Saxophone Mouthpieces

To be honest, we could sit down for a couple of days and discuss mouthpieces. There are so many to choose from that really, you could own one for every week of the year. I have tried at least 30 over the years. Everything from Classical mouthpieces like the Selmer C* to Vandoren Metal Mouthpieces with the strange V shaped baffle (excellent for Yamaha horns) to the Russeau JDX7 (excellent hard rubber mouthpiece)  to the Dukoff which is what I use now. What is most important is that the mouthpiece feels good in your mouth, that you get a good strong tone from it and that it works well with your saxophone.

There are a lot of things you can change on your horn set up to get a different tone but nothing will affect the tone more than your mouthpiece. The drastic differences you can achieve by changing the baffle on the inside or the tip opening or definitely between a hard rubber and a metal mouthpiece will surprise you. While one mouthpiece might work for you in one situation, you might choose a vastly different one for another. For instance, I would never play my bored out Dukoff 8M in a classical piece, it would just not be the right tone. I would play my hard rubber Selmer C** though, that would be the right piece for the tone I was after. I carry a hard rubber and a metal mouthpiece in my case at all times, as there might be a need for one, or the other.

For a beginner, it is really important to get a mouthpiece that is comfortable for you so try lots before you buy!

There are always new mouthpieces coming out and I admit I have run out and bought the newest, latest and greatest in the past without making sure that it will work well with the horn I want to play it on. For instance I bought a gold plated Vandoren piece once that was just great but for it to be in tune, it hung off the end of my neck and was almost impossible to play in tune because if you needed to pull out even a little bit to play on the flat side, there was just no neck to do it with so I was forced to take it back. In another case I bought a Bari mouthpiece. Loved it. Good full tone, great projection and very rich bottom end. Problem was, there was a lip on the inside of the piece that kept it from being pushed in past the half way point on my neck. I tried it in the store but my horn was warm and I didn’t have to push it in very far. The first time I had to play cold, I couldn’t get the horn to play in tune and I figured out why after a few times.

So, when you buy a mouthpiece, have the horn with you that you intend on using with the piece. Make sure you have access to a tuner. Get the horn up to temperature either by playing it or by letting it warm up in a room. Grab the tuner, stick the mouthpiece on your cork to the halfway point and play an F on the horn into the tuner. Is it in tune? Yes? Perfect. No? How much is it out of tune, if it is a lot, see how far you need to move the mouthpiece to be in tune. If the horn is warm, a mouthpiece that works should be somewhere within a half an inch from the middle of the cork on the mouthpiece to allow you the full potential of tuning if you need it.

Now try some different strength reeds. Can you play with a light reed on the piece? How about a hard reed? If you can get decent tones from both light reeds and hard reeds then it sounds like that will be a good mouthpiece for you to buy! Choose a reed for the mouthpiece by working with the hardest one that you can play with little effort. If it is too hard, you will not get a great tone, it will be too breathy and your mouth will not be able to hold the tone for long enough. If it is too soft you will squeak and squawk. Even if you end up with a 1.5 or even a 4, it all depends on the opening of the mouthpiece and the strength of your embouchure.

If you have a hard time finding something that works well, don’t worry, you will. keep working with what you have to strengthen your embouchure and keep trying new pieces until you find one that works for you!

Here is a list of mouthpiece makers and the saxophone players that use them, not complete by any stretch, but will give you an idea of what to ask for.