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584 Posts
I am totally new to the Baritone. I can boast knowledge of a total of three different mouthpieces.
I was (really) lucky enough to pick up a vintage Couesnon (pre 1937) for not alot of money (1,000 euros - well I thought it was a bargain!...) and plays without any further attention needed ( took it to Steve Howard who had a play and handed it back to me - no hurry for anything).
You know when you really want chocolate? You put it of, have other things, don't get satisfied and then - well you have the chocolate anyway in the end. Well this is how I have approached mouthpieces in the past.
Rather than ending up with loads of mouthpieces that are cheap, work but don't do it for me, then getting one that I should have got in the first place - I decided to try and research what the chocolate was in one hit.
SOTW to the rescue.
Read lots, took lots with a pinch of salt, but one thing kept emerging as a mouthpiece for an old bari - the Erik Greiffenhagen modified B75 from junkdude. I kept telling myself it is not expensive if it is the only one I buy (I didn't tell my wife anything...)
So it arrived. It chirped (OK, I chirped), the top end was very thin for me, the bottom was big but not subtle. Subtone impossible. I tried the old cousnon mouthpiece that came with the bari - it was better. I thought it was going to take some time and practice before I was going to get even close to a sound I liked.
I looked at the mouthpiece and there were no signs of modification. I emailed junkdude who was very apologetic when he told me that they had sent the wrong mouthpiece, and mine was Vandoren stock.
I got the real one today.
Words fail me. It is even all through the range, I have a subtone, the sound is fat and complex. It is in tune.
The point of this hopelessly long post is really to say I have had an opportunity to play a stock B75 and a modified B75. The difference is vast.
There is alot of advice that says get some practice in before you invest in anything expensive. Fair enough - but there is nothing more encouraging and motivating than to play a good mouthpiece, getting a good sound right from the start. If you pick up a badly set up sax and a poor mouthpiece - chances are you will give up.
I read somewhere that the mouthpiece is the instrument, and the sax is just the amplifier. I think I believe that now!
I was (really) lucky enough to pick up a vintage Couesnon (pre 1937) for not alot of money (1,000 euros - well I thought it was a bargain!...) and plays without any further attention needed ( took it to Steve Howard who had a play and handed it back to me - no hurry for anything).
You know when you really want chocolate? You put it of, have other things, don't get satisfied and then - well you have the chocolate anyway in the end. Well this is how I have approached mouthpieces in the past.
Rather than ending up with loads of mouthpieces that are cheap, work but don't do it for me, then getting one that I should have got in the first place - I decided to try and research what the chocolate was in one hit.
SOTW to the rescue.
Read lots, took lots with a pinch of salt, but one thing kept emerging as a mouthpiece for an old bari - the Erik Greiffenhagen modified B75 from junkdude. I kept telling myself it is not expensive if it is the only one I buy (I didn't tell my wife anything...)
So it arrived. It chirped (OK, I chirped), the top end was very thin for me, the bottom was big but not subtle. Subtone impossible. I tried the old cousnon mouthpiece that came with the bari - it was better. I thought it was going to take some time and practice before I was going to get even close to a sound I liked.
I looked at the mouthpiece and there were no signs of modification. I emailed junkdude who was very apologetic when he told me that they had sent the wrong mouthpiece, and mine was Vandoren stock.
I got the real one today.
Words fail me. It is even all through the range, I have a subtone, the sound is fat and complex. It is in tune.
The point of this hopelessly long post is really to say I have had an opportunity to play a stock B75 and a modified B75. The difference is vast.
There is alot of advice that says get some practice in before you invest in anything expensive. Fair enough - but there is nothing more encouraging and motivating than to play a good mouthpiece, getting a good sound right from the start. If you pick up a badly set up sax and a poor mouthpiece - chances are you will give up.
I read somewhere that the mouthpiece is the instrument, and the sax is just the amplifier. I think I believe that now!
