This is a Vintage Selmer Long Shank Soloist Tenor Mouthpiece that was originally a C*. This mouthpiece has been refaced to a .105 tip opening by Brian Powell. I have been wanting to try one of these ever since I tried a Selmer short shank soloist about a year ago. I loved the short shank soloist but the mouthpiece sat so far out on the edge of my cork when it was in tune that it seemed like it would fall off of my saxophone neck. The long shank model fixes that problem and gives me a very similar sound…………
As you can see from the pictures the chamber of this mouthpiece has a horseshoe shape to it. This chamber gives it a unique sound in my opinion. The baffle is quite low in comparison to other mouthpieces I have tried. Usually, the lower the baffle the darker the mouthpiece. These Soloists are unique in that the low baffle gives them a darker sound but the smaller horseshoe chamber gives them a focused and more powerful sound. More focused than a wide open otto link type chamber might give with a low baffle. It’s interesting to note the affect of the baffle and chamber combinations………..a higher baffle will speed up the air flow and make the mouthpiece brighter and louder but a smaller chamber will do this also by squeezing the air through a smaller hole. It’s very interesting to me because the brights of a smaller chamber are quite different then the brights of a raised baffle. Great players that play or have played soloists are Joe Henderson, Rich Perry, and Kenny Garrett on alto………….. Let me know what you think. Steve
Audio Player
Very nice sounding almost as my Selmer Classic metal that I got refaced by Brian Powell. We planed to send it to you to get your opinion but when i needed it and Brian have a long waiting time we skipt that, unfortunately. Brian was saying to me that he didn´t want to send the mouthpiece back to me, he really loved it. I plan to put up some sound clip and can notify you when there is somthing to listen to. Best regards Glimstrand
Hi Steve, did you use the new Marc Jean ligature for this clip?
// Glimstrand
Yes I did.
I have bought three ligatures from Marc, soprana, alto and tenor. I can only confirm you statement about the ligatures, they are fantastic. Gives more focused and body to the sound, nice…
Hey Steve I love your sound on the selmer piece as well as the old Short Shank. I’m wondering if you are ever going to try those Francois Louis Spectruoso mouthpieces? Some poeple who have played them say they are somewhat like a Soloist but it gives more of “everything”.
thanks for such a wonderful site,
Jack Li
I haven’t tried a Francois Louis mouthpiece yet. Right after they came out I was seeing a bunch on ebay for sale used. I didn’t take that as a good sign if that many people didn’t like them.
I like the sound you get on the long shank Soloist.
I have an identical one ‘D’ which I also had B.P. open to
.105. I like the sound I get on my MKV1 but I found I tended to play sharp in the upper register..also the smell
and taste of this hard rubber so nice. After hearing you play it I think I will get mine out of the drawer tonight and give it blow.
I have a Selmer “Airflow” here now which is similar. They were made before the Soloists and have a round chamber. It has a similar sound but the round chamber does make a sligt difference that I like.
hi,i love soloists..please what reed didi you use?thanks.matt
Vandoren Java 3
Hello, I really love the Soloist mouthpieces for tenor. They are so very awesome!
I was wondering, have you tried one of the “modern” Selmer Soloist mouthpieces?
If so, how do they compare to the vintage Selmer Soloist mouthpieces?
Sorry, No, I haven’t tried any of the modern Selmer Soloists that I remember. Hopefully I can review some of them in the future sometime.
Hi, I play in an early babbit otto link 7* and am thinking of trying a soloist on my tenor. I have two options available: a short shank opened up.to 0.90 and a long shank opened up to 0.105. I was wondering how big of a sound difference would exist between them. Any opinions?
I would go with the .105 personally just because I feel more comfortable on that tip opening and can get more volume on that tip opening than on a .090 tip opening. It’s really a personal choice though.
Hi, I’m thinking of getting the short shank 0.090 and having it open to .105, as it seems that the short shanks have a bit of a brighter sound in the dark spectrum. Thanks!