Today, I am reviewing a beautiful new ligature called the Marc Jean Saxophone Ligature II Model 700.   I reviewed the original Marc Jean ligatures a little over seven years ago. Original Marc Jean Ligature Review When I heard that Marc was coming out with a new ligature I knew I had to review one.  Marc Jean was kind enough to send me two ligatures to try for hard rubber tenor sax mouthpieces.  I have been playing with the ligatures for the last three months and feel I’m ready to write the review now.

I will warn you that this review will be a mix of facts and my subjective experiences with the Marc Jean ligatures.   I write this because some of the things I perceived while playing and using the ligature I can’t prove to my reading audience.   Never the less, I feel it is important to write about those experiences also.

Marc Jean Saxophone Ligature II Model 700

The first thing I have to address is how beautiful the new Marc Jean saxophone ligature is.  I received two gold ligatures.  One is plain with no engraving except the words “Marc Jean 700” on the base. The other ligature is ornately engraved like in the photo above.

The old Marc Jean ligature had a two screw system and the new ligature is changed to a one screw system which I absolutely love.  The screw is very smooth and easy to adjust even while playing.  I found that I preferred to screw it on slowly just to the point where the ligature would not move on the reed if I tried to move it.  The screw adjustment does allow you to screw it much tighter but I have always thought it best to have just enough force to hold the reed but not so much force that it constricts the freedom of the reed to respond while playing.

Here are some comments about the new Marc Jean II Ligatures from the Musique De Marc website:

“Our second generation of Marc Jean Ligatures have been improved in many ways. The sound enlargement generated by the very thick piece of grenadilla wood (clarinet wood) replacing the 2 wooden sticks is phenomenal. 

The amplification of natural harmonics is comparable to the use of a double reed. 

On the new Marc Jean ligature II, the piece of grenadilla wood is adding 60 % of mass to your reed multiplying the reflection of the tone and harmonics by as much. 

The new ligature model was designed to enable the reed to vibrate even more freely. As a result, there is less resistance when blowing into the instrument and less air is required to produce the sound. Low notes can be played effortlessly at a whisper and a larger, richer tone results. 

The Marc Jean ligature II generates a very dark, warm and very open sound which is more powerful than ever. You will notice an even emission in all registers, ever more free blowing and surrounded by a multitude of rich harmonics. 

Some pro players reported being able to reach 3 and 4 new higher notes when using this new ligature. 

Even beginning students notice a difference with traditional ligatures. They don’t have to force as much to play in all registers and they enjoy the fuller sound. 

The precision obtained by our new CNC router guaranties a perfect symmetry on every piece of wood. 

The screw section is now a one screw type and additional material was added to increase the vibration of the reed that was already outstanding. 

My goal was to create the best performing and most beautiful ligature and I am told that we have succeeded. The comments received are unanimously enthusiastic.”-Marc Jean Website

Marc Jean Saxophone Ligature II Model 700

The other element that has changed is that the old Marc Jean ligature had two round wooden bars that held the reed to the mouthpiece. The new ligature has a wooden block on the bottom of the ligature that holds the reed to the mouthpiece when tightened.  The block of wood has two rails on each outside edge of the block.  What I found interesting, is that these rails are no longer round but have a slightly rounded edge to the inside edge where the reed contacts the ligature.  I took the picture at the bottom of this review so you could see that very little of that wooden block actually contacts the reed except for where the two edges touch the curve of the reed.  In my mind, this allows the reed to be held into place without having too much material on the reed that might dampen the vibration and response of the reed.

The one downside to keeping the ligature “just” tight enough as I do, is that it will move if you have to adjust the mouthpiece for tuning. I did find that if I tightened the Marc Jean ligature all the way down then the ligature would not move when adjusting the mouthpiece but I like to keep it much looser that that.  I think this ligature movement is a byproduct of having only two small edges of the wooden platform touching the reed surface.   The solution is to tighten the ligature down and then move the mouthpiece or adjust the mouthpiece by grabbing it around the shank to adjust it so you aren’t touching the ligature.  (This is what I have been doing for years with my Francois Louis ligature…….)

Marc Jean Saxophone Ligature II Model 700

Now I have to admit that when I first read Marc Jean’s description of the new II ligature I was a bit skeptical. Especially when he mentions some players reporting being able to extend their altissimo range with the Marc Jean II ligature(more on that below).

When I first tried the ligature my first impression was that it made me sound brighter on the mouthpiece I tried it on. I told Marc Jean this and he thought that was interesting as he had heard from many other players that it darkened their sound.  After using the Marc Jean II ligature for a few months I think I figured out what I was hearing and perceiving about the tone when using it.

In my opinion, the Marc Jean II ligature seems to add richness and harmonics to the tone as it makes the tone more open and spread sounding.  When I first tried the MJ II ligature it was on a darker mouthpiece with a dark core to the sound.  The MJ ligature seemed to add more richness and harmonics to the sound while making the tone more spread and open so what I heard was the tone sounding a bit brighter to my ears because it was diffusing the dark core of the sound.

Later,  I tried the ligature with a mouthpiece that was brighter, the 10mFan Black Widow and I felt the opposite affect with the brighter mouthpiece.  It seemed like the Marc Jean II ligature made the Black Widow darker and smoother sounding.  I was very confused by these perceptions but after pondering them for a while I realized that what I was hearing was the MJ II ligature diffusing the brighter core of the Black Widow so it was more spread and fatter sounding.  This affect made the tone sound darker to me on that brighter mouthpiece.

Marc Jean Saxophone Ligature II Model 700

Another interesting observation about the MJ II ligature is that it makes harder reeds play easier.   I ran a test between the Marc Jean ligature, a Francois Louis Ultimate ligature and a generic metal ligature.   I performed the test four times over the last couple of months and always got the same results.   Every time I switched to the Marc Jean ligature the reed seemed like it played much easier.  Even to the point where I felt like I should move up in reed strength. When I switched to the Francois Louis or generic ligature the same reed felt harder again. Weird, right?

In each of these comparison tests, the Marc Jean ligature sounded more spread but also more interesting and full of character I think. The Francois Louis ligature sounds more focused and darker to my ears.  The generic ligature sounded ok to me but doesn’t play near as well as the other two. Especially down in the low end of the horn and when jumping around to different intervals.

Now, as far as the altissimo claims that I was skeptical about. I tested out the altissimo range in a number of tests over the last few months and surprisingly enough, I did find the altissimo register much easier to play with the Marc Jean ligature.   The true test for me is trying to play above altissimo Eb.  That is usually the highest note I can get easily but with the Marc Jean II ligature I can indeed get above that altissimo Eb much easier than with other ligatures.  I was just playing it and I could get up to altissimo E and F with no problems whatsoever.  Believe it or not!

To wrap up this review, I fully acknowledge that some of my observations are subjective.  Every time I talk about ligatures and the differences I perceive I usually get scolded by someone out there that doesn’t believe a ligature can have any affect at all.  I believe I hear and even feel a positive difference when using the Marc Jean II Ligature. If you are curious about it also you can check out Marc’s site at Musique De Marc.  There are a boatload of great reviews on the bottom of that page also.  Marc even says “My warranty is total. I will refund in full on returned ligatures if you are not totally enthusiastic”.  That’s a great sign that someone really believes in their product that is for sure!

If you have a Marc Jean II ligature or end up getting one after reading this review please come back and let us know what you think in the comments below.   I would love to hear from you!   Thanks,  Steve

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Today, I am reviewing the Westcoast Sax “MOAM” .081 alto saxophone mouthpiece.  You might remember that I reviewed a non-plated MOAM alto mouthpiece that had a .086 tip opening last fall. Matt Lee at Westcoast Sax is always picking interesting and understated names for his mouthpieces and this is no exception.  The name MOAM stands for the “Mother of all Mouthpieces”.  I believe Matt got the idea for the name from MOAB (Mother of all Bombs) which was in the news quite a bit as the most powerful non-nuclear bomb the US has last year. I like Matt’s description below where he says it has an explosive sound!  Hahaha………

Westcoast Sax MOAM Alto and Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

The mouthpiece is designed and sold by Matt Lee and Theo Wanne. If you don’t know Theo’s work, it is amazing.   I have reviewed a bunch of mouthpieces by Theo Wanne over the years and they were all great.  Not a defect, scratch, bad finish, uneven rail or uneven tip in all of them. His attention to detail is amazing.

The MOAM alto saxophone mouthpiece is no different.  The engraving is bold and beautiful.  The table, rails, tip and baffle look precise and perfect also. The gold plating looks amazing and perfect!

The baffle on the MOAM is unique in that I haven’t seen a baffle configuration like this before in all the mouthpieces I have reviewed.  It has a very high straight baffle that angles slightly as it travels away from the tip.  Then slopes up a bit and then continues straight until it hits the chamber. That upward slope adjustment in the middle of the baffle is what I don’t see very often. (I did see a variation of it once before on a Mark Spencer Silver Tenor Mouthpiece that I reviewed in the past)

Westcoast Sax MOAM Alto and Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

Here’s a description of the MOAM mouthpieces from the Westcoast Sax Facebook page:

The MOAM (Mother Off All Mouthpieces) displays a contemporary sound with explosive power, color, and depth. From Beautiful Ballads to Screaming Solos… “The MOAM allows the player complete freedom of expression and is down right a blast to play.” Matt Lee

Matt Lee personally designed The MOAM Mouthpiece with a medium facing (Super Responsive), thin rails, bullet style baffle, and a medium chamber. Theo Wanne is the master at bringing my inspiration and vision to life.

The MOAM is made by mouthpiece Guru “Theo Wanne” right here in the USA. Quality and Craftsmanship is at the highest level. Each mouthpiece is made out of 24K Gold Plated Brass.

If you are looking for a mouthpiece that allows you full expression, emotion, and a personalized sound… Look No Further!

MOAM Mouthpiece Sizes:

Soprano Sax – #7 .065 and #8 .070

Alto Sax – #7 .080 and #8 .086

Tenor Sax – 7* .105 and #8 .110

All Mouthpieces will be made out of 24K Gold Plated Brass. Includes a Rovner SS Ligature, Cap, and Mouthpiece Bag.

* Regular Price Items: Include a 5 day return policy (You pay shipping both ways if you return) and must be returned in Brand New Condition (No Scratches or Flaws) No Exceptions. Also Includes: Cap, Rovner SS Ligature and Mouthpiece Bag

PM or Call 951-805-5611

Cheers, Matt Lee (General MoFo)

Westcoast Sax MOAM Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

I found the MOAM alto saxophone mouthpiece to be moderately bright and edgy when pushed hard.  The .081 I am playing for this review seemed a bit more focused compared to the .086 I reviewed last fall.  It has a ton of power when played full throttle and takes all the air you can give it.  The tone also seems more round and less edgy than the .086 in my opinion.  I think it has a sweeter sound to it than the .086 MOAM did. (Feel free to compare for yourself.……)

In the sound clips below,  I tried to give you a variety of styles so you can hear how the MOAM alto mouthpiece would sound in those styles.   You could do a pop gig easily on this mouthpiece.  It also gives a nice bright bebop tone when played in that style.

The MOAM alto sax mouthpiece has good intonation and articulation is great on it.  I found the tone to be resonant and focused.  Although it is definitely on the brighter side of the alto sax tone spectrum the tone was beautiful and full in my opinion.

Westcoast Sax MOAM Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

I used a Rigotti Gold 2 1/2 strong on the MOAM alto mouthpiece and a generic Rovner ligature.  I have also used this same ligature on Guardala sized mouthpieces to give you an idea of how big it is.  I personally prefer some of the Rovner ligatures on high baffle mouthpieces because I feel like the fabric ligatures can take a little bit of the edge off the tone that those mouthpieces sometimes have.

Westcoast Sax MOAM Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

I’ve provided two samples of the same clip below.  One is a clip with added reverb and the other is a dry clip in a moderate sized room.  I think it’s important to add the reverb clip just so people can get a sense of what the sound is like with a little bit of that added affect since the added reverb tend to soften the edge a bit.

The MOAM alto saxophone mouthpiece by Westcoast Sax is a great example of a well crafted high baffle alto mouthpiece.  If you have been on the search for an alto sax mouthpiece that will give you a bright edgy sound with power this is a great one to consider.

Westcoast Sax MOAM Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

Congratulations to Matt Lee and Westcoast Sax for creating the MOAM mouthpiece! If you are interested in the MOAM you can call Matt at: 951-805-5611 or Email: WestCoastSax@Yahoo.Com.  You can also order directly from the Westcoast Sax website, Westcoast Sax Facebook page or Matt Lee’s Facebook page where he also has more audio samples and videos of this mouthpiece.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments below and if you get a MOAM alto saxophone mouthpiece be sure to come back and let us know what you think below……..Thanks!!

Westcoast Sax MOAM .081 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece-Added Reverb

Westcoast Sax MOAM .081 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece-Dry

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Great news!  I just finished a new book this week that I am very excited about.  The new book is called “Devastating Dominant Lines for Jazz & Funk Soloing” and is similar in concept to my best selling “Devastating Minor Lines” book.  Here is a description:

An inside approach to outside playing using pentatonics, chromaticism, 3-tonic systems, 4-tonic system, tri-tone substitutions, whole-tone scales, diminished scales, altered scales, melodic minor scales and intervallic patterns to produce modern sounding lines in the style of Michael Brecker and Bob Berg.  Devastating Dominant Lines contains 75 16th note lines written out in all 12 keys that can be used over dominant tonalities.  These lines give the student functional ideas that weave in and out of the tonality to produce a modern and “outside” sound.

Devastating Dominant Lines for Jazz and Funk Soloing

Digital PDF Version of “Devastating Dominant Lines for Jazz & Funk Soloing”14.99

Printed Version of “Devastating Dominant Lines for Jazz & Funk Soloing”29.99

This PDF book is 138 pages long and is written out in all 12 dominant keys.

Included with this book are:

A 2 Hour and 4 Minute Video Lesson-a video lesson about the book, how to best practice from it and me explaining the concept involved for each line in the book.  I demonstrate the concepts using the soprano saxophone to a dominant play along track…………

This book is an excellent resource for intermediate to advanced students of jazz improvisation and will help you to develop some great modern lines that will amaze you friends and make your competition shudder………..

The lines in this book are not for the faint of heart, it will take a lot of practice and hard work to get them down.  Don’t give up,  stay focused and you too can master these modern devastating lines to amaze your friends, family and fellow musicians…………..

Remember,  use the power and knowledge these lines give you for good, not evil.  In the wrong hands these could cause severe damage and even brain trauma.  Overused, and other musicians might become jealous of your “awesomeness” and you might never get called for the gig again.  Used to the right degree though, and your future will be bright.

Have Fun,    Steve

PS.  This is a huge file to download of 371.9 MBs so please download from a stable high speed internet connection for best results.

Devastating Dominant Lines for Jazz and Funk Soloing

Digital PDF Version of “Devastating Dominant Lines for Jazz & Funk Soloing”14.99

Printed Version of “Devastating Dominant Lines for Jazz & Funk Soloing”29.99

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I know, you are sick of it! Trying to play overtones past the second or third overtone. Trying to get out an altissmo G or G#. Trying to sound like you know what you are doing and can play any altissimo note with confidence without failing miserably………I have been there and know how you feel. You need a breakthrough and here it is………

In this lesson, I introduce you to a revelation I have had over the last few months while teaching the altissimo register of the saxophone to students. This is a lesson on a technique I use to reach the altissimo notes and gain better facility up in that range.

The Secret to Altissimo (no one has ever told you before) Lesson 9.99

Many saxophone teachers talk about “voicing” your notes (which can be a bit vague to a student) but in my 40 years of playing the sax I have never heard the approach I teach in this lesson taught. I recently taught this material to a sax student over Skype who was frustrated that he couldn’t produce certain altissimo notes and within the half hour lesson he was popping out altissimo G#’s with this method.

Although I have been using this technique since my college days, I never realized what I was actually doing nor how to describe it to students until recently. It was an eye opener when I realized what I was doing and how to describe it. I hope this approach to altissimo is a game changer for those of you who have been stuck and frustrated with trying to produce the altissimo notes on the saxophone up until now. I really believe this lesson will help.

This lesson is just for saxophone players. I demonstrate the material on the tenor saxophone and give you detailed descriptions and examples in this 35 minute video lesson. (35 Minute Video Lesson)

The Secret to Altissimo (no one has ever told you before) Lesson 9.99

Reviews

Hi Steve! Just wanted to let you know, I purchased and watched that altissimo lesson, and it was very helpful. I had previously been able to hit altissimo up to D above altissimo G, but it was inconsistent and I was pinching a lot. Since I reconceptualized my approach, my altissimo has been cleaner and more consistent than before. It’s obviously still a work in progress, but I wanted to thank you for this lesson! *****

Hi Steve. It has taken me hours to get an Altissimo” G “on my MK VI with Navarro Bop Boy 7* and Hinoki med soft reed . Difficult set up for altissimo register (soft set up). This means that no pressure at all due to the softness of the reed. (I have to play soft reeds due to a jaw problem that lasted nearly 4 years) So when I saw your course on Altissimo I was tempted. I watched the video and could not wait to try and the result was amazing I hit the G first time with the sound as big as my E, F F# with fork key…. thanks for that concept Steve…even the G# and A were as big…..will continue to work on that register *****

Hello Steve,
Thank you so much for the “secret” lesson on altissimo!
Surprisingly, I HAVE already heard about this technique, but from a TRUMPET Teacher!
What you are doing is the same thing he was/is doing to get his trumpet notes higher. Basically, it is the concept of air speed. Faster air speed, higher notes.
However – – I was unable to successfully employ the technique for myself. What I do for altissimo is to use a high baffle, and I have been putting the back of my tongue toward the rear and higher, as if thinking of “cooling down my soup with cool air”. I can get all the notes up to D, and then I squeeze the reed to get up up to double F#.
Without a high baffle in the mouthpiece, I have not been able to get above G#.
After your video, I tried your technique, of course!
I used my Meyer mouthpiece without a baffle, and I was able to get one more harmonic from the fundamental (low) Bb. Hoooray! A few minutes later I was hitting high A, but not consistently.
I need to give it more time and practice to find the right air speed, but now I am excited to see what I can accomplish!
Thank you, Mark Peotter *****

it worked right off the bat, i already knew the high g, but with another fingering, this is a useful single key g, it aids in bringing down the notes too, less hesitant– *****

This was a great help for me explaining the altissimo playing for my students, also for the classical alto. For me it opened up a wider understanding what happens with different vowels impact in tone production. Thanks a lot! *****

I finally broke into the altissimo register after reviewing your
video like 50 times! lol This was really really helpful!! Doug *****

The Secret to Altissimo (no one has ever told you before) Lesson 9.99

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I decided to offer a free video lesson on my book Mastering Altered Pentatonics for everyone. I have sold many of these books and really want to make sure that everyone is getting the most they can out of them.  You can consider this an “overview” lesson on the various pentatonics covered in the book although I don’t go through the 30 pentatonic patterns in the book.  (I have more detailed lessons in my Neffmusic store).  I cover tips on the best way to use the book as well as demonstrating the various pentatonics so you can hear how they sound with a background track.  Here is a description of the book:

Any serious fan of jazz has at one time or another heard a solo where the line being played made them turn towards the soloist with a look of concern. “Where were they going with this line?” “What are they thinking?” “Do they know they are playing the wrong notes?” If you have been in that seat looking at the soloist you know there is a moment where you feel some nervousness and anxiety. “Those notes are not right!” we think. Then the soloist masterfully weaves the crazy line he was just playing into sweet consonance and harmony. Our nervousness and anxiety melts away and we feel at peace with the world. Yet our heart is still pounding with excitement as if we just got off the world’s biggest roller coaster.

Mastering Altered Pentatonics-Digital PDF Book 14.99

Mastering Altered Pentatonics-Printed Version 29.99

The great players of jazz have learned the fine art of weaving in and out of a tonality whenever they please. It has the same affect on us listeners as riding a roller coaster or watching a tightrope walker performing sixty stories above the street. Those who have ears that perceive what is going on recognize the intricate balance of dissonance and consonance being played with by the soloist. Once we recognize it we are enthralled and unable to look away.

In “Mastering Altered Pentatonics”, we are taking the most benign of scales, the pentatonic scale, through the ringer. We are working on mastering it using twenty-nine scale patterns that we then alter to create new and fresh sounds that are far from benign. At times, they sound almost dangerous in their tension and dissonance. By practicing these altered pentatonic patterns and weaving in and out of them we are practicing the fine art of balancing our lines between consonance and dissonance while we improvise. The more adept we become at this balancing act the more exciting and entertaining our lines and solos will become. Inside, we will take the pentatonic scale through eleven alterations. Each one having it’s own sound and flavor. Join me in discovering a new way to approach thinking and playing while improvising that will lead you to discover new and fresh sounding lines. I hope you enjoy the book as much as I have enjoyed working on it.

By practicing these altered pentatonic patterns and weaving in and out of them we are practicing the fine art of balancing our lines between consonance and dissonance. The more adept we become at this balancing act the more exciting and entertaining our lines and solos will become.

Inside, we will take the pentatonic scale through eleven alterations. Each one having it’s own sound and flavor. The book is 368 pages long and in all 12 keys. It comes with a 49 minute overview video lesson of the book where I talk about and demonstrate the concepts from the book on the tenor saxophone.

Join me in discovering a new way to approach thinking and playing your lines that will lead you to discover new and fresh sounding lines. I hope you enjoy the book as much as I have enjoyed working on it.    Steve

Mastering Altered Pentatonics-Digital PDF Book 14.99

Mastering Altered Pentatonics-Printed Version 29.99

Mastering Altered Pentatonics Free Overview Lesson

I hope you enjoy the lesson and find it useful.  There are 600+ more lessons in my Neffmusic store on a variety of subjects to check out.  If you have a question on anything in the lesson feel free to email me or send a message and I will do my best to answer your questions. If this lesson stirs your curiosity in my Mastering Altered Pentatonics book,  you can purchase one below as a PDF you download or a printed version that will be shipped to you.   Thanks,   Steve

Mastering Altered Pentatonics-PDF Downloadable Book 14.99

Mastering Altered Pentatonics-Printed Version 29.99

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You might have noticed that I have been quiet here at neffmusic.com over the last few weeks.  The reason is that I started a new lesson series on my site for members focused on the alternate fingering licks of Michael Brecker.  I have been working diligently (my wife describes it more as obsessed…..) behind the scenes on this material.  Not only do I have to find the videos and the licks but then I have to figure them out and practice the tar out of them so I can teach a video lesson on each of them.  If you have always wondered how Michael Brecker created these crazy sounding lines then this is a great area of the site to check out.  I have 11 alternate fingering licks posted so far and a video lesson on each lick and am working on posting more each day.  I am also working on writing the licks out with the fingerings so you can see how they look on the page. If you get a membership today,  you will have full access to all these great lessons immediately! (Plus 4 lessons (silver plan) or 10 lessons (gold plan) a month you can download as well.)

Get Full Access to these video lessons today!

or get a taste of these 11 lessons to download for just 11.99!

Here are a few looped videos of some of the great altered fingering licks covered so far:

Lick 5

Lick 7

Lick 8

Lick 10

Lick 11

If you want to learn how to play cool sounding licks like this on the tenor saxophone, then get a membership today and check  out these lessons for yourself…….

Get Full Access to these video lessons today!

or get a taste of these 11 lessons to download for just 11.99!

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Today, I am reviewing a new NY Meyer 100th Anniversary Model Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece by JJ Babbitt.  The vintage NY Meyer alto sax mouthpieces from the 1960’s are some of the most sought after vintage alto sax mouthpieces on the market today.  When I heard the news that JJ Babbitt was coming out with a new NY Meyer alto saxophone mouthpiece for their 100th anniversary,  I had to try one of these NY Meyer mouthpieces out.  It turns out that I was lucky enough to try out five in the process!

NY Meyer 100th Anniversary Model Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece-on left normal beak-on right duckbill beak

I reached out to JJ Babbitt a couple times to see if I could get a NY Meyer saxophone mouthpiece to review but both times they didn’t have any available to send me as they seem to have their hands full just filling existing mouthpiece orders.  Luckily, Dave Kessler at Kessler & Sons Music and Simon Harding at Tenor Madness both volunteered to let me borrow some of the new NY Meyer sax mouthpieces for this review.  In total I received three 6’s and two 7’s to review.

Normally, I do not need this many mouthpieces for one review but there was some confusion over the beaks of these new NY Meyer mouthpieces.  Right around the time I started asking for mouthpieces to review, I also started hearing from players that the new NY Meyer mouthpieces had a unique (some described it as strange….) duckbill shape to the beak(a duckbill beak has a very low profile which looks a bit like a duck’s bill).  Vintage NY Meyer alto mouthpieces do not have duckbill beaks.  Some people were reporting NY Meyer mouthpieces with this new duckbill beak but others were reporting normal height Meyer type beaks on their NY Meyer mouthpieces.  People were posting pictures on SOTW (Sax on the Web) of the different beaks. Many of us were quite confused.

By this point, I already had a 6 and 7 tip NY Meyer alto mouthpiece on their way to me and I found out that these also had the duckbill beaks.  I also heard that Tenor Madness had the regular beaked NY Meyers in stock and Simon agreed to send me three of the regular beaked NY Meyer mouthpieces to review as well.

I figured that if there were two versions of these new NY Meyer alto sax mouthpieces out there, that I might as well review both of them so my readers will have an idea of what is going on. Here are some photos so you can see the differences in the beaks:

NY Meyer 100th Anniversary Model Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece-on left normal beak-on right duckbill beak

NY Meyer 100th Anniversary Model Regular Beak Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

NY Meyer 100th Anniversary Model Duckbill Beak Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

As you can see in the picture above, the duckbill beak Meyer mouthpiece is much thinner than the regular beak mouthpiece.

Why or how two different versions of a newly released mouthpiece exist is something you will have to ask JJ Babbitt.  I figure that someone either screwed up at the factory or JJ Babbitt had for whatever reason decided that the duckbill beak was a good choice.  I also was wondering if maybe they had two models of the newly released NY Meyer for those who would prefer a different beak angle.

While researching this beak issue online I did find this quote from someone who talked to Jim at JJ Babbitt:

Babbitt still uses the same mold from the NY Meyer when they acquired Meyer in 1970. Yes, the same mold, different core. 

All the Babbitt pieces are hand grinded/sanded / finished when they come out of the molds. The duck bill run is due to someone grinding the beak down to get rid of a wear spot that is now present in the 60+ year old mold.  Jim has said they now have a way to finish them and not take them down that much. 

So it seems our mystery of the  two different beaks is solved and that these duckbill beak NY Meyer mouthpieces just occurred in the first run of these mouthpieces.    Who knows, maybe they will be collector’s items someday!

The next question to deal with is if these different beak heights affect the tone and playability of each mouthpiece?  I will deal with this question later in the review.

Besides the beak  difference the two models look exactly the same to me.  The tip, rails, baffle and chamber look almost identical when comparing each alto mouthpiece side by side.

NY Meyer 100th Anniversary Model Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

Here is how the JJ Babbitt website describes the new NY Meyer alto sax mouthpiece:

The popular NY (New York) Meyer mouthpiece for Alto sax is being introduced by JJ Babbitt in commemoration of our 100th anniversary. A favorite among players, it is now back due to player requests.

This is the original free-blowing NY mouthpiece with superb control and playability. It fills a niche to complete the Meyer lineup and will enable saxophonists from students to professionals to achieve what they’ve been looking for – in both sound and comfort – while performing. It’s a great value, too!

Player comments:

“They nailed it! I will probably retire my Vintage Meyer and switch to the NY.”

“Astonishing projection! Much more than any alto mouthpieces I have ever played.”

“It exemplifies the best characteristics of the unique Meyer sound and playing experience.”

“They’re centered, easy to control, vibrant, colorful, and flexible for a rich sub-tone in the low register and screaming lead alto in the upper register.”

NY Meyer 100th Anniversary Model Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

The new NY Meyer alto saxophone mouthpieces look great out of the box.  They all come with serial numbers on the side of the body which is really helpful in keeping track of a specific mouthpiece.  I really like this feature and wish all mouthpiece makers did this.

The mouthpiece has a smooth rollover baffle that descends smoothly into the medium chamber.  The sidewalls look and feel straight to me.  Maybe slightly scooped out compared to the rail above them but I would consider these to have straight sidewalls.  The table, tip, rails, baffle and chambers all look great to the eye on all five mouthpieces I received to review.  The chamber floor looks to be scooped out a bit starting where the baffle enters the chamber.

One thing I must warn you about is that the new ligatures that come with these NY Meyer mouthpieces may have sharp edges on the inside ridges of the ligature.  One of the mouthpieces I received already has a scratch on it from someone before me trying it with the ligature.  I felt the inside ridges of each ligature I received and there is indeed sharp edges I could feel with my finger towards the top where the screws are.

NY Meyer 100th Anniversary Model Alto Saxophone Ligature

The ligature is a two screw ligature that has the screws on top and there are two metal bars on the plate that hold the reed in place.  The concept reminds me of the Marc Jean ligature concept but these are metal bars instead of wooden bars like the Marc Jean ligatures have.  I tend to prefer the two screw ligatures because you can experiment with loosening or tightening the tension on the rear or front of the ligature and see how it affects the response of the reed.

NY Meyer 100th Anniversary Model Alto Saxophone Ligature

Like I wrote above, I would be really careful if you are trying these new mouthpieces with these ligatures.  You might want to ask the store to check them before sending them to you if you want a ligature that won’t scratch up your new mouthpiece. (Especially if there is a return policy and you might choose to return it)

NY Meyer 100th Anniversary Model Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

So, how do these new NY Meyer alto sax mouthpieces play?   First off, I want to say that all five mouthpieces played great for me.  I have to be honest though, the mouthpieces with the lowered beaks just felt odd to me. I actually compared the beak to my Gaia soprano sax mouthpiece beak and it was even lower than my soprano mouthpiece.  It was probably the lowest beak I have ever played on and because of that it just felt odd and a bit uncomfortable for me.

As far as tone and playability, the lower beaked mouthpieces seemed brighter and more focused than the tone of the normal beaked mouthpieces.   The duckbill beaks seemed more like they had a more compressed and focused sound to me than the normal beaks. The normal beaks seemed like the tone was more spread and round I think. I’m not sure I can make out these differences on the recordings in a blind test but that is what I perceived when I was playing them.

As I reflect on this, this might be entirely due to the difference in shape of my aural cavity while playing.   We all know that the shape of your mouth and position of your tongue have an affect on your tone.  The change of aural cavity shape when playing these two mouthpieces is pretty large in my opinion and I wouldn’t be surprised if this change in aural cavity shape affects the tone in some way.

