\n I have a favor to ask of you, if you can fit it in to your schedule. I’ve been playing for MANY years\u00a0 and have been through the mp numbers as my music\/bands have changed…… Bergs, etc.. I’m now using a Lawton 10 *B and love it. I purchased a bronze Berg 185\/2 a few years ago (for kicks) and got to like it a lot (for what it can do). It’s been worked on a little by a couple of people and I think it’s tip is now closer to a 170. But it’s still a monster and a lung exerciser. My problem is this. My hearing is lost… used aids for years and now have one cochlear implant – have it for 5 months. It has made my life whole again, BUT I don’t recognize my sound anymore. LOTS of “treble”. Once in a while I go through my mp drawer and have a ball – not easy when you also have to get a good matching reed (as you know). I’m mainly using the synthetics and very happy with them. However, ANY reed I use on the big Berg gets bent in and actually plays better\/easier. (I play with a LOOSE embouchure).\u00a0 Back to my request… Can you try out my Berg and tell me where it fits in the sound spectrum? I’m NOT trying to sell it. So far, with my present hearing, it seems to have a thin loud sound in an open area, but solid and full against a wall. Sub tone is easy, as well as up to D5. It fits right in with Gato’s Europa sound (I think).”<\/em><\/p>\n
At first, I responded that I couldn’t do a review of this saxophone mouthpiece.\u00a0 I have too much on my plate and besides that,\u00a0 who the heck plays a .170 tip opening sax mouthpiece?\u00a0 That is just crazy!\u00a0 \u00a0After sending out the email, I gave it some further thought and realized that I was a bit curious what a mouthpiece that open would actually play like so I decided I would like to try it………..<\/p>\n
Monster Berg Larsen .170 Tip Opening Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n When I received the Bronze Berg Larsen sax mouthpiece, I immediately opened the package to examine the mouthpiece.\u00a0 I must admit that I didn’t 100% believe the person who sent it knew what they were talking about.\u00a0 A .170 tip opening mouthpiece?……does that even exist?\u00a0 Apparently so, I opened the package and looked at the mouthpiece, it was a bronze Berg Larsen tenor saxophone mouthpiece with the numbers 185 over 2 SMS inscribed on the shank.\u00a0 That means it was a .185 tip opening !\u00a0 WHAT?\u00a0 Are you kidding me?\u00a0 That’s like a 15* tip opening!\u00a0 \u00a0If I play a .120 I get winded!\u00a0 Who the heck plays a .185?\u00a0 I have never even heard of such a thing!<\/p>\n The owner of the mouthpiece let me know that this mouthpiece was worked on by a few people and now measured around .170.\u00a0 (I believe Dave Jary put the nice looking baffle in it and Keith Bradbury did some work on it as well)\u00a0 I was still skeptical of this even though the tip opening looked huge,\u00a0 I put a few feeler gauges under the tip just to get a ballpark figure.\u00a0 I put a .125 gauge plus a .024 plus a .014 plus a .010 and it was pretty close to the tip of the mouthpiece.\u00a0 Add those numbers together and you get .173.\u00a0 That is close enough for me………<\/p>\n Monster Berg Larsen .170 Tip Opening Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n I put a brand new 2 1\/2 Vandoren Java reed on this mouthpiece and honestly thought there was no way it would seal and get suction on this tip opening.\u00a0 As you look at the mouthpiece from the side, the facing curve looks pretty extreme to my eye.\u00a0 \u00a0I thought there was no way a reed would conform to that extreme of a curve!\u00a0 I did the suction test and the reed immediately stuck to the curve of the facing for a second.\u00a0 Wow!\u00a0 \u00a0I was impressed!\u00a0 I blew on the mouthpiece alone and it blew easily and produced a nice buzz, also surprising to me.<\/p>\n When I first played the mouthpiece, it was during a Skype lesson with a student.\u00a0 I played a little bit and immediately started to feel a bit dizzy and winded.\u00a0 The amount of air I usually used to play for about 30 seconds seemed to last for about 8 seconds and was gone.\u00a0 The student did say he thought it sounded pretty good though……….<\/p>\n Monster Berg Larsen .170 Tip Opening Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n After the lesson, I played for another 20 minutes just trying to get used to this mouthpiece.\u00a0 It took more air than I was used to and I was trying to get used to that.\u00a0 \u00a0At first, the tone seemed really spread and kind of lost in the room but as I played it, it seemed like it came into focus more for me.<\/p>\n I also noticed that the intonation was much more flexible that I was used to. As I played with my normal embouchure pressure the sax was in tune but the more I played,\u00a0 my embouchure got tired and I started to go flat.\u00a0 I kept trying to fight against this but the more I did the more tired my embouchure got.\u00a0 I really didn’t feel like I was biting or adding more pressure with my embouchure but in retrospect I think I was subconsciously adding pressure so the reed was\u00a0 easier to play for me.<\/p>\n Monster Berg Larsen .170 Tip Opening Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n I was actually surprised by how easy the .170 Berg Larsen mouthpiece was to play.\u00a0 I didn’t think it would play with the 2 1\/2 reed at all and that I would need a 1 or 1 1\/2 size reed to play this monster tip opening.\u00a0 If nothing else, I was prepared to spend a few minutes tonight sanding down my Java 2 1\/2 reed so that I could play it on this clip.\u00a0 I was surprised when that wasn’t needed…….\u00a0 The Java 2 1\/2 played pretty well on it!<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2018\/Berg170SideTip1.JPG\")
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