MacSax FJIII Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

If you look at the pictures here of the FJIII and compare them to the pictures of my Warburton LA tenor mouthpiece review (also made by Eric Falcon), you can see some similarities between the two mouthpiece designs.  Both have a similar body and long elongated window.  The baffles seem to be a similar length but if you look closely you can see that there are some differences.  The baffle in the FJIII is lower than the LA mouthpiece.  It also has a straight edge at the end of the baffle where the LA model has a little trench or pit.

Although, I loved the LA models volume and fatness, in the end I thought it was a bit too bright for what I’m looking for in a tenor mouthpiece.   I was very interested in trying the FJIII because it has the lower baffle which I knew would give it a darker sound.

MacSax FJIII Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

Boy was I right,  the MacSax FJIII is a much darker mouthpiece than the Warburton LA model.  Besides how incredibly free blowing it is,  I didn’t find much in common with it and the LA.  I don’t know what Eric does with these mouthpiece to get them to blow so easily but they are incredibly freeblowing. Personally, I  like a bit of resistance when I play the sax so playing this mouthpiece was a bit of an adjustment for me.  It is an 8 (.110) tip opening.  Usually when I play .110 tips,  a 2 1/2 reed works great.  The first 2 1/2 I put on blew like a wet noodle.   There was nothing to it.  I tried a few other 2 1/2′s and experienced the same thing.  When I moved up to a 3 I expected it to be too hard but even the 3′s were too free blowing for me.  What I really wanted was a 3 1/2 but I didn’t have any so I had to make due with the Rigotti 3 that I played on this clip.  It was slightly harder than the others in the box and I thought it was a good match for this mouthpiece.

The tone of this mouthpiece is very dark in my opinion.  It does have a bit of kick and guts to it when you really blow but the overall tone is thick, rich and dark.  The response and intonation were good.  The volume was ok for me.  I couldn’t get as much as I would like but it was certainly enough to play a smokin’ jazz gig with.  The lack of brightness in the tone would make it hard to play a loud R&B or rock gig on this piece in my opinion.

The free blowing aspect of the mouthpiece was the hardest thing for me to wrestle with.  I feel like a certain bit of resistance lets me push against the sound and mold it easier.  In that way, I can be more expressive.  I did gain some resistance with the harder Rigotti 3 reed but still wasn’t feeling the resistance that I normally like when I play.  I would think that over time, I could get used to the way the mouthpiece blew and be able to adjust to it.

MacSax FJIII Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

The mouthpiece comes with a neat looking Rovner Platinum ligature that looks cool and hip.  I’m not a big fan of ligatures that clamp on the outside edges of the reed.  This is what the Rovner did.  To me, it made the tone more hollow sounding.  When I put on the Rovner Eddie Daniels ligature the tone was much more centered and focused sounding for me.   This is just my opinion so you guys that think ligatures don’t matter can do what you want with this opinion.

Overall,  I believe this is a very good mouthpiece if you like free blowing and dark.  This would be an especially good choice for any of you who have tried the Warburton LA model but found it too bright for your tastes.  This has the same free blowing feel of the LA mouthpiece but is quite a bit darker and lusher sounding.  If your interested in trying one of these mouthpieces yourself, visit MacSax.com.  and talk to Eric Falcon yourself.  Thanks so much to Eric and MacSax for sending me this FJIII tenor mouthpiece to review.

MacSax FJIII Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

Marmaduke Large Chamber Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

This Marmaduke LC (Large Chamber) tenor saxophone mouthpiece looks great.  The tip and rails are thin and even. The tip matches the shape of my Vandoren reeds perfectly.  The mouthpiece has a slight rollover baffle. The chamber  looks to be similar in size to a hard rubber Otto Link size chamber.

Marmaduke Large Chamber Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

The 7* (.105 tip opening) had a very rich complex sound to my ears.  In comparison to the normal Marmaduke mouthpiece in the review above,  I feel that this mouthpiece is a bit darker and richer in tone.  I played a Vandoren Java 2 1/2 reed on it and that reed was perfect for it. The intonation was normal and the response was clean and immediate.  The low end had a smokey round quality to the tone.  I had a lot of fun sub-toning on this mouthpiece.  I loved the rich low end.