You can listen to the clips below and tell me what you think as I am curious if others will hear what I perceived while playing.  I can hear it on the recording but I already have a preconceived idea of what I felt and heard so I am probably biased.  Matter of fact, now that you have read this also, you probably have a preconceived idea of what you will hear also…….Not sure there is any way around that unless you do a blind listening and playing test and that is not what I am doing today.

NY Meyer 100th Anniversary Model Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

I’ve made four recordings below. Two are normal beak 6 and 7 tip opening NY Meyer mouthpieces and two are duckbill beaked 6 and 7 tip opening NY Meyer mouthpieces.  I tried to player similar ideas in each clip although at times I did wander off into other areas.

I did play the beginning of Charlie Parker’s Kim at the beginning of each clip as well as the melody of Stella By Starlight at some point in each clip so if you compare those sections of the clips you might get a good idea of how the mouthpieces might vary in sound.

I usually prefer an alto saxophone mouthpiece tip of around .078-.080 in my experience.  The 6 tip of the new NY Meyer alto mouthpiece is at .076 and the 7 tip opening is at .081.  I wasn’t sure which tip opening I would prefer but in the end the 6 did feel a little small for me although it played great.

NY Meyer 100th Anniversary Model Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

I ended up using the same Rigotti Gold 3 medium reed on all of these NY Meyer mouthpiece sound clips.

I found the 6 tip opening to be somewhat brighter and have more of a concentrated focus than the 7 tip openings. On the other hand, I felt like I could put more air through the 7 for a bigger and slightly darker sound.

The intonation and articulation on these mouthpieces was great and I felt like I could get a good range of volume from each mouthpiece.

I know some of you might be wondering how these compare to the vintage NY Meyer mouthpieces from the 60’s but I really can’t write about that. I have only played one vintage NY Meyer alto mouthpiece and that was for five minutes in a store some 20 years ago.  I remember being impressed with it, but the guy wanted 450 bucks for it which I thought was ridiculous, so I passed on it.  Hopefully some player who own and play vintage NY Meyer alto saxophone mouthpieces will try these new NY Meyer versions and give us a side by side comparison….

I will say that these new NY Meyer alto sax mouthpieces beat the pants off of all of the regular Meyer alto mouthpieces I have tried over the last 30 years.   I used to teach about 70 saxophone students every week when I lived in Massachusetts years ago and once a week I would make a trip to the local music store to try out the new Meyer alto sax mouthpieces they had for my advancing alto sax students.  I would pick out the best ones I could find for each of my students.  In my opinion, these new NY Meyer alto mouthpieces are all better than any of those Meyer mouthpieces I picked out during those 10 years and I tried out many.

If you like the sound and look of these new NY Meyer alto saxophone mouthpieces from JJ Babbitt you can find them at Kessler & Sons Music or Tenor Madness.  If you play one or have any other thoughts or comments, I would love to hear what you think in the comments below. Listen to the clips below and see if you can hear any differences between these four mouthpieces.

Thanks,   Steve

New NY Meyer 6 Regular Beak Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

New NY Meyer 6 Duck Bill Beak Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

New NY Meyer 7 Regular Beak Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

New NY Meyer Duckbill Beak Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

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I received an email a couple of months ago from a fan of the site asking if I could review these new Echo Master ligatures (formerly Echo Brass) being sold by Getasax.com.  These are reproductions of the infamous Brilhart 3-band ligature that Kenny Garrett uses.  I have been curious about these ligatures ever since I saw them selling on Ebay for 1000.00-1500.00 apiece (Yes, that decimal point is in the right place).  I was curious, what could possibly be so good about a ligature that it would command that high a price?!

GetaSax Echo Master Brilhart Style Saxophone Ligatures Box

Well, I’m definitely not going to spend that kind of money to find out,  but getasax.com has these Echo Master Brilhart 3-Band Style Saxophone Ligatures for sale for a much more reasonable price (although still expensive for a ligature in my opinion 165.00).  Here is a description of the ligature from the getasax website:

There’s a reason why the vintage Brilhart 3-Band ligatures have been singled out by the market (players) as by far the most desirable vintage ligatures. They are great ligatures. But there will never be enough vintage Brilhart ligatures to meet the high demand for this style of ligature. Thankfully, the Echo Master company has stepped in to answer this demand.

This Echo Master tenor ligature is a true reproduction: from the alloy of brass to the type of plastic on the reed plate, it is exactly the same as the vintage Brilhart ligature. Same dimensions, same weight, same feel, same playing response. It’s like going back in time to buy one when they were first made!

So for those of you who have always wanted this time-tested style of ligature, but have found them prohibitively expensive, now perhaps getting one is within reach. This is admittedly still an expensive ligature by modern standards. But honestly, to achieve this level of quality of workmanship in Korea where these are made, it just does cost some money. And really, it would do us no good to have a cheaper version of this ligature that was somehow flawed and not as good as the original. Plus, this is probably the last ligature you need to buy, so it may prevent your amassing a whole drawer of inferior ligatures over the course of your career. (You know what I am talking about!)

How does it play? It just plays well. It is just a high quality ligature with heavy duty brass and nice big screws, and that is easy to tighten firmly and evenly. It frees the reed to vibrate with a rich, balanced tone. Compared to a standard ligature, the Echo Master seems richer, more full, and warmer. And it makes playing more fun by making the reed nice and responsive. Just about everyone who has tried one of these in the shop now plays one, including me.-Getasax.com 

GetaSax Echo Master Brilhart Style Soprano Saxophone Ligature

I contacted Brian at getasax.com to see about getting a saxophone ligature sent to me to review.  He was happy to send a hard rubber tenor mouthpiece ligature to try but then he asked if I would like to try more than just that one?  “Of course I would” I emailed back  He ended up sending me five Echo Master saxophone ligatures. One for a soprano sax mouthpiece, one for a hard rubber alto sax mouthpiece, one for a Guardala sized metal tenor sax mouthpiece, one for a metal Otto Link tenor sax mouthpiece and one for a hard rubber tenor sax mouthpiece.  I could keep one of these ligatures after the review and send the rest back.  I was super excited as I usually am about new saxophone gear that I get to try.

GetaSax Echo Master Brilhart Style Saxophone Ligatures from top to bottom: Guardala, Soprano, Metal Otto Link, Hard Rubber Otto Link

The ligatures arrived a couple days later.  I opened the package to find these cool looking velvet covered jewlery boxes that have EM Echo Master written on them.  I opened one up and to find a beautiful looking sexy sax ligature laying on the dark velvet (Now I know how my wife felt when I asked her to marry me! Haha!).

The ligatures look very well made and sturdy.  My first thought was “Let’s handle this thing and see how cheap it is.”  Answer: It doesn’t feel cheap at all.  It feels like first rate quality to me.  The metal does not easily bend and all the connections seem sturdy and reinforced,  The screws on top seem very sturdy and turn easily. The plastic plate that sits on the reed also feels strong and well connected to the metal of the ligature as well.

The gold plating looks perfect with no marks or flaws that I can see.  The top of the metal part of the ligature that surrounds the mouthpiece is clamped on both sides at the top and the screws go though the clamps as well as the metal of the ligature that is clamped making it extra sturdy.

The next thing I did (I have learned my lesson from doing this so long) is too feel the inside of each ligature with my fingers for any sharp or rough edges. I’ve had a few sax ligatures in the past chew up a sax mouthpiece because I didn’t check for these.  The Echo Master ligatures felt as smooth as butter!  There is nothing there that will hurt you favorite sax mouthpiece.

GetaSax Echo Master Brilhart Style Hard Rubber Tenor Saxophone Ligature

There are two models of ligatures available from the samples I received.  Four of the saxophone ligatures had the white plastic reed plate and black bulbed screws and one alto saxophone ligature that you can see a couple of photos below has a “B” at the head of each screw. The plate on this alto sax ligature is metal instead of plastic.

As I wrote above, I was super excited that I could try all these saxophone ligatures and get to keep one,  but as I started to try each ligature my excitement turned to confusion as there were elements of every ligature that I really liked.  Which ligature would I choose to keep?!  As I type this review, I still have no idea which ligature I am going to choose and there is no way I can afford to buy all of them that is for sure.  Quite the conundrum………

GetaSax Echo Master Brilhart Style Hard Rubber Tenor Saxophone Ligature

The first ligature I tried was the one for the hard rubber tenor saxophone mouthpiece that has a “T” engraved on it.

The Echo Master ligature slid on to my Early Babbitt Otto Link easily.  I centered the plate on the reed and tightened the ligature to what I thought was a reasonable tightness.  Each ligature has two screw on the top side of the ligature and as you tighten the ligature it tightens around the mouthpiece and the plate tightens against the reed.

The first thing I love about these ligature is that the screws sit a good distance from the top of the sax mouthpiece.  I have tried other sax ligatures (I won’t mention names….) that as you tighten the screw the ligature gets closer to the body of the mouthpiece and next thing you know the screw is digging into the top of the mouthpiece and making a mess.  You don’t have to worry about this with the Echo Master as they constructed it wisely and this can’t happen with this design that I can see.

The other thing I love about these ligatures is that they made the screws extra long.  You can see in the third photo below how there is still a lot of screw that isn’t being used even with the ligature tightened all the way.   I can’t tell you how many times I have bought a sax ligature and when I tighten it on the mouthpiece, it uses up almost all of the screw length.  If the ligature were to stretch even a little bit the ligature wouldn’t be able to be tightened any more and would be useless.  The Echo Master craftsman did well in thinking of this and making the screws extra long.

The hard rubber tenor mouthpiece ligature fit on all of my hard rubber tenor saxophone mouthpieces because of the long screws that could be widened extra wide or tightened down to be smaller. The only one that was a close call was my Lamberson J7 tenor mouthpiece but with the Echo Master screw almost all the way loosened it could barely slide to the rear of the Lamberson so I count that as a success.

GetaSax Echo Master Brilhart Style BB Hard Rubber Alto Saxophone Ligature with Metal Plate

The next sax ligature I tried was the one that has “OT” on it. I assume this is for “Otto Link Tenor”. Saxophone ligatures for metal Otto Link tenor sax mouthpieces can be tricky because of that Otto Link ridge on the top of the mouthpiece.  This ligature was made perfect though. As you can see in the fifth picture below. The makers of the Echo Master left enough room with the long screws so that the ligature tightens around the ridge and the screws are high enough that they don’t come close to it.

The “OT” ligature fit all of my metal Otto Links well including a fatter NY Otto Link I have.  As a side bonus for me,  this ligature also fit my Barone tenor sax mouthpieces perfectly also! The Barone mouthpiece shape is a little more difficult to find a good ligature for because it is fatter near the back of the mouthpiece and narrower near the front but the Echo Master with its long screws fit perfectly.  You just open up the back screw and close down the front screw and it fit the Barone mouthpiece perfectly.

I will also note at this point,  that once these ligatures are tightened down they do not move which is a huge plus in my book. I have used sax ligatures in the past that moved too easily as soon as you try to move your mouthpiece.  This stinks when your playing and the reed slides out of place and messes you up. It also stinks if you end up scratching the mouthpiece with the ligature as I have done with ligatures in the past (and even last week actually…..)

GetaSax Echo Master Brilhart Style BB Hard Rubber Alto Saxophone Ligature with Metal Plate

The next ligature I tried was the Echo Master soprano saxophone ligature with an “S” engraved on it. It fit my Gaia soprano sax mouthpiece perfectly and I was quite surprised by how much I liked the change in response and sound to my soprano but I will get to that below.

Lastly, just for the sake of being thorough, I tried the alto BB ligature and the Guardala ligature (engraved with a “G”). The alto ligature had a BB on the screws like I mentioned above and is sized to fit standard hard rubber sized alto mouthpieces. The Guardala ligature fit my Guardala sized Liu Shizhao Pilgrimage tenor saxophone mouthpiece perfectly also.  If you have ever owned a Guardala sized tenor sax mouthpiece,  you know that these can be a pain to find a good ligature for because of their smaller size. The Echo Master fit perfectly though.  I am very tempted to keep this one just because I only have one cheap metal ligature that I have been using with this Guardala sized tenor sax mouthpiece for the past couple of years.

GetaSax Echo Master Brilhart Style Hard Rubber Tenor Saxophone Ligature From the Side

One other element of these ligatures that I should note before I move on to how they play is about the plates.  The Echo Master BB alto sax ligature has a metal plate that looks like it 100% sits on the reed.  The other four ligatures with the plastic plates have a raised edge on each side of the plate so that the side ridges are the only place touching the reed. You can see this if you look closely at the last photo in this review below.

GetaSax Echo Master Brilhart Style Hard Rubber Tenor Saxophone Ligature Showing the Long Screws

So how do these sax ligatures play?  I know you are all waiting for that answer.  I appreciate Brian at getasax.com first of all for not making any sax ligature based grandiose claims in his descriptions on his site.  (You know the ones I am writing about…..).  I will try to do the same while trying to convey my experience.

The first thing I will write is that, in my experience, saxophone ligatures with top screws can be tricky to gauge the exact tightness of the reed plate on the reed.  With my Francois Louis, Vandoren Optimum, Selmer 404, etc……the screws to tighten the ligature are on the bottom of the ligature. You tighten the screw and you can feel how tight the ligature is against the reed. I have noticed that when I try sax ligatures with the screws on the top I don’t have as good a feel for how tight the ligature is on the saxophone reed.

When I first tried the Echo Master ligature, I tightened down the screws on top until they wouldn’t move anymore.  When I went to play, I hated the sound and response.  It seemed very tight, constricted and small sounding. I did not like it but then thought that maybe I overtightened the ligature and was strangling the saxophone reed so it wasn’t vibrating freely. I backed the screws out about a quarter turn to half turn and then played again.  Totally different experience!  Bigger sound, more easy blowing and quick response.  Whew!

GetaSax Echo Master Brilhart Style Metal Otto Link Tenor Saxophone Ligature Showing Plate on Reed

In my opinion, the Echo Master ligature with the plastic bite plate makes the reed respond and sound differently depending on the tightness of those two screws on top.  I found that if I tighten the screw to just be “tight enough”, where the reed doesn’t move when you touch it, but no tighter than that, the reed plays with a darker more spread sound.  If I tighten the ligature  a little bit at  a time I feel like it gets more of a focused and centered sound.  If I tighten to much, it feels constricted and hard to manipulate as far as expression and nuance.

I also found that if I loosened the front screw and tightened the back screw or tightened the front screw and loosened the back screw, I would also get different results depending on the reed I was using.  All those minute changes in tightness and looseness seemed to have an affect on the response and sound I was hearing as I played. Would the audience hear the change of a quarter turn of a ligature screw, probably not, but it’s not about them, it’s about me and getting the sound in my head out of the saxophone, right?

GetaSax Echo Master Brilhart Style Metal Otto Link Tenor Saxophone Ligature avoiding the Link Ridge

The biggest change for me was with the soprano sax ligature.  I was using a Gaia soprano saxophone mouthpiece with a Theo Wanne Enlighted ligature which gives me a pretty bright focused sound.  The Echo Master soprano ligature seemed to darken and fatten up the soprano sound in a very cool way. Instead of this brighter aggressive sound I usually get, it was a lot more mellow and emotional.  Something about it made me think of Jan Garbareck’s soprano sax sound (which is beautiful by the way…….).  It was enough of a change that I thought “Man, I have to keep this soprano sax ligature!”

