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<\/a><\/p>\nMark Spencer Tenor Sax Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n Here are some of the things that Mark Spencer said about this mouthpiece in our emails to one another:<\/p>\n “This one I made for Bob quite deliberately in the knowledge that he was in the Stern band, playing some heavy fusion and so of course it is fashioned to respond well in his hands in that context. You would find quite a different piece with Julien Wilson (I recommend 2007 “Trio: Live”) yet the tip opening is the same as is the chamber – Julien is full of subtones and subtle, colourful allusion. I’m not making excuses for the piece – in fact I was very happy with that piece for the context it was headed into, and it may well serve someone well outside of the original intended context, but it would only be fair to the listener\/player to know that there is no single Mark Spencer mouthpiece.<\/em><\/p>\n I work everything by hand and along the way I play the piece a lot. The differences are quite subtle but I guess they help lead a player is the way I think about it. To say the baffle is just ‘higher’ or ‘lower’ is oversimplified as there is quite a lot that can be achieved in baffle shape. If you were to carefully measure even the one you have you would find that the baffle is nowhere near as high in relation to the reed as your eyes suggest – actually the difference between the highest point of the baffle and a regular early Babbit Link STM rollover is very little. The difference between the rollover of a link and the removal of some of that earlier rollover material, and the subsequent drop to a lower floor than the STM makes mine visually deceptive. There is no way you could get enough fat out of a truly high-baffled mouthpiece in my opinion. I started as a devotee of mid period Coltrane who wanted the additional punch that Turrentine had. There really isn’t any part of me that would be happy to sacrifice body and fat for the sake of loud. That said, some players who don’t use much throat in their technique do struggle to get a good sound out of my pieces. That’s another, longer, story. Some would dismiss Turrentine as bright. But I wouldn’t: “Live at Minton’s”; untouchable. Same goes for Julien’s “Club de Esquina”.<\/em><\/p>\n Those of you who know me, know that I don’t stray over a\u00a0 .110 tip opening very often.\u00a0 I was pretty nervous about buying this mouthpiece.\u00a0 Originally Bob told me it was a 8* which was cool but then when I emailed Mark he thought it was a .123 which made me really nervous.\u00a0 That was way too big of a tip compared to what I am used to. Later, Mark looked in his records and emailed me back that it was a .118.\u00a0 This made me feel\u00a0 better but I still had never played anything over .115 that I\u00a0 liked so I was still apprehensive about it.<\/p>\n When I first received the Spencer mouthpiece,\u00a0 I slapped a 2 1\/2 reed on it that was on another mouthpiece and tried to play it.\u00a0 It sounded awful!\u00a0 Hard too play and all tubby sounding.\u00a0 It felt like I was blowing into a cavern.\u00a0 I quickly took that reed off and found a new one which was much better.\u00a0 No tubbiness and easier to play.\u00a0\u00a0 After 15 minutes I was out of breath, feeling dizzy and my mouth hurt.\u00a0 These are common symptoms that you experience when you jump to a large tip opening.\u00a0 I had been playing a .105 tip so this was a pretty big jump.\u00a0 I was ready to throw in the towel and try to sell it but then I decided to give it another day or two.<\/p>\n The next day I played the mouthpiece for a few hours.\u00a0 Wouldn’t you know it, the mouthpiece felt and played great.\u00a0 It didn’t feel that large after awhile.\u00a0 My mouth wasn’t hurting and I wasn’t getting dizzy.\u00a0 I loved it and told Bob I would be keeping it.<\/p>\n As you can see from the pictures, this mouthpiece is a beautiful work of art.\u00a0\u00a0 The one unique thing I have to point out is the baffle.\u00a0 I have never seen a baffle like this before. It sort of reminds me of those water slides you go down at the water park.\u00a0 It angles down and then scoops up and then back down again.\u00a0 It finally terminates with a straight drop into a massive chamber.\u00a0 If a mouthpiece has a high baffle I like seeing a pretty big chamber after it.\u00a0 I’ve learned over the years that I like that combination.\u00a0 I have no idea how this baffle shape affects the sound but this mouthpiece doesn’t play nearly as bright as I thought it would when I looked at the baffle.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n