Hi pth,pth said:I recently got an SBB tenor piece from David Zagar. We got to talking about alto pieces, and he sent me three alto pieces to try. One was a stock Vibralloy 6; the other two were pieces that he made up for me. Both are made of his wonderful Gold Bronze alloy. One is a 6 and the other is a 7. I think the 7 measures out to be .083" I am not sure about the 6. The bronze alto pieces look like they contain elements of the Vibralloy design and the SBB tenor design.
In any case, I was completely knocked out by the 7 bronze. The 7 is the most satisfying alto piece that I have ever played. It can effortlessly go from bright, loud, brilliant, and powerful to sweet, dark and quiet. The punch that is available is tremendous. It is especially synergistic with my Yani 8833 alto, which is a very powerful horn.
It is a round chamber design with little to no baffle. The workmanship is exceptional.
I won't bother to try to describe what is possible with this mouthpiece. You would have to try one yourself if you are curious. Also, I am not sure about availablity. David seemed to indicate that he was considering making these generally available. I suppose that you could email or call him about these pieces. He might make one available on a trial basis.
For me, I have finally found an alto piece that quite literally does it all for me. I feel very fortunate that David did this for me. I have never been completely satisfied with any of the numerous alto pieces that I have played - until I played the bronze 7.
You HR folks out there who think that metal doesn't work very well on alto - I can only say, think again.
Yes, the vibralloy piece I tried was this years v-series. The beak shape is fairly similar, but I found the gold bronze piece to be very natural feeling, more so than the V-series, for me. It seems slightly wider and slightly thicker than the vibralloy. Personally, it don't think it would be require much adjustment. If that is what is keeping you from checking one out, I would say, don't worry about. The biggest thing to me was the difference in the performance of these pieces. The vibralloy is very responsive, or maybe "quick" is another way to put it. The gold bronze is much the same, but to me the difference is in the fullness and richness of the sound comparatively speaking. If you like the aspect of the vibralloy the allows for a very natural production of a clear and bright sound, that is preserved in the gold bronze.Peter Stevens said:Hi pth,
Was the stock vibralloy that you tried, this year's V-series? Is the shape of the bronze alto beak similar to the vibralloy alto that you were comparing?
Just wondering because I am interested to try one of the bronzes, but i am realy comfortable with the shape of the V in my mouth.