Many times, with a large chambered piece you will gain a darker richer tone but lose a bit of volume and brightness from other mouthpieces that have a smaller chamber and/or higher baffle.  This mouthpiece had a nice full tone and volume  even with the larger chamber.  I don’t think I would choose it for a loud rock gig because of the darker tone but this would be a great mouthpiece to go out and play a burning jazz set with.

Marmaduke Large Chamber Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

If your interested in trying one of these mouthpieces yourself, visit Marmaduke Mouthpieces and talk to Alex Miyatake yourself or you can also get them at Saxccessories.com.  Thanks so much to Alex for sending me this LC tenor mouthpiece to review.

Marmaduke Large Chamber Tenor Mouthpiece

I’m using a white Lamberson 7DD tenor mouthpiece on this clip.  This is a great example of how recording in a studio can change the sound of your sax.  I had just gotten the Lamberson a few weeks before this recording and wasn’t sure how it would perform in the studio.  I had a fear that it would be too bright sounding.  I was very pleased with how it came out.  I don’t think it is bright at all but nice and fat sounding.  It actually sounds rather dark to my ears which really surprised me!

This solo was done on the first take.  It was one of those deals where the guy in charge said “Steve, why don’t you doodle a bit on the end”.  We recorded it once and when it finished I was about to say  “Ok, can we do that again?” .  Before I could,  I heard “That was perfect……Let’s move on”.    The perfectionist part of me thought I could do it better but it is what it is.   I hope you like it.  You can check out some more clips of the Lamberson 7DD elsewhere on this blog if you do a search for it in the top right corner of the site.     Thanks,    Steve

Marmaduke Hard Rubber Alto Sax Mouthpiece

These Marmaduke alto saxophone mouthpieces look great.  The tip and rails are thin and even.  The tip matches the shape of my reeds perfectly.  I used a Ishimori Woodstone 3 reed on these clips and both mouthpieces played great with that reed. The mouthpieces have a slight rollover baffle.  The chamber is about the size of a medium Meyer chamber.

Marmaduke Hard Rubber Alto Sax Mouthpiece

I played the .072 tip mouthpiece first.  This was the 5.  It had a nice crisp brightness to the sound.  Even though the notes were bright and tone was thick and fat in my opinion.  It reminded me of that vintage “Meyer” type brightness and power.  A nice compact powerful tone.

The 6 (.078 tip opening)  had  a slightly darker sound to it for me.  The two clips below are a good example of how increasing the tip size by just .006 can change the sound.  Many times moving to a larger tip can make the sound a bit darker and more open sounding.  The tone sounded a bit rounder and sweeter to me than the 5 tip opening.  The 5 seemed a bit brighter and more aggressive to my ears.

Marmaduke Hard Rubber Alto Sax Mouthpiece

If your interested in trying one of these mouthpieces yourself, visit Marmaduke Mouthpieces and talk to Alex Miyatake yourself or you can also get them at Saxccessories.com.    Thanks so much to Alex for sending me these alto mouthpieces to review.

Marmaduke HR .072 Alto Mouthpiece

Marmaduke HR .078 Alto Mouthpiece

“Just play the blues scale!”  All across the country, you hear this advice given in every band room. Students sit with blank looks on their faces as band directors tell them to use this or that blues scale on their solo. The advice usually doesn’t go much further than that and many kids end up playing solos that they are less than happy about. What many of these students need is a jump start. A few examples of what to play and how to play it………..Here you go!

In Mastering the Blues Scale Volume 2, I demonstrate using the Blues Scale to create great blues licks you can use over dominant grooves on the blues, funk or rock and roll. I show you how to go about getting your blues vocabulary together as you greatly improve your technique with these essential blues licks and scales. Play along with this book at your own pace, as you learn hundreds of great sounding and easily adaptable blues licks and patterns in all 12 keys. Playing these patterns is a fun and exciting way to make that transition from knowing the Blues Scale, to actually having it in your ears and under your fingers.

These blues licks combine many of the idiomatic sequences, intervals and finger patterns, you really need to have down, if you want to get burning on the blues scale. If you are stuck playing your blues scales straight up and down, practicing these licks will soon have you playing with the technique and flexibility required to be able to play what you hear.

