JS Custom Nova 6 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece Review

Where modern precision meets true handcraft!

The JS Custom NOVA series redefines what a 3D-printed saxophone mouthpiece can be. While many manufacturers stop at printing, we go further—every NOVA mouthpiece is fully hand-finished by a skilled craftsman, ensuring the same attention to detail, response, and tonal balance found in our traditionally made models.

Designed for serious players, NOVA is a versatile mouthpiece featuring a roll-over baffle and medium chamber, closely inspired by our highly regarded mouthpiece designs. The result is a mouthpiece that feels familiar yet exciting—free-blowing, centered, and incredibly responsive, with warmth when you lean back and punch when you push forward.

Why NOVA stands apart

Fully hand-finished after 3D printing — rails, tip, facing, and table are meticulously refined.

Fast response across the full range with excellent articulation

Balanced jazz tone — rich core, clear projection, and controlled edge

Plays effortlessly while still giving you room to shape your sound

Many 3D-printed mouthpieces promise innovation. NOVA mouthpieces are made of food-certified PLA. NOVA delivers performance. 

Built to last — for life

Every JS Custom NOVA mouthpiece comes with a lifetime warranty. If anything ever happens to your mouthpiece, we will replace it at no additional cost. No fine print. No compromises. Just confidence.

NOVA is for players who want modern consistency without sacrificing feel, tone, or soul.

Alto Tip Openings: A1 (0.076″), A2 (0.081″), A3 (0.085″)

Tenor Tip Openings: T1 (0.095″), T2 (0.105″), T3 (0.115″)

JS Custom Nova Saxophone Mouthpiece Soft Velvet-Like Bag and Box

The JS Custom Nova 6 alto saxophone mouthpiece was shipped well packaged and protected.  The mouthpiece comes in a JS Custom Saxophone designed box.  Inside the box, the JS Custom Nova 6 alto saxophone mouthpiece is in a soft black velvet-like drawstring bag to protect the mouthpiece during shipping.

The Nova alto saxophone mouthpiece came with a black 3D printed round ligature that you slide on over the mouthpiece to hold the reed on the mouthpiece.  As I have stated in other reviews, I am not a big fan of these ligatures because it limits the adjustments the player can make to the ligature in regard to the ligatures placement on the reed, as well as how tight or loose the ligature is on the reed.  I adjust these two ligatures variables quite often depending on the reed response so I decided to use one of my own ligatures (Vandoren Optimum ligature) on the JS Custom Nova alto saxophone mouthpiece.

JS Custom Nova 6 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece with Ligature

The JS Custom Nova 6 alto saxophone mouthpiece is similar in size to a standard hard rubber alto saxophone mouthpiece like a hard rubber Meyer and all the ligatures that fit a standard hard rubber Meyer sized alto saxophone mouthpiece should work on the JS Custom Nova 6 alto saxophone mouthpiece.

The beak height of the JS Custom Nova alto saxophone mouthpiece is also similar to the beak height of a Meyer hard rubber alto saxophone mouthpiece so it feels similar to playing a hard rubber Meyer alto saxophone mouthpiece in regards to your embouchure and oral cavity position.

JS Custom Nova 6 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

The JS Custom Nova 6 alto saxophone mouthpiece is 3D printed with PLA (Polylactic Acid), a material with which many players are already familiar. In terms of density and weight, PLA is very similar to hard rubber, giving the mouthpiece a natural feel, weight and familiar balance.

JS Custom mouthpieces are made with a food-safe grade PLA, and although the food-safe material costs approximately three times more than standard PLA, JS Custom is willing to pay that extra price to assure the safety of their customers who are putting these mouthpieces in their mouths.

The body, beak, bore and baffle of the JS Custom mouthpieces all have a texture to them that you can see and feel by touch.  The one exception is the mouthpiece table and rails that feel very smooth to the touch because they have been worked on by hand.