GetaSax Echo Master Brilhart Style Metal Otto Link Tenor Saxophone Ligature on Florida Otto Link

The bottom line for me, is that the Echo Master fits all these sax mouthpieces perfectly. It is well made and sturdy.  It doesn’t move when you try to move your sax mouthpiece. It is easy to put on and center on the reed.  It is easy to tighten and adjust. Even as you are playing, you can reach up a hand and easily try tightening or loosening the back screw or front screw to see what affect it has on your saxophone tone or response which I think is really cool!  It also looks pretty darn cool with the mystique of the Brilhart 3-band Kenny Garrett ligature phenomenon that is going on.  As a side benefit, other sax players will think you are loaded if you can afford this Brilhart 3-band sax ligature and that fake Rolex you are wearing……….Haha!

GetaSax Echo Master Brilhart Style Hard Rubber Tenor Saxophone Ligature with Plate on Reed

If you are interested in the GetaSax Echo Master Brilhart Style Saxophone Ligature you can find out more information and order one at getasax.com.  If you have any questions feel free to contact Brian at getasax.com and he can answer any questions you might have.  Getasax.com also look like they have a generous return policy if you would like to try one but check with Brian to confirm that.   If you try an Echo Master saxophone ligature or have any other thoughts or comments, I would love to hear what you think in the comments below.

Thanks,   Steve

PS.    Brian added this in the comments below but I wanted to add it here so no one misses it that is reading this review:

The EchoMaster ligatures have a generous amount of threading on the screws, which makes them more flexible than other ligatures to fit mouthpieces of different diameters.

For example the Hard Rubber alto size actually fits metal Otto Link Baritone mouthpieces perfectly, because of the screws. For alto, it fits everything from the narrow Selmer Soloist to the Meyer Bros ‘Fat Boy’ which is basically the full range of alto pieces.

And the Guardala size tenor ligature fits metal Yanagisawa, and Ishimori Anemos, and lots of others. (Dukoff Miami, the slimmer Bergs)

The OT metal Otto Link ligs are also just about the only non-Rovner ligatures (afaik) that fit metal 10MFan and MacSax and other wide body metal tenor pieces. But it also fits vintage Bergs of the standard and wider body variety, as well as Dukoff Hollywood and Dukoff Stubby. It’s very useful. I don’t know of another ligature that fits the Dukoff Stubby as well, and that’s my favorite vintage metal mouthpiece.

The Soprano size fits everything from Selmer Soloist to Meyer to Otto Link Tone Edge, and even some of the very large vintage soprano pieces like Conns and Bueschers.

Email me at getasax@gmail.com if you’re reading this and want to know if your mouthpiece is compatible.

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Since I recently wrote a review for a new NY Meyer (2019) alto saxophone mouthpiece as well as a vintage NY Meyer (1960’s) alto saxophone mouthpiece, I thought it would be interesting to do a side by side review of these two great alto saxophone mouthpieces side by side.

These are from the “mouthpiece fun box” that Jimmy Jensen at Tenor Madness sent me with interesting and great mouthpieces he thought I would like to check out.  Both of these alto mouthpieces have both been refaced by Jimmy.  The vintage NY Meyer alto sax mouthpiece is refaced to a .071 and the new NY Meyer alto saxophone mouthpiece is refaced to a .074.  Being that both alto mouthpieces have been refaced by the Jimmy Jensen and there is only a .003 difference in tip openings between each mouthpiece, I thought they would be good to compare to each other.

Side by Side-New NY Meyer on Left. Vintage NY Meyer on Right

I already anticipate some of you complaining that these are not original Meyer mouthpieces, and to do the comparison accurately, I would need original Meyer mouthpieces to compare.  The truth is that even with original mouthpieces there are differences between each mouthpiece of the same model.  I believe these two NY Meyer mouthpieces still retain the qualities that are consistent with each of the models as far as sound and tone and are worthy of  comparison.

I talked to Jimmy Jensen about these two mouthpieces and this is what he said about his work and refacing on them:

I’ve acquired facing measurements off of hundreds, possibly thousands of vintage pieces at this point. I save my favorite curves and put those on my pieces. So my vintage NY USA, I took the facing measurements from and I’ve kept those true, just opened the tip because it was .067 stock.  On the new one I put the same facing numbers and table style on it as the vintage ones.  Essentially it’s what I would expect to see on an untouched vintage NY USA Meyer.

As far as vintage pieces, there’s going to be variance no matter what. Rubber warps over time, you get dings, I rarely like a completely stock vintage piece. Usually they need just a tiny bit of freshening up. And I’m a minimalist in my facing. I try to keep them as close to stock as possible, but playing well-Jimmy Jensen

I have posted photos throughout this review of the new NY Meyer mouthpiece next to the vintage NY Meyer mouthpiece so that you can see how each mouthpiece looks and compares physically.

The mouthpieces look pretty similar on first glance.  Of course, the vintage NY Meyer mouthpiece is more faded and not as shiny as the new NY Meyer mouthpiece.  The new NY Meyer body looks slightly larger in diameter than the vintage Meyer body.  The beak also looks slightly thicker on the new mouthpiece from above but it is so close that I’m not 100% confident that I am correct.  From the side, the new NY Meyer mouthpiece beak also looks a tad bit thicker than the vintage NY Meyer mouthpiece.

New NY Meyer Alto Mouthpiece Refaced By Jimmy Jensen to a .074 Tip Opening

Vintage NY Meyer Alto Mouthpiece Refaced By Jimmy Jensen to a .071 Tip Opening

Next are the table comparisons.  Both alto sax mouthpieces have been refaced as I mentioned above.  The refacing process does affect the table but I will still write about what I see.  The vintage NY Meyer mouthpiece has a thinner table than the new NY Meyer mouthpiece.  It also looks like the window opening is slightly wider on the new NY Meyer alto sax mouthpiece than  on the vintage NY Meyer mouthpiece.  Both tables look to be the same length and both sax mouthpieces as a whole look to be the same length.

The engraving on the shank of the vintage NY Meyer mouthpiece has “New York USA” on the top of the shank and on the bottom is engraved “medium chamber”.  The new NY Meyer alto mouthpiece has “Made in USA” on the top of the shank and “NEW YORK” on the bottom.  The new NY Meyer also has a serial number engraved on the right side of the body as you look at it from the table side of the mouthpiece.

New NY Meyer Alto Mouthpiece Refaced By Jimmy Jensen to a .074 Tip Opening

Vintage NY Meyer Alto Mouthpiece Refaced By Jimmy Jensen to a .071 Tip Opening

The baffle areas of both NY Meyer mouthpieces look very similar to my eye. I think the baffle on the new NY Meyer is slightly wider than the vintage model but the rollover and angle of descent down into the chamber looks almost identical.  The vintage NY Meyer mouthpiece might have a slightly more gradual curve of the baffle but it is hard to tell by eye.  They both look very similar.

New NY Meyer Alto Mouthpiece Refaced By Jimmy Jensen to a .074 Tip Opening

Vintage NY Meyer Alto Mouthpiece Refaced By Jimmy Jensen to a .071 Tip Opening

The tip rails and beginning of the baffle on each NY Meyer alto sax mouthpiece also look almost identical.  I can’t see any difference at all with my eye.  This exact similarity is probably due to Jimmy Jensen’s preferences in refacing tip rails and the baffle area.

The mouthpiece chambers are where I see the biggest difference between these two NY Meyer alto mouthpieces.  As you can clearly see in the pictures below, the new NY Meyer mouthpiece has a thinner roof to the chamber and a deeper cavity at the bottom of the chamber than the vintage NY Link alto mouthpiece.  This makes the chamber of the new NY Meyer mouthpiece larger than the vintage NY Meyer mouthpiece.

I’ll get into the differences in sound and playability below but I will say that, in general, I preferred the focus and core sound of the vintage NY Meyer mouthpiece over the fatter more spread tone of the new NY Meyer alto sax mouthpieces.  If I had to guess at the reason for this difference, I would guess that it is the difference in mouthpiece chamber size and shape.

Since these alto mouthpieces are only .003 difference in tip opening and the baffles look pretty identical next to each other, I would guess that this difference can be attributed to the chambers.  The smaller more round chamber of the vintage Meyer mouthpiece keeps the sound focused while the larger chamber of the new NY Meyer mouthpiece fattens and spreads the sound more.  This is my opinion anyways……..

New NY Meyer Alto Mouthpiece Refaced By Jimmy Jensen to a .074 Tip Opening

Vintage NY Meyer Alto Mouthpiece Refaced By Jimmy Jensen to a .071 Tip Opening

I have provided two sound clips of both NY Meyer alto sax mouthpieces below.  One is a new clip of the new NY Meyer alto saxophone mouthpiece refaced by Jimmy Jensen that I haven’t recorded or released until now.

The other clip is of the vintage NY Meyer alto sax mouthpiece that I used in the original review of that sax mouthpiece.  I actually recorded the two clips one after the other so there is a lot of similar material in each sound clip.   The same Woodstone 3 1/2 reed and Sumner Acousticut metal alto sax ligature was used on both mouthpieces to avoid any reed and ligature changes in sound.

Both clips were recorded in the exact same location with the exact same equipment and settings.

Here are some specific spots to listen for in the two recordings for comparison purposes:

• In track 1 of the new NY Meyer mouthpiece, I play Phil Woods solo on “The Summer Knows” at :21-1:37 of the recording.  On track 2 of the vintage NY Meyer mouthpiece, I play the same exact solo at 2:10-3:30.
• I also play the melody to “If I Should Lose You” on both tracks.  On track 1 of the new NY Meyer I play it at 2:20-2:36 and on track 2 of the vintage NY Meyer I play it at 3:57-4:24

The difference in sound and tone I heard while playing and the listening to the tracks are these:

• I felt like the new NY Meyer mouthpiece had a more spread and fat alto sax sound than the more focused sound of the vintage NY Meyer alto mouthpiece.
• The new NY Meyer mouthpiece sounded more brash and in your face.   The vintage NY Meyer mouthpiece sounded sweeter and more delicate. The new NY Meyer mouthpiece sounded more aggressive and the vintage NY Meyer mouthpiece sounded more polite to me.
• The new NY Meyer mouthpiece was definitely more free blowing and the vintage NY Meyer had a little bit more resistance to work with.  Using the same reed really helped me  feel this as it felt slightly softer on the new NY Meyer than it did on the vintage NY Meyer.
• The high register on the new NY Meyer mouthpiece sounded brighter and had a bit of edge to it while the vintage NY Meyer mouthpiece sounded darker and prettier to me.
• Lastly, I think the more fat and spread tone of the new NY Meyer mouthpiece made the fast runs sound as if the individual notes were kind of bleeding together in sound making it sound less distinct and clear to my ear.  The focus of the vintage NY Meyer mouthpiece made the fast runs sound more clean and precise to my ear.   It’s almost like I could hear each separate note as it’s own voice even though I was playing fast runs and licks.

In the end, I think the new NY Meyer is a great alto mouthpiece.  I have played five up to this point and all five played great for me.  I also loved the vintage Meyer NY mouthpiece as was evident from my review I posted earlier.  Both mouthpieces had qualities that I enjoyed and liked while playing them and listening back to the recordings.

Although I totally loved the vintage NY Meyer alto mouthpiece, I wonder if the extra fatness, brightness and edge of the new NY Meyer might make it an alto sax mouthpiece the would cut through in the mix of a big band or modern band with amps and electronic instruments easier than the vintage NY Meyer alto mouthpiece.  I can’t answer that without playing in a live situation with both mouthpieces though.  Jimmy Jensen has played both of these alto sax mouthpieces so maybe he can answer that question in more detail…….

I will say, that I would be the first in line if JJ Babbitt made another version of this new NY Meyer mouthpiece with a slightly smaller chamber like the medium chamber of the vintage NY Meyer mouthpiece in this review.  I think the added focus and sweetness to the tone that is in the vintage NY Meyer is a really attractive quality to have in an alto sax mouthpiece.

These are some of my own observations from playing these two mouthpieces and listening to the clips afterwards.   Feel free to listen to the clips below and let me know what you think in the comments below.   Thanks,   Steve

New NY Meyer Alto Mouthpiece Refaced By Jimmy Jensen to a .074 Tip Opening-Ishimori Woodstone 3 1/2 Reed

Vintage NY Meyer Alto Mouthpiece Refaced By Jimmy Jensen to a .071 Tip Opening-Ishimori Woodstone 3 1/2 Reed

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I was excited to hear that Theo Wanne was releasing a new tenor saxophone mouthpiece called the Gaia 3 a few months ago and asked Theo if I could review it.  I had reviewed the original Gaia tenor saxophone mouthpiece back in 2009 and it was one of  the best tenor saxophone mouthpieces I had reviewed in my opinion. Original Gaia Tenor Mouthpiece Review  It had a beautiful lush, smooth as butter tone that I absolutely loved, but at the end of my time with the original Gaia tenor mouthpiece, I decided to send it back rather than purchase it because I felt like the original Gaia didn’t have the brightness and power I needed as a working sax player.

Years later, Theo came out with a Gaia 2 tenor sax mouthpiece which I tried also.  Unfortunately, I didn’t review that tenor sax mouthpiece, but I remember the Gaia 2 sax mouthpiece was brighter and had more power than the original Gaia but I felt it had lost the round, fat, lush character in the tone that I loved about the original Gaia tenor sax mouthpiece.   I ended up returning the Gaia 2 mouthpiece also………

That brings us to the Gaia 3 tenor saxophone mouthpiece that I am reviewing today.  I was very excited to try this tenor sax mouthpiece out and see where Theo and his team had taken the Gaia 3 concept to.

Theo Wanne Gaia 3 7* Metal Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

Theo Wanne sent me a gold plated Gaia 3 tenor sax mouthpieces as well as a hard rubber Gaia 3 tenor sax mouthpiece to check out.  Both saxophone mouthpieces are 7* tip openings which is my preferred tip opening on tenor sax mouthpieces with low to medium height baffles these days.

The mouthpieces were shipped with the usual high standards of the Theo Wanne company.  Each mouthpiece comes in a perfectly designed box with stylish gold printing on it with all the details of the mouthpiece inside.  Inside the box is a beautiful leather looking mouthpiece case. Each mouthpiece has a ligature included with it as well as a high quality perfectly designed card with specific direction on how to adjust the ligatures, the affects on the saxophone tone when the ligature is in different positions and directions on how to change the pressure plates on the ligatures.

The mouthpieces come with a reed replacer cap which is on the mouthpiece where the reed goes and the ligature is tightened down on the reed replacer cap to protect the mouthpiece in shipping and when you are not playing it.  Although the reed replacer cap is a cool idea, the Gaia 3 mouthpiece does not come with a “regular” mouthpiece cap that you slide on the mouthpiece over the reed and around the ligature.  This is a bit surprising as Theo has dialed in every detail pertaining to his mouthpieces and yet there is no mouthpiece cap for these mouthpieces as of yet!  (*I did find that a Vandoren leather mouthpiece cap for metal mouthpieces I have fit on the Gaia 3 and around the ligature perfectly so that is what I have been using with this mouthpiece over the last month.)

Theo Wanne Gaia 3 7* Metal Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

As you can see below, the ligature on the Gold Gaia 3 mouthpiece is connected to the mouthpiece through screws on the ligature that tighten into holes on the sides of the mouthpiece.  The mouthpiece comes with a hex screwdriver that can be used to loosen these screws and move the ligature forward or backwards in relation to the reed and mouthpiece table.

I personally liked the ligature in the middle hole setting of the five holes as it puts the ligature plate towards the rear of the reed allowing the reed to vibrate and flex freely but not so far back that I feel it might not put enough pressure on the reed to seal.  I did experiment with the ligature up closer towards the reed tip but felt like the middle hole placement was the best for me.

