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<\/a><\/p>\nLiu Shizhao Studio Prototype Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n A few weeks later, I received a package in the mail from China. \u00a0I was very excited! \u00a0These mouthpieces looked beautiful and I was really hoping they played as good as they looked. \u00a0I opened up the package and inside were a carefully packed silver tenor mouthpiece and alto mouthpiece. \u00a0Today, I am reviewing the alto\u00a0mouthpiece that you are seeing pictures of. \u00a0Mr. Shizhao calls this mouthpiece his Studio\u00a0prototype mouthpiece which I assumes refers to a design similar to a Guardala Studio alto saxophone\u00a0mouthpiece.<\/p>\n Liu Shizhao Studio Prototype Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n The Shizhao Studio Alto Saxophone\u00a0mouthpiece looked great upon inspection. The mouthpiece\u00a0has a cool\u00a0brown and tan design on the bite plate as you can see in the first picture above. \u00a0The craftmanship looks superb. \u00a0The rails are thin and even and the tip rail looks to match the shape of my Rigotti Gold reeds. \u00a0The table looks to be exactly the width of the reed so the edges of the reed are even with the outside of the thin side rails.<\/p>\n It looks to have a step baffle like the Guardala\u00a0tenor mouthpieces I have seen. I have never played or seen an alto Guardala so I am very curious to try this mouthpiece. \u00a0Everything looks very even and smooth in regards to the baffle and it’s shape. Unlike the Shizhao MB tenor mouthpiece that I reviewed last week with the smooth rollover baffle, the baffle on the Studio alto mouthpiece has an edge on the end of the baffle before it descends into the chamber. \u00a0As I hold the mouthpiece up to the light, the baffle, tip and rails all look perfect to my eye!<\/p>\n Liu Shizhao Studio Prototype Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n The sidewalls of the Shizhao Studio alto\u00a0mouthpiece are scooped out slightly and the chamber looks large to my eye. \u00a0 This alto studio mouthpiece has a .085 tip opening with a 20mm length facing curve. \u00a0Although the tip opening is larger than I usually like (I don’t usually go over .080) I didn’t notice the wider tip on this mouthpiece. \u00a0It actually felt quite comfortable to play and didn’t seem like a .085 to me at all. \u00a0I\u00a0felt at home on this mouthpiece almost immediately. \u00a0Although I don’t usually like brighter alto mouthpiece I found myself really liking the sound and playability of this piece.<\/p>\n I\u00a0used a Rigotti Gold 2 1\/2 Strong reed on it because it was the first one I tried and it worked perfectly for me.<\/p>\n The Shizhao Studio Alto Mouthpiece had the perfect blend of resistance and power for my tastes. \u00a0The high baffle gives it plenty of power and brightness when needed and the tone could be shaped very easily. I found it very easy to be expressive and soulful on this mouthpiece. \u00a0The tone was very even throughout the range of the horn. I also found the tone to be very concentrated and focused. \u00a0It had a big sound but the tone also sounded compact to me. It sounded to me like it had this huge big sound that was then compacted into this super focused, concentrated, powerful tone if that makes sense.<\/p>\n This is a brighter mouthpiece, \u00a0there is no denying that, but you can hear on the clip that if you lay back a bit it can sound very nice while playing jazz lines. \u00a0It does have that brighter sound and vibe but I feel like Liu did a great job in that the tone of this mouthpiece is not overly edgy or obnoxious like some other high baffle mouthpieces I have tried. It’s got volume and power to spare but the sound and tone can still be controlled and molded to the desire of the player to a certain extent. \u00a0You can’t play classical music on this piece or get a dark alto tone out of it but if you tend to like the sound of bright alto players that wail this might be a great choice for you.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n