JS Custom Nova 6 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

On the body of the JS Nova alto saxophone mouthpiece is engraved the JS Custom Saxophone logo as well as the model name of “NOVA” on the top of the mouthpiece body.  “JS” is engraved on both side of the shank.  Beneath the table, on the shank of the mouthpiece, is engraved a “1”.  The “1” on the Nova alto saxophone mouthpiece stands for the 6 (.076″) tip opening which you can see from this chart:

Alto Tip Openings: A1 (0.076″), A2 (0.081″), A3 (0.085″)

Tenor Tip Openings: T1 (0.095″), T2 (0.105″), T3 (0.115″)

I was confused by the number and asked JJ what it meant and he told me it stood for the A1 tip opening above and that he wanted to simplify the tip opening convention.  This makes no sense to me as it seems that if you are going to the work of engraving something there, you might as well just engrave the tip opening numbers that every saxophone player is already familiar with.  That is just my personal opinion though.

JS Custom Nova 6 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

The JS Custom Nova 6 alto saxophone mouthpiece has surprisingly thin side rails and a thin tip rail considering that it is 3D printed.  I assume this is due to the Nova mouthpiece being worked on by hand after it is printed.  The baffle, table and chamber all look well crafted, symmetrical and even.   The table looks flat, smooth and even and well made.

The JS Custom Nova 6 alto saxophone mouthpiece has what I would describe as a medium high rollover baffle.   When you look at the baffle from the tip side of the mouthpiece you can see why I describe it as a medium high baffle.  The baffle length is a slow rollover to the medium sized chamber.

The inner sidewalls are interesting because they are scooped out nicely for almost the whole length of the sidewall’s distance from the tip to the chamber entrance but the bottom of the inner sidewalls curve inward making the baffle floor squeezed.  The bottom of the chamber floor is scooped out smoothly so that the chamber is close in diameter to the bore diameter of the mouthpiece. The roof of the chamber is a medium thickness under the mouthpiece table.

Before I even played the JS Custom Nova alto saxophone mouthpiece, my guess was that the medium high baffle and the squeezed approach to the medium chamber on the Nova alto saxophone mouthpiece would make the tone pretty focused sounding.  A medium-high baffle generally pushes more air speed through the mouthpiece, brightening the tone and increasing projection. Meanwhile, a squeezed medium chamber tends to focus the airstream, tightening up the core of the sound and adding more presence to the tone.  Let’s see if my assumptions are correct……

JS Custom Nova 6 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

As I suspected, the JS Custom Nova 6 alto saxophone mouthpiece played with a tightly focused core sound that leans to the brighter side of the alto saxophone tone spectrum. Similar to how I described the JS Custom Nova tenor sax mouthpiece, the notes of the JS Nova alto mouthpiece seemed to have a bit of sizzle and sparkle in the tone that in my opinion gives the tone some excitement and fire that makes it sound energetic and alive.

When a mouthpiece has a very focused tone, playing toward a wall, mirror or even a computer monitor allows the sound to bounce back to my ears creating a specific aural experience for me.  When I do this while playing a very focused mouthpiece the difference to my ears is significant. The sound bounces back to my ears and is very concentrated, strong and clear.  The experience I am describing is almost like I am wearing great in-ear monitors and the focused alto saxophone sound is crystal clear in my ears.  This effect occurs to a certain extent with a mouthpiece with a more spread tone as well but it is much more magnified with a mouthpiece with a more focused sound.   I experienced this with the JS Custom Nova alto saxophone mouthpiece.

JS Custom Nova 6 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

The intonation of the JS Custom Nova alto saxophone mouthpiece was excellent on my Selmer Reference 54 alto saxophone.  All the notes seemed in-tune without any major adjustments needed on my part to tame the intonation of any notes.

The JS Custom Nova 6 alto saxophone mouthpiece had plenty of power and volume available to it.  I would rate it as an 8 on my 1-10 volume scale for alto saxophone mouthpieces.  I believe the medium-high rollover baffle combined with the squeezed approach to the medium sized chamber really allowed the air to turbo flow into the chamber to create that powerful focused tone that could be pushed to greater volume and brightness quite easily.

The higher range of the saxophone was  full and round sounding at medium to high volumes.  At softer volumes the high notes had a light floating quality to them ( almost Paul Desmondish).  The low notes were focused and fat sounding and could be sub-toned easily to produce a beautiful lush soft sub-tone down low.  The same focused quality of the midrange notes and high notes also allowed the low notes to be concentrated, dense and round sounding.

The articulation was clean and crisp and the JS Custom Nova 6 alto saxophone mouthpiece performed well on fast legato jazz lines and staccato phrases while applying articulation.  Fast lines were smooth and flowing because of the smooth articulation and uniformity between the notes.