Although I really like the built in ligature on the gold Gaia 3 tenor mouthpiece, it is really best if you have a set reed strength you use and get the ligature in the right position for you.  Many times when I am putting on new reeds, I tend to play around with the adjustment of the ligature to try to positively affect the reed response for the better.  You can’t do this easily with the Theo Wanne built in ligature because you have to loosen the screws and then tighten them back up in the new spot.  Although, if I was playing this mouthpiece all the time and figured out my favorite brand and reed strength,  I would have no problem using the built in ligature all the time if it responded well with the reeds.

Theo Wanne Gaia 3 7* Metal Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

Even before you look at the mouthpieces themselves, everything about the Theo Wanne packaging and presentation just speaks to quality and high standards.  Just the process of opening the package and unpacking the mouthpiece brings about an excitement and anticipation that this mouthpiece you are about to play is going to be amazing!

Here is how the Theo Wanne website describes the new Gaia 3 tenor saxophone mouthpiece:

The GAIA 3 lends itself well to a traditional Jazz taste, but due to its amazing flexibility, it is at home in any style of playing.   It comes in 24K gold plated or a unique thin-body premium hard rubber which has amazing vibratory qualities.

The GAIA 3 has a medium roll-over Shark Gill baffle, precision-sculpted inner sidewalls, and our True-Large-Chamber  which is similar to the vintage mouthpieces of the 1940s but more evolved in design. Take a close look at our baffles, rails, and True-Large-Chambers, you will see they are manufactured with a quality and accuracy higher than any other mouthpiece ever made, vintage or new!

SOUND

• Built to outplay Theo’s very best Vintage Florida Otto Link. Theo succeeded!!!
• Inspired by the genius of Dexter Gordon.
• Full, rich, and fat traditional sound with a big projection and plenty of edge.

DESIGN

• Includes our True Large Chamber! Rounded inner side walls all the way to the tip. Perfectly sculpted roll-over baffle.
• Crafted to the highest accuracy in the history of saxophone mouthpieces.
• Designed by Theo Wanne, the foremost expert on the design and manufacturing of vintage and new mouthpieces.

DETAILS

• Case: Beautiful Leatherette Case! 
• Serial Number: Includes serial number showing care given to your mouthpiece.
• Plating: Reticulated 24K Gold plating with highlights on globe logo on metal mouthpiece.
• Premium Hard Rubber: The Hard Rubber GAIA 3 uses the finest vintage style hard rubber on the planet!
• Ligature: The metal GAIA 3 includes our integrated two-point contact 24K Gold Plated Liberty Ligature and Alive Gold pressure plate. The Hard Rubber GAIA 3 includes the Enlightened Ligature, rated #1 ligature in the world. To truly individualize your sound, try our premium Pressure Plates, which fit all of our mouthpieces and ligatures!.
• Cap: Patented Reed Replacer Cap. The most secure cap in the world.
• Bite Pad: User Replaceable Bite Pads allow you to peel and stick on new bite pads. Try our varying hardness bite pads to personalize the feel.

Theo Wanne Gaia 3 7* Metal Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

The mouthpiece itself has a beautiful gold engraving and a perfect looking symmetry and beauty to it.  The mouthpiece engraving is as perfect as can be.  Not a flaw or mistake anywhere.  Each mouthpiece has a unique serial number on it which I really love as I know which mouthpiece is mine and if I decide to sell a mouthpiece everyone knows from the serial number that this is the mouthpiece I reviewed on my site.

The tip, rails, baffle, table and chamber all look perfect as well. Smooth, even, symmetrical…….flawless.  The sidewalls are scooped out and the baffle is a medium height long rollover baffle that ends at a scooped out curve where the large chamber begins. To give you an idea of the size of the chamber, it is larger than a typical Otto Link chamber.  Of all my mouthpieces, I think the chamber is closest in size to a NY Otto Link tenor mouthpiece I have in my collection but might be even bigger with the scooped out section at the chambers entrance.

The new Gaia 3 tenor sax mouthpiece has a new baffle design with what Theo calls a “Shark Gill baffle”.  You can see these lines in the picture below.  Matt Ambrose at Theo Wanne mouthpieces describes the new Gaia 3 mouthpiece like this on a SOTW (Sax on the Web) post about the mouthpiece:

The Gaia 3 is the culmination of a LOT of experimentation, prototypes, and trial and error. Theo figured out kind of a break-through in rollover baffle design that is really significant. I’m usually pretty conservative when talking about our mouthpieces and new features and designs because I’m sensitive to the fact that too much sensationalism can be seen as hype—this is not hype. More projection, more complex tone, super quick response, the Gaia 3 is a significant step forward in my opinion. There are some chamber geometry changes as well, and also notable are the precision grooves in the baffle (see picture below). We have experimented with acoustics and airflow for many years and developed this design to augment the efficiency of the mouthpiece. We are really proud of the Gaia 3.

Here is Theo’s take on the Gaia 3 tenor mouthpiece in his own words from the same post on SOTW (Sax on the Web):

In many ways I consider the GAIA 3 to be my crown jewel of mouthpiece design to date. It has a large chamber with a roll-over baffle mouthpiece like an Otto Link. But the similarities actually end there; it is otherwise a very different mouthpiece. It has a very uniquely shaped large chamber, the window is much wider and longer, the baffle is an all-together new design too. I’m not talking about the obvious shark-gill baffle lines, but the shape of the baffle both side to side and lengthwise. A lot of research and development went into this mouthpiece, and as a company we are very proud of it. 

I know the shark-gill baffle is the obvious visible feature, so I’ll mention that it works with boundary layer effect similar to how a sharks rough skin helps it glide faster through water, or how the dimples on a golf ball help it travel with less resistance through the air. I’ve enjoyed experimenting with this principle as many of the effect of it are counter intuitive, which makes experimenting fun  

We launched the GAIA 3 at the NAMM show and have gotten just great feedback since. Often I wonder if others will like a new design as much as I do when designing it, however, the GAIA 3 feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Just now got an email about the GAIA 3 from Jan Garbarek, so figure I’d share: “The GAIA 3 played perfectly right from the very first note. A little bit like coming home, really. Once in a while it happens. Its simply a great piece, congratulations! A leap forward from my point of view. Sometimes I get all excited about a piece, but then, when I play it in an actual concert, I recognize weaknesses, and I realize it will take too much work and no guarantees to try to overcome the problem areas. That hasn’t happened here. All I find so far are possible areas to explore and develop. Kind of inspiring, actually….”. 

Theo Wanne Gaia 3 7* Metal Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

I play tested the The Wanne Gaia 3 tenor mouthpiece with some Rigotti Gold 3-3 1/2 tenor saxophone reeds as well as some Boston Sax Shop 2 1/2-3 saxophone reeds that I have been using over the last few months also.  Both brands of reeds lined up perfectly with the tip rail of the Gaia 3 and played great.

I provided five sound clips with a variety of reeds below as I think the tone was slightly different when using the different reeds.  I know five is a lot but I honestly had a hard time figuring out which reed and clips I liked the best.  I probably recorded 10 clips but in the end decided to post four of them and one with reverb added.

• The 1st was with a Rigotti Gold 3 Light reed and is just me noodling.
• The 2nd was with a BSS (Boston Sax Shop) 2 1/2 reed (although the BSS 3 reed was killer also…..)
• The 3rd clip is with a Rigotti Gold 3 1/2 Light reed. It started as me noodling but then I went into the Max Ionata solo on “Home at Last” that I have been trying to memorize.
• The 4th clip is more noodling on another Rigotti 3 1/2 reed but then I go into a repetitive  groove that I thought was kind of neat although I way overplayed it.   Sorry!
• The 5th clip is the same as the 4th clip but with reverb added just for the heck of it.

Theo Wanne Gaia 3 7* Metal Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

So, what did I think of the new Gaia 3 tenor sax mouthpiece?  I thought it played incredibly well.  At a soft volume,  the Gaia 3 mouthpiece has a smooth lushness that reminds me of the original Gaia mouthpiece that I absolutely loved.  When pushed,  the Gaia 3 tenor mouthpiece can play with much more volume than the original Gaia.  With a harder reed like the Rigotti Gold 3 1/2 Light it can really wail!  Although the extra volume can be substantial,  the Gaia 3 tenor sax mouthpiece doesn’t get overly bright or edgy like many mouthpieces do when you push them.  It seems to me that the more I pushed it, the more focused and in your face it would get which is what you want in a working sax players mouthpiece.

I felt like the Gaia 3 mouthpiece also had a great balance between being focused in tone but also a tone that is fat in character and substance.  The softer reeds gave it a more smooth, fat and lush tone and the harder reeds gave it a more complex and overtone full tone with more highs to my ear.

There was a quality to the sound that is hard for me to put into words also. The richness and character made me feel like I was listening to something original, authentic and real. The tone seemed like it had multiple layers to it perhaps.  I’m not even sure what all this means but this is how I felt listening back to different parts of the clips.

The tone was even throughout the range of the horn which made faster lines sound really even and smooth.  The altissimo was easy to play and the intonation was excellent.

Theo Wanne Gaia 3 7* Metal Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

I really think Theo Wanne hit a home run with this new Gaia 3 tenor saxophone mouthpiece.  There was a round smoothness to the original Gaia that I absolutely loved but I felt like it didn’t have the power I wanted.   The Gaia 2 had more of the power but I felt like it lost the round smoothness I loved with the original.  With the Gaia 3 mouthpiece, I hear the smoothness and lushness in the tone that I loved with the original but also the power that is easily available when it is pushed.

I felt like the Rigotti Gold reeds gave the Gaia 3 tenor sax mouthpiece a little more brightness and edge while the Boston Sax Shop reeds gave it a bit of a darker huskier tone.  The harder Rigotti 3 1/2 reeds were still easy to play and didn’t get all stuffy and tubby sounding like harder reeds  can sometimes do on other mouthpieces.  Listen to the sound clips below and decide for yourself.  (The Star Wars quote in clip 4 and 5 was not on purpose but once I was in to it, it was too late to escape Darth Vader’s calling……..)

The coolest thing I love about the Gaia 3 tenor sax mouthpiece is that I feel like there is a lot of exploration to do with it.  Many mouthpieces that I review, I play them and feel like I have them figured out.  How they sound, what they can do, etc……. I feel like if I played the mouthpiece for years it would still be pretty much the same result.

Even though I have been playing the Gaia 3 for a month, I feel like there is a lot of exploration still to do with it.  This is exciting for me because I feel like if I keep playing it and working with it that new avenues and pathways will be opened up.  I think part of that feeling stems from the fact that it is so reed friendly.  I still don’t know which reed is the best because so many reeds play so well on it.  This is exciting for me because I have a feeling I won’t get bored with it.

Theo Wanne Gaia 3 7* Metal Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

Next up to review is the hard rubber Gaia 3 which I found to be a bit darker sounding than the metal Gaia 3 mouthpiece.  After reviewing the hard rubber Gaia 3 mouthpiece, I hope to do a side by side review of both Gaia 3 tenor sax mouthpieces by playing the same songs and lines on both sound clips so that we can compare and talk about the differences between a metal mouthpiece and a hard rubber mouthpiece that look and feel identical to me.  Does the material make a difference?  We will see………

If you like the sound and look of the new Gaia 3 tenor sax mouthpiece by Theo Wanne, you can find them at Theowanne.com. I have agreed to be an affiliate for Theo Wanne as of this review so if you purchase a Gaia 3 tenor saxophone mouthpiece from this link, neffmusic.com will receive an 8% commission on the sale. (This helps to pay for my site and keep the saxophone related reviews and articles coming to you…..).   As an added bonus, if you use the coupon code NEFF10 when you checkout at Theowanne.com you can save 10% on the Gaia 3 tenor saxophone mouthpiece at checkout!

If you are lucky enough to play a Gaia 3 tenor saxophone mouthpiece or have any other thoughts or comments, I would love to hear what you think in the comments below.   Thanks,   Steve

Theo Wanne Gaia 3 7* Metal Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece-Rigotti Gold 3 Light Reed

Theo Wanne Gaia 3 7* Metal Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece-BSS (Boston Sax Shop) 2 1/2 Reed

Theo Wanne Gaia 3 7* Metal Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece-Rigotti Gold 3 1/2 Light Reed-Selmer 404 Ligature playing some of Max Ionata’s Solo on Home at Last

Theo Wanne Gaia 3 7* Metal Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece-Rigotti Gold 3 1/2 Light Reed-Selmer 404 Ligature-Noodling then into a Funky Groove that goes on way too long……Dry

Theo Wanne Gaia 3 7* Metal Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece-Rigotti Gold 3 1/2 Light Reed-Selmer 404 Ligature-Same as the clip above but with added Reverb

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Today, I am reviewing a Morgan Excalibur Indiana model tenor saxophone mouthpiece made by Erik Greiffenhagen, at Morgan mouthpieces.  Morgan mouthpieces used to be owned by Ralph Morgan who sadly passed away in 2007.  Ralph worked designing instruments and mouthpieces for Selmer for many decades and in the early 80’s started his own mouthpiece company after retiring from Selmer.

After Ralph passed away, the company continued on under the ownership of David and Teresa Hoskins as well as the mouthpieces craftsmanship of Erik Greiffenhagen, John MacQueen and Brian Powell who worked side by side with Ralph Morgan for many years.

I have reviewed a number of Morgan mouthpieces in the past that you can find here on this page. This Morgan Excalibur Indiana tenor sax mouthpiece that I am reviewing today is a newer model that I am excited about trying out!

Morgan Excalibur Indiana Model Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

I was lucky enough to speak with Ralph Morgan shortly before he passed away in 2007.  I had just started my website at neffmusic.com and Ralph saw that I was reviewing and writing articles about saxophone mouthpieces and he reached out to me.   I called him back and I remember talking to him for a couple of hours.

It is an understatement to say how interesting and knowledgable Ralph Morgan was about the subject of saxophones.  He seemed to have an endless amount of stories about so many famous saxophone players and knew so many details about the history of the saxophone and sax mouthpieces that it was like talking to a walking encyclopedia of saxophone knowledge.  The hour or two we talked flew by and I remember hanging up the phone so grateful that Ralph Morgan had shared his valuable time with me.

Although Ralph is no longer with us, I am glad his legacy lives on through the people at Morgan mouthpieces. Here is a page on Ralph Morgan and the history of Morgan mouthpieces if you want to know more about him.

Morgan Excalibur Indiana Model Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

Here are a few words describing the Morgan Excalibur Indiana model tenor mouthpiece from the Morgan mouthpieces website:

Morgan Excalibur Tenor Indiana Model Saxophone Mouthpiece

   This is a newer model introduced during the Summer of 2017 and was designed master crafter  Erik Greiffenhagen.  This saxophone mouthpiece model was inspired by the early Babbitt Otto Links made in Indiana shortly after the Babbitt purchase of Otto Link.  

Mouthpiece Features

• Slender, streamline body size (similar to metal)
• Dark and rich centered tones with more edge
• Powerful response in upper and lower registers
• Large round chamber
• Flat, clam shell style baffle (like early Babbitt link)
• Thin interior walls (more edge and brilliance)
• Quick Response
• Includes Rovner Legacy ligature and cap

    The Morgan Jazz Mouthpieces are handcrafted the “Vintage” way.  Ralph Morgan started the company with the purpose of bringing back the lost art and science of truly handcrafted mouthpieces.  Our materials, tools, and process of making mouthpieces are identical to the manufacturers of the 1940s and 1950s.  We start with our 100% pure rubber formula, we mold and cure our mouthpieces to our exact specifications.  No machines are used in the cutting and shaping of our mouthpieces.  We cut our facings and shape the chambers and baffles all by hand.  Our craftsmen are among the most experienced in the world with 80+ years experience among the three of them.  This is a true handcrafted pure hard rubber tenor saxophone mouthpiece.

