{"id":53338,"date":"2018-12-21T15:51:32","date_gmt":"2018-12-21T20:51:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/?p=53338"},"modified":"2022-11-16T12:32:59","modified_gmt":"2022-11-16T17:32:59","slug":"rpc-110b-red-letter-tenor-saxophone-mouthpiece-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/rpc-110b-red-letter-tenor-saxophone-mouthpiece-review\/","title":{"rendered":"RPC 110B Red Letter Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece Review"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Today, I am reviewing a RPC 110B tenor saxophone mouthpiece made by Ron Coelho, at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/saxmpc.com\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">RPC mouthpieces.<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0I used to own one of these 110B tenor sax mouthpieces back in the mid 2000&#8217;s before I started this website and remember gigging on it for about 6-8 months at the time.\u00a0 I was playing a lot of jazz, funk and pop gigs at the time and the RPC 110B was killin&#8217; from what I remember.\u00a0 I always had fond memories of that mouthpiece and I was hoping I could find another like it to review someday.\u00a0 As soon as I saw this on the internet a few months ago, I scooped it up.\u00a0 This RPC 110B is one of Ron&#8217;s older models with the red lettering (the latest models have blue lettering).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2018\/RPC110Top.jpg\" rel=\"shadowbox\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" style=\"border: 0px initial initial;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2018\/RPC110Top.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"350\" border=\"0\" hspace=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>RPC 110B Red Letter Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">This RPC 110B is a used mouthpiece but is in really great shape.\u00a0 The body has very few marks on it and the tip, rails and baffle look great also.\u00a0 Here are some words from the RPC website on Ron&#8217;s process of making these RPC mouthpieces:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Each mouthpiece is machined from round stock , Ultem , and Hard rubber also from hard rubber raw castings, it is then left on a rack\u00a0<\/em><em>to season or equalize, for at least a week so the material will relax and come to equilibrium after being machined. Then it is sculpted\u00a0<\/em><em>with hand tools to the correct shape inside and out. Now the real work of turning it into something truly musical begins.<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Reeds are carefully chosen to begin the playing and fine tuning.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Rico Jazz Select, 2 medium, 2 hard, or 3 soft, filed.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Each mouthpiece is played and fine tuned for the following characteristics.\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>RESISTANCE POINT: Hugely important, there is good resistance and bad resistance. Good resistance gives something to push against and becomes familiar to the embouchure, this leads to good intonation and evenness of scale, without struggling to adjust different ranges of the horn. Bad resistance makes the horn stuffy and tires the embouchure&#8230;.Not good.\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Also essential to a great mouthpiece, the ratio of overtones to fundamental is blended, by making very subtle adjustments to the facing curve.\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Together with an easy flowing resistance the mouthpiece now has a rich palette of tone colors.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>These designs have been fine tuned with feedback from professional saxophone players all over the world and have evolved over 10 years of mouthpiece making.\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Each mouthpiece is played and fine tuned evaluating the musicality of the mouthpiece.\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>FINALLY when the mouthpiece becomes just pure fun to play it is ready.\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2018\/RPC110Table.jpg\" rel=\"shadowbox\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" style=\"border: 0px initial initial;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2018\/RPC110Table.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"350\" border=\"0\" hspace=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>RPC 110B Red Letter Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">I have to say that I think Ron Coelho is the master at creating baffles.\u00a0 The baffle in the RPC 110B looks to be made of an epoxy or some other substance that hardens as you work on it. The material is gray against the black hard rubber but blends nicely.\u00a0 Ron does a great job of molding and shaping the baffle to look smooth and perfect.\u00a0 I have seen some pretty scary looking epoxy baffles made by some other mouthpiece makers but Ron&#8217;s look like he is an artist and knows what he is doing.\u00a0 More importantly than how they look, the RPC mouthpieces I have played with these baffles also played great!\u00a0 I get the impression that Ron must play these mouthpieces as he is working on the baffles to get them exactly how he wants them to sound.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2018\/RPC110Baffle.jpg\" rel=\"shadowbox\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" style=\"border: 0px initial initial;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2018\/RPC110Baffle.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"350\" border=\"0\" hspace=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>RPC 110B Red Letter Rollover Baffle Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The baffle ends where it meets a bullet chamber.\u00a0 It is called a bullet chamber when there is a carved out shape to the baffle where it meets the chamber that looks like a bullet.\u00a0 In general, a bullet chamber is not as bright and edgy as a baffle with a straight edge.\u00a0 I would say the 110B has a medium sized chamber when I compare how the chamber looks to the size of some of my Otto Links that have large chambers.<\/p>\n<p>The RPC 110B played great with the first Rigotti Gold 2 1\/2 medium reed I put on it.\u00a0 A Rigotti 2 1\/2 strong reed also played well but I ended up choosing the medium reed for the clips below.\u00a0 I also tried a 2 1\/2 light Rigotti that felt too soft and a 3 light Rigotti that felt too hard for my tastes on the 110B.