JS Custom Nova 6 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

On the sound clips below, I try to give a good range and variety of alto saxophone sounds and textures so that you can hear how the JS Custom Nova 6 alto saxophone mouthpiece performs in different styles.  I demonstrate the sound of the JS Custom Nova 6 alto saxophone mouthpiece with all my usual lines and melodies so if you want to compare it to my other sound clips and reviews, you should be able to find many of the same lines to compare this sound clip to.

The first sound clip is a long 4′ 14″ clip recorded with reverb added on a BetterSax Jazz Cut #3 alto saxophone reed and Vandoren Optimum alto saxophone ligature.  I put the reverb sound clip first because I think it just sounds terrific.  The reverb sound clips give you an idea of how the JS Custom Nova alto saxophone mouthpiece might sound in a big hall, bathroom or garage with a robust natural reverb going on.  I feel like the reverb gives more fatness and roundness to the bright overtones, sizzle and sparkle in the tone.  I absolutely loved the sound of the JS Custom Nova 6 alto saxophone with that reverb added to the mix.

The second sound clip is the same as the first 4′ 14″ sound clip with no reverb added to the mix.  This is a dry recording so you can hear how the Nova alto saxophone mouthpiece might sound in a dry room with no natural reverb in the room.

The third, fourth and fifth sound clips are of some simple melodies including: “The Summer Knows”, “Take 5” and “When I Fall in Love”.  I have heard from enough of you stating that you would rather hear me demonstrating a mouthpiece playing simple melodies rather than super fast licks all the time so you can hear the nuances of the sound and I have tried to be attentive to that desire in my reviews.

JS Custom Nova 6 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

In my opinion, the JS Custom Nova 6 alto saxophone mouthpiece is a unique and quite interesting budget friendly alto saxophone mouthpiece for alto sax players looking for a focused alto sax sound that has some beautiful bright overtones and richness added to the tone. The added brightness gives the alto saxophone tone energy and vitality while still sounding fat and full sounding.  At softer volumes (3:45 mark of the first two sound clips) the JS Custom Nova alto saxophone mouthpiece has a beautifully lyrical tone that reminds me of NYC alto player Dick Oatts’ alto saxophone tone or Art Pepper’s alto tone on “Art Pepper meets the Rhythm Section”.  At a fuller volume the tone of the Nova alto sax mouthpiece fattens up nicely while still retaining that bit of sizzle and sparkle in the tone (described earlier in the review) that in my opinion gives the tone excitement and fire that makes it sound energetic and alive.

The JS Custom Nova 6 alto saxophone mouthpiece is a great and very affordable choice for jazz, big band section playing, lead alto playing, small group settings or contemporary music. This is a great alto saxophone mouthpiece choice for any professional or student who needs an alto sax mouthpiece that you can lay back on to play ballads and blend with a section or stand up and wail out a lead alto solo that cuts straight through the mix of the band.  I really loved playing this alto saxophone mouthpiece!

If you like the sound and look of the JS Custom Nova 6 alto saxophone mouthpiece by JS Custom Saxophone Mouthpieces, you can find them at the JS Custom Saxophone website.  I was shocked when I saw how low the price of these JS Custom mouthpieces are……. I don’t post prices here at Neffmusic but click here to find out the price of the JS Custom Nova alto saxophone mouthpiece (Hint-a mouthpiece costs less than what two boxes of Rigotti Gold alto saxophone reeds are going for right now……) Wow!

If you are lucky enough to play a JS Custom Nova 6 alto saxophone mouthpiece or have any other thoughts or comments, I would love to hear what you think in the comments below.  Thanks,  Steve

JS Custom Nova 6 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece with BetterSax Jazz Cut #3 Reed

JS Custom Nova 6 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece – Reverb Added – BetterSax Jazz Cut #3 Reed

JS Custom Nova 6 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece – Same as the first clip with no reverb – BetterSax Jazz Cut #3 Reed

JS Custom Nova 6 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece – “The Summer Knows” with Reverb Added – BetterSax Jazz Cut #3 Reed

JS Custom Nova 6 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece – “Take 5” with Reverb Added – BetterSax Jazz Cut #3 Reed

JS Custom Nova 6 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece – “When I Fall in Love” with Reverb Added  – BetterSax Jazz Cut #3 Reed