vintage saxophone mouthpiece soprano sax mouthpiece
No. 6 is the width of the cup, its diameter on the inside of the rim. No. 7 is the outside diameter of the rim. The 8th critical measurement is diameter of the shank at the very bottom or end where the shank makes contact with the mouthpipe that is shown in part in Figure B [below] where the tubing inside the mouthpiece receiver pipe abuts, or should abut, the shank end of the mouthpiece.
The system consists of interchangeable “TOP” sections and “BACKBORE” sections.
he wider or more open we make the shoulder of the throat, the mellower becomes the tone. In I the throat and cup shape combine into one long cup similar to that in a French horn mouthpiece, which, if used on the trumpet, is colorless. It is possible to achieve a judicious combination with the shallow cup which aids the lip and still avoid the stridency of tone usually produced by such a mouthpiece as F. This is done by opening the shoulder somewhat as shown in E, resulting in the double-cup originally designed by L. A. Schmidt of Cologne about seventy years ago for use in the low F, E, Eb, and D trumpets used by R. Strauss. These latter instruments incidentally but significantly, were played in the upper harmonics like a French horn. The double-cup mouthpiece makes for easier control in the difficult high passages.
vintage saxophone mouthpiece
soprano sax mouthpiece
As shown in the dimensions of mouthpieces by Rohner, the average throat diameter uses a 27 drill size. Small throats of 30 or even smaller and extremely large throats of 18 or 19 used by some players, but these extremes should be avoided by the average player.
A throat made with a drill No. 27 having straight sides for as much as 3/4 inch will tend to cause the player to play sharp in the high register. On the other hand, if the straight sides of the throat are too short, the player will tend to play flat in the high register. Thus intonational tendencies, either sharp or flat, can usually be corrected in the mouthpiece.
If the backbore flares out rather rapidly, the tone will be full but slightly more difficult to control. If the backbore becomes straighter, with less flaring out, the tone becomes thinn
own a common deficiency in which there is an appreciable gap between the end of the shank of the mouthpiece and the beginning of the mouthpipe. The two should meet. To correct the deficiency, the shank is turned down somewhat on a lathe so that it will be small enough to meet the end of the mouthpipe. A marked improvement in playing of the instrument is thereby effected.
Figure L [to the left] shows a cut-away section of a mouthpiece and receiver pipe. Notice the substantial overlap from the end of the shank to the mouthpiece. This is a serious defect. Though it does not show a gap between the end of the shank and the beginning of the mouthpipe as in B, it is possible that if the shortcoming of B is remedied, the present overlap as shown in L remains.