Mastering the Blues Scale Volume 2 Dominant Chords has 127 great blues licks in all 12 keys.  It is a PDF file that you can download immediately so you can get to work.  I have also included two sample mp3′s of the G7 lines in the book.  One for alto sax and one for the tenor sax.  The alto track is 29 minutes long and the tenor is 24 minutes long.  I have had many requests for audio samples that students can listen to as they work on the book.  I think these will be a real benefit for those who want to hear how I play the licks and play along with me.

Here is a mixed sample of the alto and tenor mp3.

Thanks,

Steve Neff

This book is a pdf file and can be opened and printed immediately after you download it. The exercises are written in all 12 keys and are great concepts for any musician involved in jazz improvisation.  2 mp3′s are provided for alto and tenor saxophone of all 127 licks in the key of G7.

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I sent Joe Giardullo an email asking if I could review one of his mouthpieces.  Joe sent me an email back asking a bunch of questions.  What was I looking for?  What sax did I play? What tone or sound concept was I going for?……..I really wasn’t looking for anything but was just curious about his mouthpieces.

Soprano Planet Missing Link Soprano Sax Mouthpiece

We emailed back and forth a bit and Joe got a bit of an idea of what I liked I guess because I received a “Missing Link” in the mail a couple of weeks ago.  It’s been a crazy month so to be honest it has been sitting on my desk for the last 2 weeks.  On Monday I decided to give it a play.

The mouthpiece looks great.  The table, rails and tip all look even and perfect. It has a rollover baffle that descends smoothly to a medium chamber.  I call the area at the bottom of the baffle the chamber. The hole going into the bore I call the throat.  The Missing Link’s chamber is larger and deeper than a Riffault and Selmer Super Session that I have on hand. The throat is slightly smaller than my customized Riffault and larger than the Super Session. The throat looks to be almost egg shaped rather than perfectly round.

Here is what Joe Giardullo says about the Missing Link mouthpiece on the Soprano Planet website:

“The genesis of the Missing Link was my desire to create a piece that would have some of the characteristics of the best “slant signature” Links and also the best characteristics of the rare “squared oval” design of the early Babbitt Links.

The throat is large but not huge, the chamber is medium and the piece plays with a beautiful glow, it jumps throughout the range and it plays with a light, even resistance from bottom through the altissimo.

The roof has a very carefully designed, long rollover-style baffle, but it is so integrated as to be almost unnoticeable to the eye.

The end result is a revelation. I could tell you about it but here is what a few recent clients wrote about their “Missing Link”………….(you can visit the site to read the many reviews)

Soprano Planet Missing Link Soprano Sax Mouthpiece

I played the Missing Link with a Vandoren Java 3 1/2 reed that I had been playing on my Theo Wanne Gaia mouthpiece.  There are no tip opening marks on the mouthpiece but the 3 1/2 reed played perfectly on it.  I emailed Joe later and he told me it was a .057 tip opening.

I really loved this mouthpiece.  It has a sweet singing tone to it.  The intonation on it was about as perfect as I have seen on a soprano mouthpiece.  I have never played a Otto Link Slant soprano mouthpiece so I can’t talk about how it compares.  The tone was nice and crisp while still being round and full sounding to me.  It is darker and more round sounding then my Gaia that I have been playing for the last year. Because it has a  smaller tip at .057 and doesn’t get the volume of the larger tipped Gaia but I really loved the tone and roundness of it.

On a side note,  Joe told me that he decided to go with the smaller .057 tip because he has found that Yamaha 62 sopranos accept air differently than a lot of horns and that blowing too much air through them doesn’t really work with them.  You have to have a  mouthpiece with a certain balance to really make the Yamaha 62′s really sing………I found that interesting as I had never heard that before.

I recorded this clip with the soprano bell pointed right at the microphone.  It was about two feet from the mic.  I have never been totally happy with the soprano recordings because recording from the bell can make some notes have a different timbre and tone.  It can also sound brighter when recording this way.  Even having said all that, I am pretty happy with the sound on this recording.  Yesterday I played it in a large hall for about 6 hours and it sounded killer in there with the natural reverb.

