Archive for the ‘Tenor Mouthpiece Reviews’ Category

Here is a JodyJazz ESP 7* (.105) tenor saxophone mouthpiece.  These are made by Jody Espina who has a huge variety of mouthpieces that he makes at www.jodyjazz.com.  I borrowed this from a good friend of mine.  These mouthpieces come with what’s called a “spoiler”.  It is a black wedge that you slide into the mouthpiece and it locks into place against the straight sidewalls of the mouthpiece.   Extending from the back of the wedge is a 1 inch long thin metal strip.  From what I’ve read about these “spoilers’, the wedge acts like a temporary baffle that you can put in to brighten the sound and give you extra volume when needed.  The metal strip acts like a secondary reed that vibrates and increases the sound even more. I’m not sure if this last part is true but I do know that it does what it is advertised to do.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here is an incredible Florida Link  saxophone mouthpiece that was refaced by Erik Greiffenhagen from a 6 to a 7* (.105).  I bought this mouthpiece from Les Arbuckle about 6 weeks ago and have been playing it ever since.  Les came on SOTW (Sax on the Web) and said he had a link for sale that was one of the best he had ever played.  Now I hear that quite often from people selling mouthpieces but I had never heard that from Les before so it caught my attention.  I knew he had been around probably hundreds of links and if he thought this one was great then it must be.

Read the rest of this entry »

In this poll I am playing 8 measures of “In a Sentimental Mood” on 3 different Ponzol mouthpieces. I’m trying to play the melody in a similar way for each clip.  See if you can hear a difference between the clips.  If you can, vote for the one that you like the best!

 Loading ...

Today, I have another Peter Ponzol M2 Stainless Steel tenor mouthpiece for review. I did a review of one of these a year or two ago but the sample clip I played of it was done in my garage. Since then, i have had a few people ask if I can do another one that is recorded in the same way as all my other clips. Here it is…………..

Read the rest of this entry »

This is another classic Peter Ponzol M2 tenor mouthpiece.  I’ve played about 5-6 of these and they were all great.   This one is a .110 tip opening which feels perfect for me.   They have a brightness and kick to them that really comes out when you are on the gig.

Read the rest of this entry »

This is a Peter Ponzol M1 that I purchased just for the heck of it.  I have tried a bunch of M2’s but never a M1( Maybe in a store once)  This is a really nice piece.  It a  bit brighter than the Ponzol ML tenor mouthpiece I played before but a bit darker than the Ponzol M2 mouthpieces that I have played before.

Read the rest of this entry »

This a Morgan ML tenor mouthpiece.  I received this from a friend of mine who loves it.  These use to be made by Ralph Morgan but now are made by Brian Powell and Eric Greiffenhagen.   They both used to work with Ralph Morgan.   These two guys have done a great job at keeping the standards high.  They are both artists and have learned from the best (Ralph Morgan).  The tip opening of this mouthpiece is an 8* which is a .105 I believe.  It has a big sound and the mouthpiece feels like it is vibrating when I play it.    It plays on the darker side but is so free blowing that the air just passes through it effortlessly.

Read the rest of this entry »

This a Lawton 9BB tenor saxophone mouthpiece that was refaced by JVW (Jon Van Wie).  If you have never heard of Jon Van Wie, he was a great mouthpiece refacer that passed away some years ago.  I had him do some work on some mouthpieces for me when I first started getting into this mouthpiece obsession of mine and his work was incredible.  This week is the first time I am getting to try a Lawton and the two that I have here are great examples in my opinion (Here’s the review of the 8*BB Special I tried).   The 9 tip is a bit above what I am used to at .120 but it is very easy and comfortable to play.  It doesn’t feel like a .120 at all.

Read the rest of this entry »

This a Lawton 8*BB Special tenor saxophone mouthpiece.  I’ve never tried a Lawton before so I was looking forward to playing this one.  This a special one that Geoff Lawton made without the typical sliding ligature track he usually puts on his mouthpieces. This is a great playing mouthpiece. The 8* tip is a bit above what I am used to at .115 but I have a feeling that if I played this for a little bit I would get used to it.

Read the rest of this entry »

This is the “Doc” Tenney Jazzmaster 7* tenor saxophone mouthpiece.  A friend of mine on the internet was kind enough to send it to me so I could put a clip up of it. Mr. Tenney has quite the reputation for his mouthpiece work.  I’ve had a few students that have played his pieces over the years and when I think of each one of them I think about how good their tone was.   This mouthpiece takes some getting use to as most mouthpiece do . The baffle area is very low and straight down into the chamber.  It looks like it continues right through the chamber right up until where the bore starts. There seems to be a very slight rollover right at the tip.  I really like the low baffle. It seems to let you shape the sound to your choosing and I noticed that when I varied reeds on this mouthpiece it had a huge impact on the tone.

Read the rest of this entry »