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<\/a><\/p>\nLamberson J7 Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece with No Mouthpiece Patch<\/strong><\/p>\n These questions of mine started a long time ago when I was playing the saxophone in college.\u00a0 I\u00a0 remember my sax teacher at the time telling me that I could put a mouthpiece patch of some tape or rubber onto the beak of my sax mouthpiece to prevent the deep teeth marks I was putting in my saxophone mouthpieces at the time.<\/p>\n This was good news for me because every mouthpiece I had played had deep teeth gouges worn into the beak of each mouthpiece.\u00a0 I know, I know, we are not supposed to bite like that while playing the saxophone, but I was a young energetic alto sax player trying to sound like Dave Sanborn and Mark Russo and biting just seemed to get me closer to that goal at the time.\u00a0 I apologize for not being a good saxophone playing role model in my younger years……..<\/p>\n Lamberson J7 Saxophone Mouthpiece with One Forestone Mouthpiece Patch<\/strong><\/p>\n Upon trying a patch on my mouthpiece back then, I noticed an immediate change in my saxophone sound.\u00a0 For classical music, this change was fine but for my jazz playing, I felt like the patch really effected my tone in a negative way.\u00a0 The mouthpiece patch seemed to dull the tone and take some of the highs and brights that I loved in my sound away.\u00a0 At least that was my impression as I played my saxophone with a patch on my mouthpiece.<\/p>\n The sound I was used to hearing through my ears and inside my head while playing was completely changed and I did not like that.\u00a0 I was at a point where I was really starting to dig that sound I was producing and hearing while I played, the last thing I wanted to do was to change what I was hearing while playing.<\/p>\n Lamberson J7 Saxophone Mouthpiece with Two Forestone Mouthpiece Patches<\/strong><\/p>\n Besides just having my tone effected, I also had a harder time hearing myself while playing gigs with live bands with a mouthpiece patch on my mouthpiece.\u00a0 I could not hear myself on loud gigs and when I took the mouthpiece patch off, I could then hear myself again.\u00a0 This fact, combined with the impression that the patches lessened the highs, brights and edge in my saxophone sound, convinced me to give up on the mouthpiece patch idea at the time.<\/p>\n Years later, when I started trying out different saxophone mouthpieces, I would revisit mouthpiece patches again and I have been using them ever since on my mouthpieces to protect them.\u00a0 But still, even today, I find myself wondering what, if any, perceivable difference a mouthpiece patch makes to the saxophone tone from the perspective of the listener.<\/p>\n I have read many views and opinions on this subject on the internet over the years that say a mouthpiece patch can make a difference in sound to the player because it dulls the vibrations traveling through the mouthpiece, into the teeth, up the jaw and to the ears of the player, but the difference to the audience is insignificant and negligible.\u00a0 Some have written that there is no difference to the listener whatsoever.\u00a0 \u00a0Still, how could such a drastic change in tone be so obvious to me the player, but the listener hears no difference whatsoever?<\/p>\n Lamberson J7 Saxophone Mouthpiece with Three Forestone Mouthpiece Patches<\/strong><\/p>\n Lamberson J7 Saxophone Mouthpiece with Four Forestone Mouthpiece Patches<\/strong><\/p>\n Please keep in mind that everything I have stated so far in this article has been based on my subjective impressions, experiences, opinions and random stuff I have read on the internet.\u00a0 The point of this article was to record some clips of me playing the same thing with a different variety of mouthpiece patches on my mouthpiece and to see if the differences I hear in my head are at all perceivable on the recordings.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n