[olds1959special]

Does it matter? Will these things adversely affect a mouthpieces sound, feel and playability?

 

[Hassles]

The Symmetry of the side rails is of paramount importance or you'll be waging war with both the piece and or your reeds. If the side rails are not Symmetrical the reeds behaviour will be erratic and inconsistent and just forget about altissimo.

 

[valjeanmeister]

I assume you mean symmetrical with respect to the facing curve on each, not thickness.

 

[Saxophone Strange]

It’s actually a bit of both. Hard to center a reed with differing side rails.

 

[olds1959special]

I'm sure if the side rails are uneven in terms of facing curve that would be bad. But I'm just talking about the thickness of the rails. Sometimes you see a mouthpiece that has thicker rails compared to others, and sometimes one side is thicker than the other. Will that affect the performance of the mouthpiece?

 

[Hassles]

As long as the facing curve is even on each side your OK. The differences of thickness / width of the side rails, while not common, is far from rare. You just gotta' be cautious to ensure your reed is placed properly.

 

[MojoBari]

An off center window is not a big deal. They sure do look ugly though. They make you wonder about the care taken in other aspect of the mouthpiece you can not see by eye. Like the shape of the facing curve.

 

[Dr G]

Does it matter? Will these things adversely affect a mouthpieces sound, feel and playability?

What mouthpiece is it? Pictures often help guide a discussion. How does it play?

 

[olds1959special]

What mouthpiece is it? Pictures often help guide a discussion. How does it play?

It's a Brilhart Tonalin with no serial.