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I've been playing professionally for almost 30 years and have changed mouthpieces rarely.
On tenor in High School and College I used a rubber Berg 90 , it worked great for classical and jazz then I switched to an Otto Link 6 and for the last 10 years I've used a V16.
On alto I used a Meyer then went for the Sanborn sound with a Dukoff 8 .
So to the point ;
In the past and recently I've wasted a lot of time comparing mouthpieces using cane reeds . To get an honest representation of a MP you needed a reed that you knew is good and the only way to find out is to use it on your current MP . I may sound crazy but reeds don't like being bounced around a bunch of different MP's . There is a good article by Lenny Pickett in Bruce Mishkit's book "Sax/flute Lessons With The Greats" on this subject . If you use a different reed on each MP you are trying you might have a stinker reed on a good piece . You end up going through hours and hours of comparison with different reeds on each MP.
The Solution is to make the investment in a good selection of synthetic reeds . I like Legere at the moment but I have some Fibracell's and Bari's also and they aren't as expensive .
Legere seems to be the choice of most of the synthetic users that I have researched on this Forum especially clarinet . The student Legere (clarinet only) is $6 .
Fibracell seems to be in second place and it feels a lot like a reed . It may be a better choice for cane players that just want to compare MPs.
I have a couple Bari's and they are very buzzy. They work great if you want to sound like a kazoo
Finally I strongly suggest you get at least 3 different strengths .
Ex; On soprano I use Hemke #3.5 . The Legere 3.5 was to hard and the 3 was on the firm side . I will be getting a 3.25 a 2.75 and a 2.5 in the future because I am still looking for a sop MP so I will be able to try out some different sizes .
---I hope this saves some of you some time in trying out new mouthpieces . Bob Rawlings
On tenor in High School and College I used a rubber Berg 90 , it worked great for classical and jazz then I switched to an Otto Link 6 and for the last 10 years I've used a V16.
On alto I used a Meyer then went for the Sanborn sound with a Dukoff 8 .
So to the point ;
In the past and recently I've wasted a lot of time comparing mouthpieces using cane reeds . To get an honest representation of a MP you needed a reed that you knew is good and the only way to find out is to use it on your current MP . I may sound crazy but reeds don't like being bounced around a bunch of different MP's . There is a good article by Lenny Pickett in Bruce Mishkit's book "Sax/flute Lessons With The Greats" on this subject . If you use a different reed on each MP you are trying you might have a stinker reed on a good piece . You end up going through hours and hours of comparison with different reeds on each MP.
The Solution is to make the investment in a good selection of synthetic reeds . I like Legere at the moment but I have some Fibracell's and Bari's also and they aren't as expensive .
Legere seems to be the choice of most of the synthetic users that I have researched on this Forum especially clarinet . The student Legere (clarinet only) is $6 .
Fibracell seems to be in second place and it feels a lot like a reed . It may be a better choice for cane players that just want to compare MPs.
I have a couple Bari's and they are very buzzy. They work great if you want to sound like a kazoo
Finally I strongly suggest you get at least 3 different strengths .
Ex; On soprano I use Hemke #3.5 . The Legere 3.5 was to hard and the 3 was on the firm side . I will be getting a 3.25 a 2.75 and a 2.5 in the future because I am still looking for a sop MP so I will be able to try out some different sizes .
---I hope this saves some of you some time in trying out new mouthpieces . Bob Rawlings