Soprano Planet Missing Link Soprano Sax Mouthpiece

If your interested in trying one of these mouthpieces yourself, visit Soprano Planet and talk to Joe Giardullo yourself.  He will be more than happy to set you up with the perfect mouthpiece for your soprano saxophone.  Thanks so much to Joe for sending me this “Missing Link” to review.  This one is staying with me………………

Soprano Planet Missing Link Soprano Sax Mouthpiece

About a year ago, I reviewed  the Kanee O7 and V7 custom tenor mouthpieces.  These were great playing mouthpieces that were introduced to the market at a very affordable price. These first models were called the custom series.  The florida model I am reviewing today is from the professional series which is a new line from Kanee.

The new Florida models are made out of a brushed hard rubber instead of the shiny glossy hard rubber of the O7 and V7.  Also,  the side walls are rounded so that these new pieces are more akin to the vintage Otto Link style of mouthpieces.

The Kanee mouthpieces are made by the Kanee company is China. The company was founded in 2004 and specializes in woodwind accessories manufacturing.

Kanee “Florida” Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

The Kanee Florida model I have is a 7 tip opening.  It came in a nice wood box with a sliding top on it.  Inside the box, the mouthpiece is well protected by cushioning on all sides of it.

The mouthpiece looks to be very well made.  Like I said  above,  the rubber isn’t shiny and glossy like the Kanee “custom” models but has more of a brushed look to it.  I personally think that this look is pretty cool although the rubber does seem to mark easily from ligatures and mouthpieces patches.  The table looks flat and the rails and tip look even.  The shape of the tip is very close to  the shape of my Vandoren Java reed tip which is a good sign.

Kanee “Florida” Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

This mouthpiece has a nice and high rollover baffle right at the tip that is very short and then descends down into the medium to large chamber.  The baffle and chamber look to be very similar to my Early Babbitt Florida link.  To my eye they look to be very close.  The only difference that I can see is that my EB Florida link looks to have a larger bore to it.
The mouthpieces played well and I found it smooth and even up and down the horn.  The high rollover baffle at the top of the baffle gives the tone  some nice highs and power.  It has a bit of a “zing” and “sizzle” to the tone.  The low notes are nice and full sounding.  They have a bit of graininess to them that makes the tone more complex sounding to my ear.  It was easy to subtone down low.  I usually prefer a 7*-8 tip opening so this mouthpiece felt a tiny bit more closed than I am used to but it played great.

Kanee Custom Florida Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

These mouthpieces are very reasonably priced for the quality that you get.  To get wider market recognition and feedback, the Kanee company is starting another passaround of these mouthpieces on SOTW (Sax on the Web).  I can’t speak for the overall quality of every Kanee piece but the fact that they will send their mouthpieces out to sax professionals and enthusiasts  to try………… is a sign that they are confidant in their products.

I’m looking forward to what other sax players that try these mouthpieces have to say.  It’s great to see a quality mouthpiece out there at an affordable price.  Keep up the great work Kanee.   If you would like to try one of these mouthpieces check out the free pass around (you just have to pay for shipping) on SOTW.   You can also visit the Kanee website to find out more about these mouthpieces.

Kanee Custom Florida Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

This is a great tune that has a cool blues feel to it.  I show you how to navigate the changes by using a simple blues scale approach and then adding what I call “target notes” to the mix. This is a great and simple way to add some variety and spice to your solos while still keeping your lines simple and melodic.  The goal here is to progress slowly and naturally by adding one note at a time to your solo. If you apply the principles in this lesson you will be able to give new life to your blues scale usage on this tune and be able to hear more of the “notes” within the changes.  I play the alto saxophone to demonstrate the different approaches to this tune. (26 Minute Video Lesson)

Lesson Level: Beginner = 1 - Advanced = 5 ★★☆☆☆ 

In this series, I am focusing on improvising over a 12 bar blues form.  I start at the very beginning and teach you how to learn the chords in a blues progression.  From there we move on to improvising using one simple blues scale for the whole blues.  Once that is mastered, then we put the two concepts together so that you can create 2 bar phrases that sound good and also follow the chord changes.  I also show you how to take a melody from my “Mastering the Blues Scale” book and use it through out the blues.  This is a great lesson for those of you who want or need some new and fresh ideas to use on a blues. (30 Minute Video Lesson)

Lesson Level: Beginner = 1 - Advanced = 5 ★★☆☆☆