 CL (Classical), L (Large), FL (Florida), IN (Indiana), NY (New York), M (Medium)

Tip Openings: 7 (.095), 8 (.100), 8* (.105) 9(.110) & 9*(.115) (subject to change based on demand). 

Handmade in the USA since 1984.

Morgan Excalibur Indiana Model Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

The Morgan Excalibur Indiana tenor saxophone mouthpiece looks great to the eye as I took it out the packaging.  As with all Morgan mouthpieces, it is hand engraved with the Morgan logo and details about the mouthpiece.  This is certainly not fancy and perfect machine engraving but I like the personal touch and thought of someone engraving these details into the mouthpiece by hand just like Ralph used to do.

This mouthpiece is an 8* tip opening which measures out to a .105 tip opening.  For most of the other tenor mouthpieces out there this would be considered a 7* but for some reason Morgan mouthpieces has numbered their tip opening differently.

The mouthpiece has a smaller diameter than many hard rubber tenor sax mouthpieces.  It is closer to the diameter of an alto sax mouthpiece than a hard rubber tenor sax mouthpiece.  I ended up using a Vandoren Optimum alto sax ligature on it that fit well.  The beak also looks and feels slimmer than a typical hard rubber tenor mouthpiece beak height.

The table, side rails, tip rail, baffle and chamber all look well crafted.  The side rails look even as they narrow heading towards the tip rail. The tip rail looks thin and fairly even although the left side of the rail looks a tiny bit wider than the right side.  This is no big deal for me as what I care about most is how a mouthpiece plays and the Morgan Excalibur Indiana played well and was very reed friendly.

Morgan Excalibur Indiana Model Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

The baffle is a rollover clam shaped baffle that reminds me of the baffle shape and size in a vintage Otto Link Early Babbitt tenor sax mouthpiece.  Since the Morgan Excalibur Indiana is described as “inspired” by the Early Babbitt hard rubber Otto Link I can see why the baffles would be similar.  The baffle starts out pretty high and rolls over after about 3/8ths of an inch.  The side rails are scooped out and the baffle looks to have a scoop shape to it as it travels down into the large chamber.

The Morgan Excalibur Indiana tenor sax mouthpiece played well with Rigotti Gold reeds but I noticed a bit of brightness and edge on those reeds so I also performed a sound clip with some BSS (Boston Sax Shop) reeds that are a bit darker than the Rigotti reeds.  I recorded a clip on each reed so that you could compare the differences in sound between the two reeds.

Morgan Excalibur Indiana Model Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

The Morgan Excalibur Indiana had a focused tone that leaned to what I would consider the bright side of a tenor tone in my opinion.  It had a blend of focus with a spread to it that seemed like a nice balance between those two descriptions of tone.  I would say that the softer I played the more spread the tone was and the more air I put through the horn and the louder I played the more focused it could become.  It had a good amount of volume when pushed which is an important consideration when you are choosing a mouthpiece to gig with.

The Rigotti Gold reeds seemed brighter to me than the BSS 2 1/2 reed I also tried on it.  The BSS reeds seemed to have less of a buzz to them and a darker tone to me.  Maybe a bit richer and more complex in sound but as I listened back to the clips I thought the Rigotti reed had more higher partials in the tone which you could consider as “richer” also.  I guess it depends on what your definition of these terms are and whether you prefer a brighter tone or darker and warmer tone.

The altissimo was excellent with both reeds and the intonation was very good as well.  The articulation was clean and precise.

The Morgan Excalibur Indiana mouthpiece is advertised as having thinner interior walls which is part of what makes it a smaller diameter mouthpiece.  I’m not sure if I heard this from Ralph years ago or just someone on the internet but I have heard that these thinner walls increase the resonance, brightness and response of the mouthpiece.   I did feel like I could feel more of a connection between this mouthpiece as far as vibration and sound in my head than I do with many other hard rubber mouthpieces.  Maybe that is due to the thinner beak and walls and the type of hard rubber used?   Not sure of the cause but that is how I felt playing it.

Morgan Excalibur Indiana Model Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

On the clip below,  I tried to show a variety of different sounds that the mouthpiece could get when I was playing it.  As is my habit lately, I have added an additional clip with reverb as well.  I feel this is important because sometimes listener’s get fooled by a “dry” recording of a sax mouthpiece.  They think it is too bright, or thin or maybe even dead sounding but that is only because it is recorded in a “dry” recording environment which is what you are supposed to do for the best recording.  Trust me, a mouthpiece that is a little bright in a dry setting can be unbelievable in a big room with a natural reverb or through a mic with a little bit of added reverb. Honestly, as a gigging musician my choice of mouthpieces have always been the ones who have that brightness and punch that comes alive when on a gig.   That’s my preference anyways………

Morgan Excalibur Indiana Model Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

I want to thank David and Teresa Hoskins at Morgan mouthpiece for sending me this Morgan Excalibur Indiana tenor saxophone mouthpiece to try out and review. Thank you for continuing Ralph Morgan’s business and continuing his legacy so that the next generation of sax players will know his name and something about his passion and artistry that he passed on to Erik, John and Brian as they continue to do work that Ralph would be proud of.

If you are curious about Morgan mouthpieces, check out the Morgan mouthpiece website for more information on them.   If you try one, be sure to come back here and tell us what you think in the comments below.    Steve

Morgan Excalibur Indiana Model Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece-Rigotti Gold 3 Light Reed

Same Clip with Added Reverb-Morgan Excalibur Indiana Model Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece-Rigotti Gold 3 Light Reed

Morgan Excalibur Indiana Model Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece-BSS (Boston Sax Shop) 2 1/2 Reed

Same Clip with Added Reverb-Morgan Excalibur Indiana Model Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece-BSS (Boston Sax Shop) 2 1/2 Reed

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Derek Brown has a Youtube channel called “Beatbox Sax”.  While most of us mere mortals are just trying to figure out how to play the sax the normal way (or should I say the way that is most “common”), Derek is one of those rare individuals that is breaking new ground with the saxophone.  Check out the two videos below and you will quickly realize that this guy is not your average sax player.

It is obvious that Derek Brown is a master of what we call extended techniques for the saxophone.  When I was a young student at Ithaca College  studying classical saxophone I heard some of these classical techniques used in more modern classical saxophone pieces.  I thought they were strange sounding and wasn’t sure what to make of them.  Derek is taking many of those same techniques and using them for a very different result though.  I have to give the guy props,  the amount of time and practice he must have used to master these different elements and techniques just boggles my mind. I posted a number of tutorials  on these extended saxophone techniques that Derek posted on Youtube that you can find here Beatbox Sax Tutorials.

Here is a great Youtube interview by Jay Metcalf at Better Sax with Derek Brown.  Derek is an honest down to earth guy with extraordinary abilities on the saxophone.  In this interview, Derek reveals his super powers as a “slow learner”.  I found it fascinating and refreshing to listen to and I hope you do as well……..   Steve

The Secret Super Power of a Slow Learner-Derek Brown Beatbox Sax

Below is another great video I found and have added to this post of some really cool modifications that Derek Brown has made to his P. Mauriat System 76 tenor saxophone that I thought you might find interesting also…….

Derek Brown’s Beatbox Sax Modifications Video

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I decided to offer a free video lesson on my book The New Ultimate II-V-I Primer-Major Keys (Digital PDF Book) for everyone. I have sold many of these books and really want to make sure that everyone is getting the most they can out of them.  You can consider this an “overview” lesson on the various chapters in the book.  I cover tips on the best way to use the book as well as demonstrating the various exercises so you can have a better understanding of how to use the book.  Here is a description of the book:

The purpose of this book is to give beginner to intermediate jazz improvisers a complete method to learn all the notes in a II-V-I progression in a systematic and organized way.  I have written this book so that it starts with the simplest of exercises and progresses to more advanced exercises as you work through the book.  It is very important that you take the time to fully master each exercise before moving on to the next one.  For example, if you are having trouble playing through the 12 keys II-V-I play along with just roots and thirds, then it doesn’t make sense to move on to the 1, 3 and 5 exercises.  You will just become overloaded and frustrated.  On the other hand, if you master the root and thirds lesson then when you add the 5th to the exercises you can just focus all of your attention on learning just the 5th.

The New Ultimate II-V-I Primer-Major Keys (Digital PDF Book) 14.99

The book is divided up into 10 lessons. Each lesson is focused on adding one note to each chord of a II-V-I progression. I give you a number of patterns for each new note that is added.  The goal of these patterns is to master the new note in relationship with each chord and to add these new notes to the notes mastered in the previous lessons.  I’ve written the patterns out in a number of different combinations that I think sound good.  Mastering these patterns will give you a multitude of melodic options while improvising.

After the patterns in each lesson, I give you 10 examples of how to apply 10  different approaches to the patterns already studied.  These approaches help to connect the chord tones from measure to measure as well as multiplying the various lines and ideas you can use over the progression.  Although this section only gives you 10 examples, you should apply the approaches liberally to the patterns studied so that you can come up with your own lines and melodies. 

The last section of each lesson is focused on giving you some ideas to use to create more melodic lines.  Many times students who are studying and learning patterns have trouble making the jump from pattern to melodic improvisation.  For this reason, in each lesson I give you 5 melodic lines based off of the patterns and approaches and give you some insights into why they sound good and how I created them.  Your goal should not be to just regurgitate patterns while you solo but rather to use the patterns and ideas to truly improvise.   Each practice session should end with a time of improvisation where you try to use what you have learned to create your own lines and melodies.  I stress this concept throughout the book.-Steve Neff

The New Ultimate II-V-I Primer-Major Keys (Digital PDF Book) 14.99

The Ultimate II-V-I Primer Free Overview Lesson

I hope you enjoy the lesson and find it useful.  There are 600+ more lessons in my Neffmusic store on a variety of subjects to check out.  If you have a question on anything in the lesson feel free to email me or send a message and I will do my best to answer your questions. If this lesson stirs your curiosity in my The Ultimate II-V-I Primer-Major Keys book,  you can purchase one below as a PDF you can download immediately after purchase.  As I talk about in the video, the book is in all 12 keys and is 739 pages long.  I suggest only printing out one key and then trying to play the exercises in the other 12 keys without looking at the book if possible.  Thanks,   Steve

The New Ultimate II-V-I Primer-Major Keys (Digital PDF Book) 14.99

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I just completed a new saxophone video lesson entitled “The Best Embouchure for Tone, Intonation and Endurance Lesson” in which I teach my approach to the saxophone playing embouchure and playing the saxophone.  While working on the sax lesson, I thought it would be a cool idea to search the internet for good photos of famous sax player’s embouchures.  The photos I found are below.

The Best Embouchure for Tone, Intonation and Endurance Lesson Only 9.99

The word embouchure means “the way in which a player applies the mouth to the mouthpiece of a brass or wind instrument”. There are probably as many variations of embouchures as there are saxophone players in the world.  Each a little different, each a bit unique.  The goal of my lesson and this article is to see what commonalities we can find.  In my video lesson I am teaching my opinion and approach to embouchure based off of what I have learned and noticed through my many years of playing the saxophone.  Here is the description of the lesson:

In this new video lesson, The Best Embouchure for Tone, Intonation and Endurance Lesson, I give you the inside scoop on my approach to the saxophone embouchure.  I talk about my journey with different embouchures and when I realized that there was a better way to play my sax in regards to the embouchure.  I teach you how this type of embouchure effects your tone, intonation, sub-tone and endurance.  I show you first hand how to do it and talk about how to practice this type of embouchure.  Lastly, I will be posting a blog article with photos of great players like Dexter, Coltrane, Brecker, as well as many others doing what I believe is exactly what I am teaching in this video.(37 Minute Video Lesson)

*The teachings in this video on playing the saxophone are based on my experience.  They are based on my opinions that have been formed over many years of playing and teaching the saxophone. I understand that others might approach embouchure, tonguing, voicing and playing the saxophone in a different way entirely and that is ok.  This lesson is based off of the approach that I have found to be the best for me and hopefully it will benefit you as well.    Steve 

Dexter Gordon Embouchure-Lady Bird Video

The photo above is taken from the iconic Dexter Gordon video on Youtube of Dexter playing on Lady Bird.  This is my “go to” video when I am teaching a sax student about the embouchure.  Notice the bottom lip and the downward tilt of the head.  Watch the video and you will see the effortless movement of Dexter’s lower jaw as he sub-tones.  All these topics are talked about and illustrated in my lesson also.  You can see a sample of the video lesson here when clicking on the lesson sample tab.

John Coltrane Embouchure

John Coltrane!  Notice bottom lip and slight downward tilt of the head.

Another John Coltrane Embouchure

Johnny Griffin Embouchure

Johnny Griffin!  Not as much of a downward tilt of the head but notice the bottom lip and bottom jaw retracted in what looks like a sub-tone position.

Benny Golson Embouchure

Benny Golson with a similar bottom lip. So far the four great tenor players above all have bunched up chins!  I don’t know about you, but I was taught by a few sax teachers not to bunch up my chin but to point it down and try to make it flat.  Interesting!

Coleman Hawkins Embouchure

Coleman Hawkins with a similar bottom lip and bunched up chin.  If you would like more info on this approach to playing check out my 37 minute video lesson below where I talk about it in depth as well as it’s effect on tone, intonation, sub-tone and endurance.

The Best Embouchure for Tone, Intonation and Endurance Lesson Only 9.99

Sonny Rollins and Coleman Hawkins Embouchures

Two Tenor giants! Coleman Hawkins along side Sonny Rollins!  Wow!  Notice Sonny’s bottom lip rolled out.

Gene Ammons Embouchure

The incomparable Gene Ammons with a rollout of the bottom lip.  Where is your bottom lip when looking in a mirror while playing?

Young Michael Brecker Embouchure

The amazing Michael Brecker with a slight rollout and a bunched up chin. Michael has a thinner bottom lip than other guys but you can still see it slightly rolled out……..

Middle Aged Michael Brecker Embouchure

….and again……slight rollout and bunched chin……… Question:  How much pressure does it look like Brecker is putting on that reed in this photo?

Michael Brecker Embouchure in Full Sub-tone

….and again in full sub-tone.  Not the best photo but look at that bottom lip!

Max Ionata Embouchure

One of my favorite tenor players, Max Ionata!  Slight downward tilt of head and rolled out bottom lip……. If these help get a tone like Max’s tone.  Then they are certainly worth trying out!  Don’t worry about the mouthpiece yet, try experimenting with what they do first…..

Bob Mintzer Embouchure

Another of my favorite tenor players…. Bob Mintzer…….. downward tilt and rolled out.  Bottom jaw looks pulled back.

Chris Potter Embouchure

…..let’s not forget Chris Potter……..see the bottom lip and bunched chin muscles.

Young Joshua Redman Embouchure

Young Joshua Redman with downward tilt of the head and rolled out lower lip.

Middle Aged Joshua Redman Embouchure

same with middle aged Joshua Redman…..

Mark Turner Embouchure

Mark Turner.  Sax sits a bit higher but that bottom lip is most certainly rolled out a bit. Mark Turner always seems to have perfect posture!

Jerry Bergonzi Embouchure

The amazing Jerry Bergonzi.  No slight tilt of the head for Jerry in this photo but you can see some of the red of the bottom lip.

Charlie Parker Embouchure

Let’s get some alto players in here. Charlie Parker…….. No downward tilt for Bird but I see plenty of bottom lip!

