JodyJazz ESP 7* Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

steve — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:22:03 +0000

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.

When the spoiler in inserted this piece doubles in volume and brightness. I use to own one of these about 7-8 years ago and I played it with the spoiler in all the time for all sorts of gigs. This was a great piece to go to for those loud R@B gigs where you had to cut through but it sounded just as good on the laid back jazz sets. Although I prefer a link type mouthpiece now, I like that you can get bright and loud with the ESP but it’s sound remains very fat! It doesn’t get thin at all. I recorded two clips with this mouthpiece. One is with the spoiler in and the second one is without the spoiler. You can hear the difference for yourself. Let me know what you think.

ESP with Spoiler

ESP without Spoiler

Steve Neff Music Blog » Jodyjazz ESP

JodyJazz ESP 7* Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece