Today, I am excited to be reviewing another tenor saxophone mouthpiece from SYOS saxophone mouthpieces in France. This is the SYOS “In a Sentimetal Mood” titanium model 8 tenor saxophone mouthpiece. Unlike all the other SYOS mouthpieces that I have reviewed over the years, this SYOS mouthpiece is totally different because it is made of titanium! This is my first titanium saxophone mouthpiece that I have ever played so I have no idea what to expect.
SYOS “In a Sentimetal Mood” 8 Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece
The SYOS company hit the saxophone mouthpiece scene a number of years ago and immediately caught the world’s attention by producing these really bright colored 3D printed saxophone mouthpieces. I must admit, that at first, I was very skeptical of plastic 3D mouthpieces, but after reviewing quite a few SYOS mouthpieces (20 SYOS mouthpiece reviews to date), I have come to respect the SYOS business model and the quality and playability of the SYOS saxophone mouthpieces I have played.
Now, SYOS has changed the playing field once again by releasing a 3D printed titanium tenor saxophone mouthpiece!
SYOS “In a Sentimetal Mood” 8 Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece
The “In a Sentimetal Mood” titanium tenor saxophone mouthpiece I am reviewing today is a dark metallic color and is an 8 tip opening.
According to the internet, Titanium is special because it combines extreme strength with very low weight and superior corrosion resistance. Titanium matches the strength of steel while weighing about 45% less. Titanium is also generally safe for the body and is used for medical implants.
Interesting…….but why haven’t titanium saxophone mouthpieces been around before? A quick Google search led me to the answer…..
- Extreme Hardness: Titanium is very tough and highly resistant to manual abrasion and cutting tools. Traditional machining wears out tools quickly.
- Specialized Equipment: Standard lathes and milling machines struggle to shape titanium properly, requiring advanced or specialized tooling.
- High Cost: Raw titanium stock and the specialized processing required make production costs skyrocket compared to standard brass or hard rubber.
So, how did SYOS make a titanium tenor saxophone mouthpiece? Well, by utilizing laser metal fusion technology, an advanced metal 3D printing technology given to them by aliens from another planet. Ok, I made up that last part…….or did I……
SYOS “In a Sentimetal Mood” 8 Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece Box
Here is a few comments about the SYOS “In a Sentimetal Mood” titanium tenor saxophone mouthpiece from the SYOS website:
A REVOLUTION
The first 3D printed titanium mouthpiece by Syos
This mouthpiece is manufactured using Laser Metal Fusion, an advanced metal 3D printing technology used in aerospace and high-precision engineering. Fine titanium powder is fused layer by layer with a high-precision laser, allowing us to create internal geometries with an extraordinary level of precision.
This process gives us something extremely important for a mouthpiece: perfect consistency.
The geometry we design is exactly the geometry you play.
Once printed, each mouthpiece is carefully refined and polished to achieve a beautiful silky matte finish that feels smooth, elegant, and extremely comfortable in the mouth. Every piece is then individually laser engraved and inspected.
The result is striking the moment you hold it. A mouthpiece that looks as precise as it plays.
Clean lines.
Perfect finish.
A material that feels both powerful and refined.
This is titanium done right.
The Inside of the SYOS “In a Sentimetal Mood” 8 Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece Box
Ok, so let’s get to the “In a Sentimetal Mood” titanium tenor saxophone mouthpiece I received. The mouthpiece came well protected in the SYOS box pictured above. The mouthpiece comes with a silver plated ligature and cap that fit the mouthpiece perfectly. I assume the ligature and cap are not titanium as well because they are silver plated.
There is an engraved S (SYOS) on the top of the SYOS “In a Sentimetal Mood”saxophone mouthpiece and a “In a Sentimetal Mood” engraved signature on the side of the mouthpiece. The tip opening of 8 is marked on the bottom side of the shank of the mouthpiece.
The SYOS “In a Sentimetal Mood” titanium tenor saxophone mouthpiece felt really light compared to other metal tenor sax mouthpieces I have reviewed. The weight of the titanium mouthpiece feels heavier than hard rubber but not as heavy as a brass tenor saxophone mouthpiece.
SYOS “In a Sentimetal Mood” 8 Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece
The SYOS “In a Sentimetal Mood” titanium mouthpiece is longer than many of the other tenor saxophone mouthpieces I have reviewed. The extra length of the mouthpiece makes the window of the mouthpiece look smaller in relation to the length of the mouthpiece but when I hold it up to some other tenor sax mouthpieces for a comparison, the window of the SYOS “In a Sentimetal Mood” mouthpiece is actually longer than the windows of those other tenor saxophone mouthpieces.
Although the mouthpiece window is longer, the bottom of the window is more narrow than the bottom of a typical window on an Otto Link tenor saxophone mouthpiece.
SYOS “In a Sentimetal Mood” 8 Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece
The SYOS “In a Sentimetal Mood” titanium tenor saxophone mouthpiece looks very well made. The table, rails and tip rail look even to the eye. The curve of the tip rail matches pretty closely with the curve of my tenor saxophone reeds.
The baffle is what I would consider a high baffle that is about 7/8ths of an inch long. At that point, it meets a precise curved edge and then the baffle continues at a greater angle down towards the rear of the mouthpiece chamber. That baffle slope, through the chamber, has a slight curve to it from side to side and the baffle floor narrows as it descends towards the baffles termination at the rear of the chamber.
I would describe the mouthpiece chamber as a medium chamber. From the bore end of the mouthpiece, the chamber looks smaller than a typical Otto Link sized chamber. When you look from the front of the mouthpiece, it is pretty easy to see how the baffle cuts through the chamber floor to make the chamber smaller. The sidewalls are scooped out nicely from the tip heading towards the chamber area.
SYOS “In a Sentimetal Mood” 8 Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece
The first tenor saxophone reed I tried on the SYOS “In a Sentimetal Mood” tenor saxophone mouthpiece was a BSS (Boston Sax Shop) 3 silver label tenor saxophone reed. On an 8 tip opening, I would usually use a 2 1/2 or 3 strength tenor saxophone reed but the 3 reed worked so well that I didn’t even try the 2 1/2 reed.
Due to the extended length of the mouthpiece body that I wrote about above, tenor saxophone reeds do not hang over the back of the table like they do on many other tenor saxophone mouthpieces. This extended length of the body also means that you have more room to place the ligature towards the back end of the reed if you so desire.
The extra length of the mouthpiece body also means that the mouthpiece can be pushed further on to the neck cork and not barely hanging off the end of the cork like some other high baffled mouthpieces do.
SYOS “In a Sentimetal Mood” 8 Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece
Let’s get to how the SYOS “In a Sentimetal Mood” titanium tenor saxophone mouthpiece played. I have to admit, I was shocked by how differently this SYOS mouthpiece played compared to how I had imagined it would. I saw that really high and long baffle and thought that the SYOS titanium mouthpiece would be a paint peeler as far as tone. I thought that this mouthpiece would be overly bright and incredibly loud, end of story, but when I first played the SYOS Titanium “In a Sentimetal Mood” tenor saxophone mouthpiece, I was surprised to find it to have a beautifully focused tone with a wide dynamic range.
The SYOS Titanium “In a Sentimetal Mood” had a beautiful tone that I found rich and full of character. Yes, it had increased brightness and edge when pushed but at a softer to medium volume it had a lush and full sound that sounded great on jazz ballads and fast jazz lines.
SYOS “In a Sentimetal Mood” 8 Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece
The higher baffle and medium chamber definitely gives the SYOS Titanium “In a Sentimetal Mood” tenor saxophone mouthpiece a ton of power and focus when the mouthpiece is pushed without sacrificing tone. I would give it a 10 for volume on my 1-10 volume scale that I use to describe the volume potential of a saxophone mouthpiece.
One of the best attributes of this mouthpiece is that the high notes and altissimo notes didn’t get all thin and weak sounding. They still retained a thick, full core to their tone and sounded fat and round in tone.
Usually, mouthpieces with this type of baffle and chamber have a low end that is wanting, but the SYOS Titanium “In a Sentimetal Mood” mouthpiece had a beautiful and lush sound that sounded killer with added sub-tone on a ballad.
Check out the third clip below on the melody of “Man with a Horn”. The tone is rich, full, round and full of character on that ballad. For a high baffled mouthpiece, I really dug it’s ballad tone a lot more than I thought I would.
SYOS “In a Sentimetal Mood” 8 Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece
The intonation on the SYOS “In a Sentimetal Mood” tenor sax mouthpiece was excellent and within normal parameters and the tone was even and balanced throughout the range of the saxophone.
The articulation was clean, immediate and smooth when playing fast jazz lines with jazz articulation. In the first sound clip below, I play the melody of Donna Lee at the 1:57 mark and the jazz articulation is smooth and precise sounding during that fast melodic line.
The SYOS Titanium “In a Sentimetal Mood” tenor saxophone mouthpiece really takes off when it comes to power and altissimo playing. The altissimo range is effortless to reach and traverse through. The mouthpiece makes it easy to bend notes, use vibrato and play at varying dynamics which means that the Titanium “In a Sentimetal Mood” tenor sax mouthpiece makes it easier to express yourself.
SYOS “In a Sentimetal Mood” 8 Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece
I’ve included six sound clips of the “In a Sentimetal Mood” tenor saxophone mouthpiece for you to check out. All six sound clips were recorded with a BSS (Boston Sax Shop) #3 Silver Label tenor saxophone reed.
I recorded a clip of my usual lines, licks and melodies I play in every mouthpiece review for the first sound clip so you can compare the lines to other mouthpiece clips here on my website. This first sound clip has reverb added.
The second sound clip is the same as the first but this is a dry recording with no reverb added. Most times, with a high baffled mouthpiece, I prefer the sound clips with reverb but I think in this case, I prefer the dry recording of the SYOS “In a Sentimetal Mood” mouthpiece. That says a lot, because I usually don’t dig the dry recordings of high baffled tenor saxophone mouthpieces. They usually sound too bright and thinner in tone when recorded dry but this is not true of this SYOS “In a Sentimetal Mood” tenor sax mouthpiece.
The reverb added sound clip gives you a hint of what the SYOS “In a Sentimetal Mood” titanium tenor saxophone mouthpiece might sound like in a hall with natural reverb and the dry recording gives you a hint of how the saxophone mouthpiece might sound like in a dry practice room with no natural reverb. Both scenarios are important because you don’t want to be in a practice room and hate the sound you are producing and you certainly don’t want to be in a concert hall hating the sound you are producing.
SYOS “In a Sentimetal Mood” 8 Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece
The third sound clip was recorded with the same reed and is more of an R&B altissimo style clip with reverb added that I try to add to all of my mouthpiece reviews so you can hear what the mouthpiece sounds like in that altissimo range and in that genre of music.
The fourth, fifth and sixth sound clips are of me playing the melodies to 3 different ballads on the SYOS Titanium “In a Sentimetal Mood” tenor saxophone mouthpiece. As good as this mouthpiece sounds on the R&B and funk lines, it is amazing that is sounds so good on the jazz ballads as well.
SYOS “In a Sentimetal Mood” 8 Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece
In my opinion, the SYOS Titanium “In a Sentimetal Mood” tenor saxophone mouthpiece is an amazing tenor saxophone mouthpiece for those of you looking for a great tenor saxophone mouthpiece that can do it all on a gig where you have to play jazz standards and then later morph into full tilt modern and funk tenor sax playing.
The tone of the SYOS Titanium “In a Sentimetal Mood” is thick and lush sounding at softer volumes or thick, powerful and focused sounding at louder volumes. This is a terrific all-round tenor saxophone mouthpiece that can cover all the bases for any variety of gigs or recording sessions you might have.
SYOS mouthpieces have done an absolutely incredible job creating this SYOS Titanium “In a Sentimetal Mood” tenor saxophone mouthpiece. The fact that they created this incredible titanium mouthpiece using 3D printing boggles my mind even more. Great job, SYOS!
If you like the sound and look of the SYOS Titanium “In a Sentimetal Mood” tenor saxophone mouthpiece, you can find them at the SYOS website. (Neffmusic also gets a small commission from each sale when you use this link which helps support this website).