Cannonball Adderley Embouchure

Cannonball Adderley………

Another Cannonball Adderley Embouchure

Phil Woods Embouchure

One of my idols when I was a young alto sax player in high school, Phil Woods!  You can see his bottom lip and bunched up chin……..

Paul Desmond Embouchure

I was curious about Paul Desmond as he has such a different and unique sound.  But even with Paul Desmond you can see a  downward tilt of the head and the bottom lip rolled out slightly.  His chin does look a bit pointed here in this photo though.

Kenny G Embouchure

Finally, To close the discussion once and for all, the incredibly “smooth” Kenny G. You can see the slight roll of his bottom lip in the photo above.  In my lesson below, I talk about the importance of thinking of the embouchure gripping the mouthpiece from the sides and not from top to bottom.  Kenny G might not subscribe to this teaching of mine though because he always looks like he is smiling when playing in this photo and many others I have seen with the corners of his mouth pulled back.  That’s ok though, he is Kenny G and what do his fans want to see?  Of course, Kenny smiling at them while playing the most loving melodies and lines dripping with smoothness and emotion.  It would make any heart melt at the very thought. (Except you hardhearted smooth jazz haters of course……)

That is it!  If you want to find out more about what I teach students in regard to embouchure, tone and intonation check out the 38 minute video lesson below.   Thanks for tuning in as we all talk about interesting saxophone topics.  See you next time……..   Steve

The Best Embouchure for Tone, Intonation and Endurance Lesson

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Today, I am reviewing an innovative new saxophone mouthpiece ligature I received from JLV Sound in France.  It is the JLV Sound Resurfacing Sax Ligature for hard rubber tenor saxophone mouthpieces.

This is not your everyday run of the mill saxophone ligature.  I have included quite a few photos and even a video presentation of the JLV ligature to get a full understanding of how this sax ligature works and functions.

JLV Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece Ligature

As you can see in the photos, this saxophone ligature by JLV Sound is really an innovative and technical creation that JLV has obviously spent a ton of time and thought in designing and creating.

JLV sent me three of these beautiful saxophone ligatures in three different finishes to review.  I received a 24k gold finish, a silver and gold finish and a raw brass finish.

JLV Saxophone Mouthpiece Ligature

I first saw these cool saxophone ligatures on Facebook a number of years ago and was intrigued by their unique design and setup.  Most mouthpiece ligatures are placed back on the bark of the reed but as you can see in the photo above, and the video below, JLV ligatures allow a sax player to place the front of their saxophone ligatures on the vamp of the saxophone reed as well.

The “old”, “set in my ways” part of my brain said this was foolishness.  In all my years of saxophone playing, I have never seen or heard of this being done with a saxophone ligature.  I must admit though, that the other side of my brain was intrigued by this and was very interested in trying one of these new ligatures out.

JLV Saxophone Mouthpiece Ligature Presentation Video

The three saxophone ligatures came in well made individual boxes that were lined with felt on the inside to protect the ligatures while in transit from France.

The ligatures looked very impressive and beautiful to me as I opened the individual boxes.  Each box holds one ligature as well as a small metal wrench tool that can be used to adjust the screws that move the pads on the inside of the ligature that touch the saxophone mouthpiece. These were obviously created so that the JLV ligature pads could be adjusted for different size hard rubber tenor sax mouthpieces.

JLV Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece Ligature

Here is a full description of the JLV Sound Resurfacing Ligatures from the JLV website:

AN INNOVATIVE CONCEPT AND AWARD WINNING DESIGN

Released harmonics and eased performance
The JLV Ligature’s unique design improves reeds vibrations over its whole length.
– Richer harmonics
– Accurate and very centered sound 
– Smoother staccatos in all registers
– Enriched tonal palette

A comfort and quality of sound that will suit professionals as well as passionate students.

Resurfacing feature
-The mobility of the floating base rectifies air leakages due to reed deformations
-This ligature enables musicians to save and optimize reeds increasing their quality and lifetime.
-Play the reeds that you once would throw out!

Adjustable sound amplitude
-Different sounds depending on the position of the base along the reed.

Suitable for right and left-handed use
-Base can be inverted to a player’s preference.

Side screws with set pads creating acoustic transmissions with the mouthpiece
-Every pad is set for a better grip while creating acoustic transmissions between the reed, the ligature and the mouthpiece.
-The side screws only need to be adjusted once to perfectly fit your mouthpiece.

THE FINISH IS NOT ONLY A MATTER OF LOOK BUT ALSO A MATTER OF THE SOUND
-Polished or brushed: A brighter sound. Regular wiping is necessary with a microfiber cloth
-Silver plated: A darker sound that may require maintenance from time to time
-Black Edition: A crisper sound. This carbon surfacing is stainless and almost unscratchable! Requires little maintenance.
-24k Gold plated: A warmer sound that requires little maintenance.

HIGH QUALITY MANUFACTURING, 100% MADE IN FRANCE

It took Jean-Luc Vignaud, inventor and professional saxophonist, nearly 10 years of research, engineering and sophistication to design the JLV Ligature.

The JLV Ligature is manufactured in France from high-grade materials. It is composed of two main parts, a base and a belt, both cut out of a single brass plate, before being assembled without soldering and placed in a box.

All JLV Ligatures for clarinet and saxophone carry a lifetime warranty!

JLV Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece Ligature

The JLV Sound Refinishing Saxophone Ligature has a floating metal plate on the bottom that makes contact with the reed at four corners with metal feet.  These are the only places that the ligature makes contact with the reed.

I describe the metal plate as floating because it feels loose and moves freely side to side and front to back on the ligature before placing it on the reed. As you tighten the ligature with the top screw, the floating plate tightens down on the reed until it is firm.  The bottom screw is just there to keep the plate in place on the ligature and has no role in tightening the ligature on the reed.

JLV Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece Ligature

In the photo above, I have places the ligature at the spot on the saxophone reed vamp that JLV suggests.  You can also see the side view in the photo below.

Besides these four metal feet holding the reed in place, the JLV ligature only touches the mouthpiece in two other areas.  Those are where the two rubber bumpers are on the ligature.  I would suspect that the goal of this type of ligature is to have less contact of the reed and mouthpiece by the ligature so that the reed is allowed to vibrate and respond more freely.

JLV Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece Ligature

In the two photos below, I have placed the JLV ligature further back on the bark of the reed.  The ligature is easy to move and adjust once it is loosened.  Once tightened the ligature holds the reed on the mouthpiece firmly.

I like the fact that the unique reed plate design allows the plate to be placed on the vamp of the reed if you so choose.  I don’t think any other saxophone ligature design can do this as the plates are mostly fixed and parallel to the reed and unable to hold the vamp of the reed down because of the angle of the vamp.

Although the reed is held firmly on the mouthpiece, I will warn that because the JLV sax ligature is only held on the saxophone mouthpiece with a minimum of contacts, the ligature can be moved quite easily by accident when adjusting the sax mouthpiece.  I would compare it to my Francois Louis ligature as far as stability or lack thereof. To protect against this, I would suggest adjusting the mouthpiece without touching the sax ligature at all.  For example, I adjusted my Otto Link mouthpiece in the photos by grabbing it around the shank of the mouthpiece and not touching the sax ligature at all.

JLV Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece Ligature

I found the JLV ligature interesting in that it did seem to allow reeds to work much better for me.  I compared it to a typical generic two screw tenor sax ligature I have and the JLV ligature consistently outperformed the generic ligature every time.  Reeds that were stuffy and kind of dead with the generic ligature were more free blowing, responsive and much more resonant with the JLV ligature.

I performed an experiment where I put a reed that was too hard for my Otto Link mouthpiece on with a generic metal ligature.  It was stuffy and hard to play as you would expect.  I then put on the JLV ligature without moving the reed at all and it was much more responsive and easier to play!

I found the tightness of the JLV is critical to the response of the reed.  Even with the harder reed, I could loosen the JLV ligature and the reed became even more responsive and playable.  Of course, if you loosen too much, the reed is barely held on to the table and will most likely move while playing so you have to experiment with the appropriate amount of tightness.  I found that having the ligature as loose as possible without allowing movement of the reed was the ideal tightness for me.

JLV Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece Ligature

I also tried a Boston Sax Shop 2 1/2 reed on my Early Babbitt Otto Link tenor mouthpiece and with the generic metal ligature the reed felt a little soft and small sounding.  I also noticed that my middle B sounded less full than the other notes on the saxophone for some reason.

I swapped the generic ligature out and put the JLV ligature on while making sure the reed didn’t move at all and noticed and insane improvement in my opinion. The middle B was now much fuller, thicker and even compared to the rest of the notes. The tone also seemed more focused, smoother and a bit darker to me.  I honestly loved the sound coming out of my horn and played for a couple of hours after switching to the JLV ligature.   It was hard to stop!

That positioning of the reed plate has a huge effect on the reed response and tone in my opinion.  I had to play around with the level of tightness of the ligature in that forward position because if it was too tight, I felt like the ligature was dampening the reed and restricting it.  If I loosened up the tightness though it became more free and responsive.

When the ligature is moved forward so the plate is on the beginning of the reed vamp the tone seems more focused and compact to me (reminded me of a classical saxophone type of tone).  When the ligature is moved back onto the bark of the reed the tone seems more resonant and rich to my ear.  I still found myself favoring the JLV ligature further back on the bark of the reed personally.

JLV Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece Ligature

The JLV saxophone ligature comes with a metal mouthpiece cap that slides into the bottom of the ligature and is held on the mouthpiece through that contact as you can see in the photo below.  The mouthpiece cap has some cushioning to protect the ligature as well as the tip and top of the beak of the mouthpiece.

I know that many of you might want me to compare this ligature with every other ligature on the market but I honestly do not have the time for that right now. As I use different ligatures with different mouthpieces,  I will decide over time which ligature I like the best and maybe in the future I can do a ligature comparison post.

Right now, after playing for a couple hours this morning with the JLV ligature, it is the clear winner for me over the generic metal ligature I was comparing it to.  No comparison in my mind.  The JLV saxophone ligature allows the reed to be more responsive and the quality of the tone is much richer and more pleasing to my ear.

JLV Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece Ligature

I know many of you are interested in the differences in sound between the different finishes of the JLV ligature also.  Although I did try the different finished ligatures and did notice differences, I really couldn’t tell if the differences were due to the finish of each ligature or the slightly different place the reed plate was on the reed as well as the different tightness of the ligature each time I swapped one out and put another on.  Due to this fact, I am going to refrain from commenting on the differences between the plating materials and how they effect the saxophone sound.  You can read JLV Sound’s opinion on this matter in the previous quote above in this review.

If you are interested in the JLV Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece Ligature, you can get one at the JLV website.  Thanks to JLV for creating an inventive and new ligature for the saxophone community and thank you for sending me a few of these JLV ligatures to review.

If you happen to try out a JLV ligature for yourself please come back and share your opinion in the comments below.        Thanks,   Steve

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Many of you might remember that I wrote an in-depth article about a year and a half ago on counterfeit vintage saxophone mouthpieces entitled “Buyer Beware! Counterfeit Vintage Saxophone Mouthpieces Galore“.

In that article, I included as much information and photo evidence of counterfeit vintage sax mouthpieces that were (and still are) flooding the saxophone mouthpiece market at the time.  My goal was simply to warn unsuspecting buyers that instead of getting an amazing deal on a vintage hard rubber saxophone mouthpiece, they might be buying a counterfeit sax mouthpiece made out of resin.

Stephan Kammerer of SK mouthpiece posted an informative Youtube video yesterday (which I posted below) that matches well with the details of my article from a year and a half ago.

*Important: In the video Stephan shows the yellow/brown dust created by refacing a hard rubber sax mouthpiece compared to the white/gray dust created by refacing a counterfeit resin sax mouthpiece.  Refacing requires a sanding of the table and facing curve by a professional refacer who knows what they are doing. He is in no way suggesting that you sand the table of your sax mouthpiece to see what color the dust is.  This will very likely change and perhaps ruin the facing curve of your saxophone mouthpiece.  If you want to check the color of the dust of your sax mouthpiece use the lightest sandpaper possible and only sand lightly on the shank end or inside the bore end of the saxophone mouthpiece.

These fake sax mouthpieces are still being sold to unsuspecting buyers and even resold on the marketplace by sax players who bought them and might not even know that what they have is a fake counterfeit saxophone mouthpiece.

Do yourself a favor and watch the video below as well as reading my article before purchasing a vintage saxophone mouthpiece on the internet. Thanks to Stephan Kammerer for taking the time to further educate the saxophone community about these counterfeit saxophone mouthpieces.

Here is a great interview of the tenor sax player and teacher George Garzone by Jay Metcalf of BetterSax that I just stumbled upon on Youtube today. I studied with George Garzone for a short time at Berklee College of Music in the late 80’s (I wish I could have studied more with him but I left Berklee soon after that).

The things I remember most about my sax lessons with George Garzone during that time is that he seemed intent on two things.

1.  To get me to tongue less (or even not at all)
2.  To get me to stop playing licks.

In the very first lesson, George asked me to play for him.  I played a couple of choruses of some standard, and afterwards, I remember George saying (in a very laid back and hip way) that I was tonguing way too much and that we had to work on not playing “licks”.

I have to admit that my weekly lesson with Mr. Garzone was very frustrating for me because I had spent close to ten years learning how to improvise in jazz by learning every “lick” I possibly could and now George Garzone was basically trying to teach me to “Stop playing those licks!”.

Although it was infuriatingly difficult to not play licks and tongue less, Mr. Garzone really opened a door for me mentally that I believe has had a huge impact on my playing and teaching over the years.  I still play my share of licks and patterns but every time I improvise I can hear that “Garzone” voice in my head telling me to “Stop doing that!”  “Change things up!” “Play something new, unexpected and unique!” “Stop being so predictable…..”

All that being said, I have to say that the highlight of those lessons with George Garzone is that once in a great while when he would stop and say “Now that’s what I’m talking about!” in regard to something that I just played.  I would be ecstatic but could I repeat what I just played?  No way!  I had no idea what I just played.  I guess that was whole point that Mr. Garzone was trying to teach me back then.  When you spontaneously improvise, it should be hard to repeat!

Thanks to George Garzone for all those lessons, all the Fringe gigs at the Willow in Somerville and all the standards he played at Copley Place.  I learned so much from all of them!

Check out this great interview and be sure to check out some of George Garzone’s recordings!  He’s the man!

Today, I am reviewing a couple of great new quality saxophone ligatures that I received from the Sax Clinic in North Macedonia. The Sax Clinic sent me a Sonus Divinus and Tonus Mundi model ligature for hard rubber tenor saxophone mouthpieces and a Sonus Divinus model ligature for Guardala sized metal tenor saxophone mouthpieces.  I have been using these ligatures for a number of months before reviewing them as I wanted to be sure of their quality and durability before reviewing them.

