mouthpieces.

All of my RPCs are bigger than the nominal tip opening, as much as .008". Mine are all newer though.

 

[10mfan]

He did beautiful work with the epoxy for a long time, but machining the pieces will make it so that you don’t need to do that.
You just make sure the files are correct so the tool paths are correct for your designs, and the machine does the work. Hand finish when done.

Ron’s tip openings were definitely all over the place.
It also makes the pieces in the secondary market difficult to buy with any assurance that the tip opening on the piece is what it is supposed to be based on what it is marked.

I understand his thought process because the high baffle pieces can play so easily at much bigger tips than people may be used to playing, but it does cause an issue if you don’t really know what you have, and all of that.

 

[Frankmsax]

Very cool thread , thanks for sharing your pics and info. I have a few of Rons' tenor pieces and they all play great, but all are different. He was a master at doing baffles in accordance to what type of sound you told him you were looking for. My two favorite pieces are a 110b (Babbitt blank) , which I told him I wanted projection but a little darker of a sound. I also have a 120b (Babbitt blank) that I have been using lately to cut through the guitar guys and still maintain a fatter tone (I played some metal lazer trim guardalas for a while some years ago and the RPC blows them away. As was said, you can push it to the max and it never chirps or breaks up in sound. The 120b (at first I was leary of getting such a big tip) but it blows very free and easy because of the baffle/chamber.
I also love the beak on RPC pieces (duckbill) Very comfortable for me on a 4 hr gig.

 

[44663]

This is great. I'll post pictures of what I've got.

Soprano;
RPC 80(B)

Alto (left to right);
RPC 85B Gold
RPC 80B
RPC 90N
RPC 90

Tenor
RPC 115B Gold
RPC 105LC ("large chamber" - Link style)

Bari
RPC 115
RPC 110B
RPC 115B Gold
RPC 125B Gold (medium baffle)

They all have their unique personalities and preferences, but I have my favorites...

 

[MojoBari]

I think his strangest piece was the .150” tip tenor mouthpiece faced to play bari sax reeds. I owned one for a while, and it was playable with soft reeds, but was a one trick pony IMO. I could only comfortably sound foofy like Plas Johnson on it. I have photos buried somewhere.

 

[Grumps]

I think his strangest piece was the .150" tip tenor mouthpiece faced to play bari sax reeds. I owned one for a while...

One of those got passed around like clockwork approximately every six months for a few years on the board here. I believe Hakukani ended up with it; and kept it.

Here's a shot taken a while back of an old red letter blank on the left compared to the later blue letter high baffled tenor model. The red letter was marked 120 and measured .129", while the blue letter is a 125 that measures .134".

 

[vbluesman]

I think his strangest piece was the .150" tip tenor mouthpiece faced to play bari sax reeds. I owned one for a while, and it was playable with soft reeds, but was a one trick pony IMO. I could only comfortably sound foofy like Plas Johnson on it. I have photos buried somewhere.

I was working at The Saxophone Shop in Chicagoland when Ron told me about his Plas Johnson influenced tenor sax mpc. When was that, the late 90's? I was doing the purchasing for the store but I decided to take a pass on the model. This was during the swing/jump blues craze, Ron's pieces were quite in demand with the Daddio crowd, we sold them as quick as he sent them to us. We even had a brochure that Ron had made up.

 

[Graysax]

I have 2 Alto RPC's. one Red letter .095 that I bought from Ron new. The other is a Black letter, .085 that I bought from Jerry Dodgion. The Red letter for the past 20 some years has been my main alto piece, except for classical stuff when I need to do that.

I had Eric Griffenhagen clean up the facing (flatten table and such) and return it back to a true .095. I've had the Sop's, Tenors, and Bari's in hand, but as well as they sounded for others, they never really did "it" for me like these alto's did, as I also felt that with the newer blue letters. I have my MPC and I have a Backup (although it is .010 smaller). Ron will certainly be missed.

 

[Graysax]

I should also add that for a short period of time I had a Bass MPC of his. Truly a rare piece!

 

[Graysax]

Again, as I never realized until just now, I bought the red letter right around the same time as the Black letter is stamped. So I think it can be safe to assume that the Red coloring started around then. Also the early ones did not have a designation as to which baffle was in it.

 

[Frankmsax]

I have 2 Alto RPC's. one Red letter .095 that I bought from Ron new. The other is a Black letter, .085 that I bought from Jerry Dodgion. The Red letter for the past 20 some years has been my main alto piece, except for classical stuff when I need to do that.

I had Eric Griffenhagen clean up the facing (flatten table and such) and return it back to a true .095. I've had the Sop's, Tenors, and Bari's in hand, but as well as they sounded for others, they never really did "it" for me like these alto's did, as I also felt that with the newer blue letters. I have my MPC and I have a Backup (although it is .010 smaller). Ron will certainly be missed.

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Interesting pics, thanks for sharing. The red letter piece definitely appears to be a different blank or shape, with a steeper beak profile. Just curious, why did you have to have it touched up? Did it get worn from extensive playing? If I was still playing alto, I would probably prefer the piece with the less steep beak, but that is just me

 

[Grumps]

I've had the Sop's, Tenors, and Bari's in hand, but as well as they sounded for others, they never really did "it" for me like these alto's did, as I also felt that with the newer blue letters.

Ron was never happy with his earlier soprano mouthpieces. That's why it surprised me when he started making them again fairly recently. Me being happy with my Super Sessions, I was never inclined to try one.

I was lucky though, getting a high baffled tenor mouthpiece as my first RPC. I've tried other RPC tenor mouthpieces though, that just didn't cut it for me. I had a really nice pre-red letter, old blank 110 tenor rollover that was magical. But when I picked up more open tipped rollovers, I re-traded them. They just weren't good for me. So if those pieces had been my first attempt with RPC, I probably wouldn't have tried others. No, it wasn't until I ordered my first custom RPC tenor mouthpiece that I realized what Ron could do. I told Ron what I didn't like about the 115 and 120 and he made me a true 125 rollover, with a bigger chamber for the 10M I had at the time. What he sent was such a perfect match that I immediately had him make another. Sold that horn though, and then those mouthpieces because I preferred Ron's high baffle on my King tenor.