If you try a SYOS Titanium “In a Sentimetal Mood” tenor saxophone mouthpiece or have any thoughts, comments or questions on this review, I would love to hear what you think in the comments below. Thanks, Steve
SYOS “In a Sentimetal Mood” Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece-BSS 3 Silver Label Reed-Reverb Added
SYOS “In a Sentimetal Mood” Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece-BSS 3 Silver Label Reed-No Effects Added
SYOS “In a Sentimetal Mood” Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece-BSS 3 Silver Label Reed-Altissimo Lines with Reverb Added
SYOS “In a Sentimetal Mood” Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece-BSS 3 Silver Label Reed-Man with a Horn-Reverb Added
SYOS “In a Sentimetal Mood” Saxophone Mouthpiece-BSS 3 Silver Label Reed-My One and Only Love-Reverb Added
SYOS “In a Sentimetal Mood” Saxophone Mouthpiece-BSS 3 Silver Label Reed-In a Sentimental Mood-Reverb Added
Why do you say the full name and brand of the mouthpiece every time? Is it to help google find your review? It’s kinda tough to read but I understand if that’s the purpose. Anyway you always do great reviews and sound awesome.
Sorry. I know it can be annoying. It does have to do with search engines and getting traffic from searches on the internet. Sometimes I over do it. I went back in and changed about 6-7 of the times I mentioned the mouthpiece so it isn’t as annoying as it was. After all these years of doing this, it is actually hard for me just to write “the mouthpiece……” in a sentence. I see it as prime real estate to use keywords so that someone who is looking for information on a specific mouthpiece can find my review on it.
Hi Steve,
I have been playing the SYOS “In a Sentimetal Mood” Titanium tenor saxophone mouthpiece for at least 2 months or more and it is just a perfect all around tenor saxophone mouthpiece for me. And feels totally free musically.
When I saw the baffle I was worried, but playing it was a complete surprise.
I have a 7.
I am really happy with it!!
That’s great to hear, Bob. Am I crazy in thinking it isn’t as bright as it should me with that high baffle and medium chamber. It just seems darker to me than it looks but maybe that is just my hearing loss shading what I hear…… I would love other perspectives on it.
Hi Steve, I had the same thoughts because I am 81, but my hearing is cool as it can be. I don´t have problems in a conversation.
I just listened to the first set of a gig on September 11. Small room, sold out at 80 people. Guitar, Bass and drums. I use no microphone. The guy sends me CDs of my gigs ( which are seldom, as I do not play out of Copenhagen anymore) The mouthpiece sounds great and lets me create. The dynamic range is superb and the timbre can be changed at my wish instantly.
Hope this helps- appreciate your work very much!
Bright Moments, Bob Rockwell
The SYOS website link near end of review is not working for me right now. This piece sounds great Steve. It responds great, and I like the focused sound. The high register speaks very well, LOTS to like. Great review.
Hi James, I tried all the links on the review and they are all working for me. Yes, I agree with your perceptions. It really is a joy to play!
Yep, working now for me too.
For $700. No thanks. I’d get a custom Lamberson piece or another Boutique makers piece for less. Not a printed piece for a price like that! Sorry. I just think that’s ridiculous.
Is the most important thing how it is made or how it plays? If it plays great, that is what is most important to me.
I’ve played the titanium 8 for the last 2 months and love it. Previously I played the SYOS Chad LB, and I believe the internal baffle is almost identical between the two. I recorded steady tones on both pieces, and I can’t tell the difference. However, the titanium model has a much smoother surface, and I think this has solved the “spitty sound” issue that I would occasionally get at low volumes on the Chad LB. Also the narrower width of the metal piece forces a different embouchure, which changes how it feels to play relative to the Chad LB
Hi Steve, I hope life is treating you well these days …. Although I haven’t been playing enough the last few years, I wanted to try something different from the Barone Hollywood 8 that I’ve had for 20+ years. I got a Theo Wanne Shiva IV in a 7*. It lacked the fullness and warmth of the Barone Hollywood. I tried the SYOS Titanium piece in an 8, and was blown away. I fully anticipated sending it back, but kept it. I have more testing to do between the two, but now have two very good mouthpieces that are pretty interchangeable.
Those Barone mouthpieces can be really special if you find the right one for you. It sounds like you did. Yeah, I agree, the SYOS Titanium is much fuller and warmer than the TW Shiva which I found to be quite bright.