Sax Clinic SCV Tonus Mundi Saxophone Ligature

The Sax Clinic SCV Tonus Mundi saxophone ligature (photo above) is a string ligature with two adjustable bars on either side of the ligature. Here is a quote from the Sax Clinic website describing the SCV Tonus Mundi ligature:

The ligature is comprised of a mechanism for adjustment with laterally placed four moveable guides through which the cord moves easily. The guides ensure appropriate distance and the orientation of the cord. The sound with this ligature is more compact, focused, rich and smooth creating large resonance and a wide range of sound colors. The benefits of the Tonus Mundi ligature are listed as:

-Brass material and ceramic film
-Warmer tones
-Centered projection
-Locked-in intonation
-Free-floating
-Enhanced harmonics
-Maximized reed vibration
-Fuller and rounder sound
-Easy to set up
-Fast and Precise Response
-Secure grip to prevent slipping, when quickly changing mouthpieces
-Does not create scratches on the mouthpiece

Sax Clinic SCV Sonus Divinus Saxophone Ligature

The Sax Clinic SCV Sonus Divinus ligature (photo above) has a fixed metal piece on both sides of the ligature that is not adjustable.   Both Sax Clinic ligatures have an excellent design in that when the correct size is chosen for a particular mouthpiece, it is impossible for any of the metal parts of the ligature to come in contact with the mouthpiece and scratch it.  Both ligatures are designed so that the cords of the ligature are always against the mouthpiece and reed at all times.  Here is a description about the Sonus Divinus ligature from the Sax Clinic website:

“The ligature is comprised of a mechanism for adjustment with laterally placed two fixed guides through which the cord moves. The guides ensure appropriate distance and the orientation of the cord. With this ligature the reed vibrates in total freedom, producing a very flexible sound and a greater ease of expression and articulation. The benefits of the Sonus Divinus ligature are listed as:

-Brass material and ceramic film
-Warmer tones
-Easy response
-Locked-in intonation
-Free-floating
-Maximized reed vibration
-Stronger Projection
-Easy to set up
-Enhanced harmonics
-Equalizing the registers
-Dark, rich, focused, versatile
-Secure grip to prevent slipping, when quickly changing mouthpieces
-Does not create scratches on the mouthpiece

Sax Clinic SCV Tonus Mundi and Sonus Divinus Saxophone Ligature

The Sax Clinic ligatures come in a pretty fancy walnut wood box lined with felt that keeps the ligature well protected during shipping and makes opening the package pretty exciting.  I felt like a women getting her engagement ring in the mail!

The ligatures look and feel well designed, sturdy and durable.  There are no loose parts or cords hanging off the ligature that need to be tied or worried about.  The cords travel through the two bars at the top of the ligature and I don’t actually see where the cords start or end in the design.  I don’t see any way that the cords could dislodge or separate from the metal ligature mechanism. The ligature cords feel very strong, thick and sturdy to the touch.

Sax Clinic SCV Sonus Divinus Saxophone Ligature in it’s Walnut Wood Case

I mentioned above that I wanted to use these ligatures for a few months to test their quality and durability before writing the review.  My main concern was my fear that the cords of the ligature would stretch over time and repeated tightening of the ligature.  I have been using them now for about 6 months and the ligature cords have not stretched at all that I can tell.  I am very impressed with the quality and design of these Sax Clinic ligatures!  Here is quote from the Sax Clinic website:

“Sax Clinic SCV ligatures are made with non-stretching cord, avoiding any contact of the mouthpiece with the metal elements of the ligature that leads to minimizing undesirable vibrations between the mouthpiece and the reed. Usage of these ligatures provide warmer tones, stronger projection and better responsiveness during register changes. The ligatures provide the musicians with an opportunity to explore a broad tonal spectrum that will help them deliver their finest performance.”

Sax Clinic SCV Sonus Divinus Saxophone Ligature on a Hard Rubber Otto Link

Above, is a photo of the Sonus Divinus (size M) on a hard rubber Otto Link.  The ligature slides on easily with no contact except the cords on the mouthpiece and reed.   The ligature tightens easily by turning the screw at the top of the ligature.  It is hard to judge how much tightness and tension is on the reed by how easily the screw twists.  What I found helpful, is to loosely tighten the ligature and then test to see if the reed will move with pressure from my finger.  I found that, many times,  I didn’t have to tighten down the ligature as much as I thought I did to hold the reed firmly on the mouthpiece.  I have found that the looser the ligature tension, while still holding the reed firmly, usually gives me the best reed response and results.  I tend to not like the reed response when a ligature is over tightened.  When that happens, it feels and sound like the reed is dampened and choked in response and tone to me.

The down side of using minimum tightness on the reed like I describe above is that the ligature is then more prone to slip and slide when adjusting your mouthpiece.  The method that works best for me has been to tighten the ligature tight enough that it will not move on the mouthpiece, and then put it on my saxophone neck.  Once it is on securely, I tune up and then once I have found the best spot for intonation on the cork, I loosen the ligature gradually until I feel like it has the best response and biggest sound.  If I have to move the mouthpiece again for intonation, I can tighten the ligature tighter,  move the mouthpiece and then loosen the ligature again.   It is really easy to loosen or tighten the screw, even while playing, as it is a one screw mechanism.

Sax Clinic SCV Tonus Mundi  Saxophone Ligature on a Alexander Superial I Jazz Tenor Sax Mouthpiece

Above, is a photo of the Tonus Mundi ligature (Size M) for hard rubber tenor saxophone mouthpieces.  This has the sliding metal rods on either side of the ligature.   Although I did experiment with sliding the rods to different positions, it was hard to judge if this actually made a difference because every time I loosened and tightened the ligature it was probably at a slightly different tension on the reed.

I did play test and compare the Tonus Mundi ligature for hard rubber tenor sax mouthpieces with the Sonus Divinus ligature for hard rubber tenor sax mouthpieces.   It is hard to have a definitive opinion because the tension and tightness when comparing the two ligatures might be different but my observations were that the Tonus Mundi seemed to have a richer more complex tone when used and the Sonus Divinus was more free blowing and a little brighter.  Those were my impressions when play testing them.  I will admit that I doubt I could hear these perceived differences in tone if I took a blind listening test but those were my impressions while playing the two ligatures side by side.

I also want to add that a couple of times when I was using my metal Vandoren Optimum tenor sax ligature for a review, I took it off and put the Sax Clinic Tonus Mundi on and the improvement in tone was very noticeable.  Actually, I was working on an upcoming mouthpiece review for the Alexander Superial I Jazz tenor sax mouthpiece when this happened.  I was so struck by the improvement in richness of tone that I recorded the sound clip for that review with the Sax Clinic ligature instead of the Vandoren Optimum ligature like I had planned on. (That review will be posted shortly)

Sax Clinic SCV Sonus Divinus Saxophone Ligature on a Hard Rubber Otto Link

Notice in the photo above, that nothing contacts the reed except the cords of the ligature.  The thought behind this design of creating a cord ligature is not new as clarinet players have been tying their own cord and string ligatures for decades. The idea is that while the cord can hold the reed firmly, there is still a bit more vibrational flexibility to the material than there would be to a metal ligature or metal plate on the reed.

Sax Clinic SCV Sonus Divinus Saxophone Ligature on a Hard Rubber Otto Link (notice there is plenty of clearance between the tightening screw and mouthpiece body on top)

In the photo above, you can see that there is ample space between the tightening screw and the mouthpiece body.  I can’t even tell you how many mouthpiece bodies I have scratched and gouged by being careless with a Rovner ligature’s tightening screw over the years!  The tightening screw position is designed by Sax Clinic to be at a safe distance from the mouthpiece body so that the mouthpiece does not get scratched.

Sax Clinic SCV Tonus Mundi  Saxophone Ligature on a Alexander Superial I Tenor Sax Mouthpiece (I love the blue ligature color against the red marble)

As of the writing of this review, Sax Clinic does not have a ligature option for metal Otto Link tenor sax mouthpieces because of the elevated ridge on the top of metal Otto Link mouthpieces.  This was a major bummer to hear as I know that many tenor sax players have a favorite metal Otto Link (if not a bunch of them) in their case or drawers.   I was hoping that Vladimir at Sax Clinic would come up with a solution so that these Sax Clinic ligatures would work on a metal Otto Link mouthpiece but so far they haven’t been able to find a solution.  I certainly hope they do as I think these ligatures would be killer on a metal Otto Link tenor mouthpiece.

Sax Clinic SCV Sonus Divinus Saxophone Ligature on a Liu Shizhao Pilgrimage Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

Above, is the Sax Clinic Sonus Divinus model ligature (size S) that fits small metal tenor sax mouthpieces that are about the diameter of a Guardala tenor sax mouthpiece.  This ligature fit my Liu Shizhao Pilgrimage tenor sax mouthpiece perfectly and is designed to protect the metal of the mouthpiece by only allowing the cords to contact the mouthpiece.

Sax Clinic SCV Tonus Mundi and Sonus Divinus Saxophone Ligature on a Liu Shizhao Pilgrimage Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

The other detail about these ligatures that I really like is the colors.  The ligatures come in your choice of red, blue, green or yellow.  I don’t know, maybe it is the pandemic, but these bright and vibrant colors just bring a little bit more joy to my life as I use them, but that is just me.

The Sax Clinic SCV ligatures are quality ligatures that are easy to use and do the job of holding the reed on a mouthpiece in a reliable way.  I love the way they look and their positive effects on my saxophone tone in comparison to other ligatures I have compared them to so far.  These are great ligatures!

Sax Clinic SCV Tonus Mundi and Sonus Divinus Saxophone Ligature

If you are interested in trying a Sax Clinic Tonus Mundi or Sonus Divinus ligature you can order one from the Sax Clinic website. Sax Clinic has agreed to take 10% off the price of their ligatures to my readers when you use the coupon code 95XX5V3Y.  I will add that Vladimir at Sax Clinic has been exceptional at communicating and patient with me during this 6 month period.  He has sent me two packages during that time that arrived as expected from Macedonia and his customer service is excellent.  If you have questions on sizing or anything else related to the ligatures,  feel free to contact Vladimir through the Sax Clinic website.

If you try a Sax Clinic ligature or have any questions or thoughts pertaining to this review, feel free to leave a comment below.   I hope you find this review helpful,   Steve

Addition:  Two weeks after posting this review, I decided to post a couple of sound clips to compare the sound of the Sax Clinic Tonus Mundi ligature with my favorite Francois Louis Ultimate ligature for hard rubber tenor sax mouthpieces.  Both clips were recorded standing in the same spot with the same reed that was held firmly in place while I changed ligatures between clips.  I was surprised by the results.

Below is a photo of a representation of the sound clips from a program called Amadeus.  The sound waves to the left of the blue line are the Francois Louis Ultimate ligature and the sound waves to the right of the blue line are the Sax Clinic Tonus Mundi ligature. 

I thought I was playing the exact same volume but that the Tonus Mundi ligature made the reed more vibrant and richer sounding. It does look like the photo below from Amadeus backs this impression of mine up, which I thought was interesting.  The one variable besides my playing between this comparison is how tight each ligature was on the reed which I have no way of judging.  Check out the comparison sound clips below and let me know if you can hear a difference.  

A Photo of the sound clips next to each other on Amadeus. The first clip to the left of the blue line is the Francois Louis  Ultimate Ligature and the second clip to the right of the blue line is the Sax Clinic Tonus Mundi Ligature

Early Babbitt Otto Link HR 7* Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece-Francois Louis Ultimate Ligature

Early Babbitt Otto Link HR 7* Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece-Sax Clinic Tonus Mundi Ligature

Today, I am reviewing an Alexander Superial I Jazz 7* tenor saxophone mouthpiece made by Tom Alexander at Alexander Reeds Intl..  Tom Alexander reached out to me on January 24th of 2020 asking if I would be interested in reviewing his new Superial I Jazz tenor saxophone mouthpiece.  He was very excited about the Superial I Jazz mouthpiece and mentioned some great reviews of it by Joe Lovano, Dave Liebman and Donny McCaslin.  I said that it sounded interesting and that I would love to try it out, and then……….the world pretty much came to a grinding halt with Covid-19.  Needless to say, after many emails back and forth, I finally received the Alexander Superial I Jazz tenor sax mouthpiece almost 2 years later at the end of 2021 and I am so glad that I did, let me tell you why………

Alexander Superial I Jazz 7* Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

Here is some of the background about the Alexander Superial I Jazz 7* tenor saxophone mouthpiece from Tom Alexander:

“Many years ago, saxophone specialist Tom Alexander had a dream to make a mouthpiece of his own design. Since the 1970’s, he has worked with some of the top names in the world of the saxophone such as David Liebman, Michael Brecker, Ornette Coleman, Joe Lovano, Joshua Redman, Donny McCaslin, Bob Berg, Branford Marsalis, Ravi Coltrane, Greg Osby, Greg Tardy, Vincent Herring, Seamus Blake, Ralph Morgan and many others with his reeds. As a player, he studied saxophone with saxophone legends Joe Henderson and David Liebman as well as working professionally for 20 years. As a result of these experiences, he amassed a vast knowledge of every aspect of the saxophone in jazz: reeds, vintage mouthpieces, instruments and the music itself.

In designing this mouthpiece, Alexander had envisioned one which would capture the essence of tonal qualities existing in some great vintage mouthpieces, yet one which might respond better to modern, amplified playing situations.

After countless hours of research, which later led to the development of over 20 prototypes, and extensive testing and feedback by some leading saxophonists, at the end of 2018, he felt the last prototype finally achieved the high standard of performance he would only accept in order to release it to other saxophone players. Thus, the Alexander Superial I Jazz tenor saxophone mouthpiece was created.

This mouthpiece is capable of producing a large, focused sound from the bottom range on up to the altissimo with greater punch and projection, an even scale and enhanced upper register. Its large chamber supports a full, rich, warm body in the tone, yet one achieved without tubbiness or stuffiness. It also generates a well defined harmonic edge and balanced resistance. Furthermore, the precise facings and the mouthpiece’s resonant shell allow a player to use a more open tip with ease and this gives the potential to create both a larger sound and a wider dynamic range.

The Superial I Jazz tenor mouthpiece is milled from the finest-grade German hard rubber bar stock on 5-Axis CNC machinery which enables great precision from piece to piece. Each mouthpiece is machined, hand-finished in the U.S., rechecked in Japan and includes a Midnight Blue pouch. The Superial I mouthpiece’s box nests the mouthpiece in EVA foam and also can function well for touring.

Available in Red Marble Swirl and works with a standard vintage size Otto Link or Selmer Soloist size of ligature.”-Tom Alexander

Alexander Superial I Jazz 7* Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece Box

Here is what Tom Alexander personally wrote to me in an email to me about the Alexander Superial I Jazz 7* tenor saxophone mouthpiece:

Today, I am posting a personal experiment of mine to answer some questions I have about the discernible differences a mouthpiece patch and the mouthpiece beak height make to the sound of the saxophone.  I know many of you out there will perhaps think this is foolish but I am doing this to satisfy my own personnel curiosity.

Lamberson J7 Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece with No Mouthpiece Patch

These questions of mine started a long time ago when I was playing the saxophone in college.  I  remember my sax teacher at the time telling me that I could put a mouthpiece patch of some tape or rubber onto the beak of my sax mouthpiece to prevent the deep teeth marks I was putting in my saxophone mouthpieces at the time.

This was good news for me because every mouthpiece I had played had deep teeth gouges worn into the beak of each mouthpiece.  I know, I know, we are not supposed to bite like that while playing the saxophone, but I was a young energetic alto sax player trying to sound like Dave Sanborn and Mark Russo and biting just seemed to get me closer to that goal at the time.  I apologize for not being a good saxophone playing role model in my younger years……..

Lamberson J7 Saxophone Mouthpiece with One Forestone Mouthpiece Patch

Upon trying a patch on my mouthpiece back then, I noticed an immediate change in my saxophone sound.  For classical music, this change was fine but for my jazz playing, I felt like the patch really effected my tone in a negative way.  The mouthpiece patch seemed to dull the tone and take some of the highs and brights that I loved in my sound away.  At least that was my impression as I played my saxophone with a patch on my mouthpiece.

The sound I was used to hearing through my ears and inside my head while playing was completely changed and I did not like that.  I was at a point where I was really starting to dig that sound I was producing and hearing while I played, the last thing I wanted to do was to change what I was hearing while playing.