A bunch of you have asked me about these beautiful wooden mouthpiece stands I have been using lately on social media. They are made by a friend of mine up here in Vermont whose name is Pat Slater. I met Pat at church one Sunday and as we were making small talk, I asked him what he did for a living. Pat responded saying that he had a small business called Vermont Wooden Toy Factory and that he made unique and cool wooden toys.
Later that day, I was thinking about what Pat did for a living and how cool that is, and the thought crossed my mind that this new friend of mine could probably make a pretty cool wooden mouthpiece stand. I pitched the idea to him on one of the following Sundays and after a few discussions, starting with answering the question: “What is a saxophone mouthpiece?”, we were off and running.
Vermont Wooden Toy Factory Saxophone Mouthpiece Stand (Long Post Style)
Pat showed up to church a couple of weeks later with a big grin and the mouthpiece stand shown above. He proudly told me that the base was hardwood maple and that he made the beveled pegs out of walnut. Pat also put a leather base around each peg for extra protection so that the mouthpiece sits on the soft supple leather. He came up with that idea after our discussion about how much a saxophone mouthpiece can cost. He had no idea how crazy we saxophone players are about our mouthpieces!
I asked how much Pat would charge for a mouthpiece stand like this and after calculating the cost of the wood and adding his very reasonable ( I think too low) hourly rate, he told me that 59 dollars would be fair. I told him I thought he could charge more as two boxes of reeds costs about that these days but he said 59.00 was good.
Vermont Wooden Toy Factory Saxophone Mouthpiece Stand (Long Post Style Full of Tenor Mouthpieces)
When I got home, I tried out my saxophone mouthpieces on it and the tenor and alto mouthpieces fit on the long posts perfectly. The soprano sax mouthpieces fit on the pegs but they sat up high on the pegs because the soprano mouthpiece is so much shorter. The next Sunday, I asked Pat if I could get another one with shorter pegs in the front row for soprano mouthpieces.
Right now, I have four of these great saxophone mouthpiece stands. Three long post style stands and one mixed post style mouthpiece stand. I love how stable these stands are and how nice the mouthpieces look on them. My wife just rolls her eyes every time she walks past them, but I love them!
Vermont Wooden Toy Factory Saxophone Mouthpiece Stand (Mixed Post Style)
Each mouthpiece stand holds 13 mouthpieces. The pegs are spaced so that you can easily make out the details of each mouthpiece when perusing through them. The base is solid and stable. The walnut pegs are bevels so there are no sharp edges to them.
Here is how Pat at the Vermont Wooden Toy Factory describes his three models of wooden saxophone mouthpiece stands on his website at Vermont Wooden Toy Factory:
There are three styles.
Shorter post style has a shorter post height and accommodates 13 mouthpieces. Both front and rear rows have shorter posts and accommodate soprano and alto mouthpieces. The stand measures 11″ wide, 3″ deep, and 1″ thick and is made with a hardwood maple base and walnut pegs. Each peg has a leather pad that the sax mouthpiece sits on.
Mixed post style has a mixed post height and accommodates 13 mouthpieces. The back row has pegs that are 1.5″ long for tenor, baritone and most alto sax mouthpieces. The front row pegs are 5/16″ shorter and accommodate soprano and alto mouthpieces with smaller chambers. The stand measures 11″ wide, 3″ deep, and 1″ thick and is made with a hardwood maple base and walnut pegs. Each peg has a leather pad that the sax mouthpiece sits on.
Long post style has a long post height and accommodates 13 mouthpieces. All pegs are 1.5″ long for tenor, baritone and most alto sax mouthpieces. (Soprano and alto mouthpieces with small chambers will fit on the pegs but will rest up higher on these posts and not touch the leather base) The stand measures 11″ wide, 3″ deep, and 1″ thick and is made with a hardwood maple base and walnut pegs. Each peg has a leather pad that the sax mouthpiece sits on.
Vermont Wooden Toy Factory Saxophone Mouthpiece Stand (Mixed Post Style Full of Sax Mouthpieces)
I am overjoyed with these cool looking saxophone mouthpiece stands made by Pat Slater at Vermont Wooden Toy Factory. I asked Pat if he would be interested in making more of these sax mouthpiece stands if I shared the news about them and he said he would. In my mind, you can’t beat 59.00 dollars for a quality wooden mouthpiece stand like this.
Keep in mind that Pat is not a saxophone player so if you have any sax related questions about these great mouthpiece stands, feel free to send me an email and I will do my best to answer your questions.
If you are lucky enough to own a Vermont Wooden Toy Factory saxophone mouthpiece stand from Pat or have any thoughts, comments or questions on this review, I would love to hear what you think in the comments below. Thanks, Steve
About Steve
Great idea! I’ve wanted something like this for years to keep my pieces organised.
I hope Pat will ship internationally, as I ‘m in Adelaide, South Australia.
You’ll have to ask Pat on that one. I know international shipping can be troublesome because it is so expensive and there is no tracking available once it leaves the US.
Nice artifact …
If I can add an idea, I would propose a lid with darkened transparent material in order to avoid that the light could possibly ruin the hard rubber of the mouthpieces, as is used in the cabinets for pipes.
That’s a great idea!