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<\/a><\/p>\nClaude Lakey 7*3 Original Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece <\/strong><\/p>\n Last year, I posted a review of three Selmer S80 classical tenor saxophone mouthpieces which were all on the darker side of the tenor saxophone tone spectrum.\u00a0 Today,\u00a0 I will be jumping to the opposite side of that tone spectrum by trying out one of the brighter tenor saxophone mouthpieces out there on the market, the Claude Lakey 7*3 tenor saxophone mouthpiece.\u00a0 Let’s get ready to rumble.<\/p>\n Claude Lakey 7*3 Original Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece <\/strong><\/p>\n Here is how the Claude Lakey Original tenor saxophone mouthpiece is described on the website at ClaudeLakey.com<\/a>:<\/p>\n “The Original Tenor mouthpiece showcases the classic Claude Lakey bright sound. Handcrafted for quality, this staple member of our Originals collection was designed by Claude himself to help players reach new highs and lows on their tenor saxophone. The innovation poured into this mouthpiece pioneered a better jazz mouthpiece that can give you a great range with lots of freedom.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n While traditionally Claude Lakey mouthpieces have been known for their work in jazz ensembles, that’s not the only genre where you can find this mouthpiece useful. The Original Tenor sounds great in rock, funk, or house music settings as well. The bright, crisp sound can be heard cutting through an ensemble, or blending in to a small section. The versatility and control you have with the Original Tenor is astounding, and you will soon find it is your favorite mouthpiece to play in multiple settings.”-Claude Lakey Website<\/em><\/p>\n Here is a breakdown of the Claude Lakey Original tenor saxophone tip openings<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \u2022\u00a04*3 (.101)<\/strong>\u00a0A great mouthpiece for students who need a little resistance. Easy to control.<\/em> Claude Lakey 7*3 Original Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece <\/strong><\/p>\n The Claude Lakey 7*3 Original tenor saxophone mouthpiece is made of a composite material (fancy words for plastic).\u00a0 \u00a0The mouthpiece has a built in white tooth guard on the beak of the mouthpiece that is unique to Claude Lakey mouthpieces.\u00a0 These mouthpieces usually have a white engraved ring design around the end of the shank but that white ring is missing on this Claude Lakey 7*3 tenor saxophone mouthpiece for some reason.<\/p>\n The words “Claude Lakey” are engraved in a box on the middle of the mouthpiece table and the tip opening is engraved on the side of the mouthpiece as “7*3”.\u00a0 The engraving on the table of the mouthpiece pretty much guarantees that the table has a concavity to it at least where the engraving is.\u00a0 This is neither good nor bad as many great playing mouthpieces throughout the last century have had concave mouthpiece tables but many players these days like perfectly flat mouthpiece tables.\u00a0 Whether a concave or flat table, I don’t care as long as the mouthpiece plays well.<\/p>\n Claude Lakey 7*3 Original Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece <\/strong><\/p>\n The Claude Lakey 7*3 Original tenor saxophone mouthpiece was in relatively good condition although this mouthpiece had been used as a trial mouthpieces for students who wanted to try them at the local music store so there is some wear and tear on this mouthpiece with dings, nicks and ligature scratches on the body of the mouthpiece.<\/p>\n The diameter and beak profile of the Claude Lakey 7*3 Original tenor saxophone mouthpiece is very close to the diameter and beak profile of a typical hard rubber tenor saxophone mouthpiece.\u00a0 I used a Vandoren Optimum ligature for the sound clips below and the mouthpiece played well with a Vandoren Java green box #3 tenor saxophone reed.<\/p>\n Claude Lakey 7*3 Original Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece <\/strong><\/p>\n The Claude Lakey tenor sax mouthpiece tip, rails and table look and responded well when playtested.\u00a0 The reed got suction easily when performing the suction test.\u00a0 The left side rail of the mouthpiece seems to flare out and become wider as it nears the tip rail.\u00a0 \u00a0I don’t see this same flare with the right side rail.\u00a0 The tip rail looks a bit vague and worn but the reed sealed well so everything was working as it should.\u00a0 \u00a0I don’t know how long this mouthpiece has been used for playtesting so the rails could have some wear to them if thousands of players have been trying this mouthpiece out for years or it could have come like that from the factory.<\/p>\n Claude Lakey 7*3 Original Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n The baffle of the Claude Lakey 7*3 Original tenor saxophone mouthpiece is what I would consider a medium high and long baffle.\u00a0 The baffle terminates at a high height at the entrance to the mouthpiece chamber.\u00a0 If you look at the photo above from the bore end of the mouthpiece, you can see how high the baffle terminates.\u00a0 This makes the entrance to the chamber area much smaller and more narrow.\u00a0 As you look at the photo above, you can see how much smaller that chamber entrance is compared to a typical Otto Link tenor saxophone mouthpiece where that chamber entrance would be a full circle.\u00a0 The mouthpiece sidewalls are straight and the roof of the chamber is of a medium thickness.<\/p>\n The medium high and long baffle, coupled with that squeezed chamber entrance, leads me to believe that this Claude Lakey 7*3 tenor saxophone mouthpiece is going to be one bright mouthpiece……..<\/p>\n Claude Lakey 7*3 Original Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece <\/strong><\/p>\n Upon first playing the Claude Lakey 7*3 Original tenor saxophone mouthpiece, my first impression was that this mouthpiece was very powerful and very bright indeed.\u00a0 Along with the power and brightness in the tone, there was also a buzz and edge that increased as I played louder and higher.\u00a0 Even in the beginning of the first sound clip, you can hear the brightness of tone increase as I play a line up into the higher register of the saxophone.<\/p>\n The tone is in your face and has a grittiness and edge to it that reminded me of that muscular sax player Tim Cappello in the 80’s who was always playing the saxophone without a shirt on (He was in that movie “The Lost Boys” if that helps).\u00a0 I guess if I looked like that,\u00a0 I might not wear a shirt while performing as well……..<\/p>\n The squeezed throat at the chamber entrance definitely made the tone laser beam focused and intense.\u00a0 I’m not even sure the recording captures exactly how powerful, bright and focused this mouthpiece can be but while I was playing it at louder volumes it actually hurt my ears while playing.\u00a0 I would say the volume was about a 13 or 14 when pushed on my 1-10 volume scale.\u00a0 You can really hear that volume, brightness and edge on the altissimo sound clip below but I don’t even think the recording captures how loud the Claude Lakey 7*3 tenor sax mouthpiece was in my studio.\u00a0 In fact, I had to turn the gain on my mic all the way down to as low as it would go just to get the levels on these soundclips which are still pretty hot.<\/p>\n Claude Lakey 7*3 Original Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece <\/strong><\/p>\n When playing my typical jazz lines in the first clip below the Claude Lakey 7*3 Original tenor saxophone mouthpiece wasn’t what I would describe as even throughout the range of the saxophone. I had a hard time keeping some of the notes from jumping out in volume and brightness from note to note.\u00a0 That is probably more of an issue with me not being use to playing a mouthpiece with a smaller chamber entrance like the Claude Lakey 7*3 mouthpiece has.\u00a0 Any slight changes I would make in air on a large chambered mouthpiece like an Otto link seemed like they were magnified on this mouthpiece.\u00a0 You can hear this clearly at the 1:50 mark of the first clip where I start playing “My One and Only Love”.\u00a0 You can hear how some notes really jump out as much brighter and louder than other notes in the melody.<\/p>\n The intonation was surprisingly good on the Claude Lakey 7*3 tenor mouthpiece.\u00a0 I had anticipated the middle register and upper register of the saxophone to have issues with being sharp because of the high baffle and smaller chamber but I didn’t really find that to be as much of an issue as I thought it would be.<\/p>\n Claude Lakey 7*3 Original Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece <\/strong><\/p>\n The low notes on the tenor sax were a little more difficult for me to play at full volume without honking them out but they were easy to sub-tone which is kind of a way to cheat to make the low notes speak easier on higher baffled mouthpieces.<\/p>\n The Claude Lakey 7*3 responded well to manipulation of the notes via vibrato and bending.\u00a0 I didn’t find the articulation as clean and fast as on other mouthpieces but it was ok.\u00a0 \u00a0It just seemed a tad sluggish to me on the fast jazz lines.<\/p>\n The altissimo range of the saxophone was really easy to get as you would imagine from a higher baffled mouthpiece.\u00a0 I will say, that for me, this kind of mouthpiece really needs some reverb in the sound on a gig.\u00a0 Without that reverb, I think the high notes would be too loud, too bright and too edgy in a dry sound setting.\u00a0 I’m sure that, through practice, you could control that and tame it down a bit but I only had this mouthpiece for a few hours so didn’t have the time to learn how to best control it.<\/p>\n Claude Lakey 7*3 Original Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n In my opinion, the Claude Lakey 7*3 Original tenor saxophone mouthpiece is a great tenor sax mouthpiece for those of you looking for a tenor sax mouthpiece that will help you be incredibly loud, really bright and give you the option of adding a lot of edge to your sound.\u00a0 I typically would not suggest a mouthpiece like this for a high school student just because it could possibly be dangerous in the wrong hands. What I mean by that, is that at a time when they are playing in a concert band or jazz band in high school, you want them learning how to blend and fit into the sound of the section and not sticking out because they are drowning out everyone else in the band.\u00a0 Could a player make the Claude Lakey 7*3 work in those settings?\u00a0 Maybe.\u00a0 But it would have to be mastered and tamed by someone with a temperament that is discerning and self controlled to handle such power wisely.<\/p>\n For the adults, I would personally not suggest the Claude Lakey 7*3 for jazz playing but more for a playing setting where you have to compete with really loud electronic instruments. I’m imagining the sax player from “Lost Boys” again……..\u00a0 Could it work for jazz playing?\u00a0 Perhaps….\u00a0 If you dig a brighter jazz tone on the tenor sax like Michael Brecker had.\u00a0 He played jazz on a Guardala tenor sax mouthpiece, so anything is possible….\u00a0 You can listen to the clips and decide for yourself.<\/p>\n If you like the sound and look of the Claude Lakey 7*3 Original tenor saxophone mouthpiece<\/a>, you can find them on Amazon<\/a> at a very reasonable price.\u00a0 *Neffmusic also gets a small commission from each sale using this link which helps support this website,\u00a0 so thank you in advance if you use the link.<\/em><\/p>\n If you try a Claude Lakey 7*3 Original tenor saxophone mouthpiece or have any thoughts, comments or questions on this review,\u00a0 I would love to hear what you think in the comments below.\u00a0 Thanks,\u00a0 \u00a0Steve<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\n\u2022\u00a05*3 (.105)<\/strong>\u00a0Free blowing and easy to control. Clear, even sound with good projection. Very versatile and consistent up and down the horn.<\/em>
\n\u2022 6*3 (.109)<\/strong>\u00a0Nice bright sound. Centered, clear, even, free blowing. Excellent projection.<\/em>
\n\u2022 7*3 (.113)<\/strong> Our most popular and versatile tenor mouthpiece. Bright, centered, round and clear sound up and down the horn.<\/em>
\n\u2022 8*3 (.117)<\/strong>\u00a0Bright, free blowing, powerful mouthpiece for those who put a lot of air into the horn. Extremely popular in South American countries.<\/em>
\n\u2022\u00a09*3 (.121)<\/strong>\u00a0Longest facing and largest tip opening. Bright and free blowing.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n