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2018\/RPC110Baffle2.jpg\" rel=\"shadowbox\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" style=\"border: 0px initial initial;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2018\/RPC110Baffle2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"350\" border=\"0\" hspace=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>RPC 110B Red Letter Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I have to admit that this 110B really surprised me. I thought it would be a lot brighter than it is from looking at the baffle before I played it.\u00a0 The baffle gives it some nice power when pushed but the tone isn&#8217;t overly bright and edgy.\u00a0 I found the tone to sound almost like the mids were boosted in an EQ.\u00a0 It has lows and highs to the sound but the mids are the prevalent range of the tone.\u00a0 That was my impression as I played it and listened back to the clips.<\/p>\n<p>(If I remember correctly, the 110B I had years ago I sold when I got an original\u00a0 Guardala Studio mouthpiece.\u00a0 The Guardala was much louder and brighter and at the time, I thought that would be the mouthpiece for me.\u00a0 I sold the RPC 110B with no regrets.\u00a0 Of course, a couple weeks later, I started feeling like the Guardala was way too bright for my tastes which made me regret selling that 110B. Oh well&#8230;&#8230;I sold that Guardala soon afterwards&#8230;&#8230;.)<\/p>\n<p>The 110B had a nice resistance to it to blow against.\u00a0 The tone was nice and even throughout the range of the sax. The high notes and altissimo notes still kept a thick beefy round tone to them without thinning out or getting edgy which I really liked!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2018\/RPC110Baffle3.jpg\" rel=\"shadowbox\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" style=\"border: 0px initial initial;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2018\/RPC110Baffle3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"350\" border=\"0\" hspace=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>RPC 110B Red Letter Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Strangely enough, while playing the RPC 110B mouthpiece, there was something about it that reminded me of a classical sax mouthpiece.\u00a0 I think it was that round mid boosted sound that was very even throughout the range.\u00a0 The low notes just popped out easily and were full and warm.\u00a0 The altissimo was also easy to get and I felt it was equally as warm sounding even when playing louder.\u00a0 I didn&#8217;t find the tone to be thin at all which is amazing.\u00a0 On many high baffle pieces, I find the palm keys to sound thin, edgy and\u00a0 irritating to my ears.\u00a0 The 100B sounded full and round to me.<\/p>\n<p>The intonation was great and I actually found the middle E to be more in tune than many other mouthpieces I have played on. The octaves were very close to perfectly in tune.<\/p>\n<p>I did find the altissimo to be much easier with this mouthpiece than many others I have played.\u00a0 The notes just seemed a lot easier to reach and playing lines up in that range sounded killer!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2018\/RPC110Tip.jpg\" rel=\"shadowbox\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" style=\"border: 0px initial initial;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2018\/RPC110Tip.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"350\" border=\"0\" hspace=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>RPC 110B Red Letter Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>On the clip below,\u00a0 I tried to show a variety of different elements that the mouthpiece has.\u00a0 As is my habit lately, I have added an additional clip with reverb as well.\u00a0 I feel this is important because sometimes listener&#8217;s get fooled by a &#8220;dry&#8221; recording of a sax mouthpiece.\u00a0 They think it is too bright, or thin or maybe even dead sounding but that is only because it is recorded in a &#8220;dry&#8221; recording environment which is what you are supposed to do for the best recording.\u00a0 Trust me, a mouthpiece that is a little bright in a dry setting can be unbelievable in a big room with a natural reverb or through a mic with a little bit of added reverb.\u00a0Honestly, as a gigging musician my choice of mouthpieces have always been the ones who have that brightness and punch that comes alive when on a gig.\u00a0 \u00a0That&#8217;s my preference anyways&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2018\/RPC110Cham.jpg\" rel=\"shadowbox\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" style=\"border: 0px initial initial;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2018\/RPC110Cham.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"350\" border=\"0\" hspace=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>RPC 110B Red Letter Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">I have to admit that I feel a bit out of shape playing wise.\u00a0 The last review I made on this site was the end of August and two days after that I started having medical issues because a VP shunt I have in my head started malfunctioning.\u00a0 I had to have surgery on that in October and between that and some other family medical issues, I have barely played over the last four months.\u00a0 It feels good to pick up my tenor after all this time and start playing again that is for sure.<\/p>\n<p>As usual, Ron Coelho has done a great job with this 110B tenor saxophone mouthpiece.\u00a0 It plays just as well as the 110B I used to have over 10 years ago.\u00a0 I have also tried one of his 115B tenor mouthpieces that I made a clip of years ago (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/2009\/08\/rpc-115b-tenor-mouthpiece\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">115B mouthpiece clip<\/a>) that also\u00a0 played great!<\/p>\n<p>If you are curious about RPC mouthpieces, check out the <a href=\"https:\/\/saxmpc.com\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">RPC website<\/a> for more information on them.\u00a0 Ron is a great guy to talk to if you have any questions and his phone number and email are on the site.\u00a0 I suggest calling him and talking to him about what you are looking for in a mouthpiece so he can fine tune a mouthpiece just for your needs.\u00a0 If you try one, be sure to come back here and tell us what you think in the comments below.\u00a0 \u00a0 Steve<\/p>\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-53338-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2018\/RPC110BReverb.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2018\/RPC110BReverb.mp3\">https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2018\/RPC110BReverb.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><strong>RPC 110B Red Letter Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece-Rigotti Gold 2 1\/2 Medium-Reverb<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-53338-2\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2018\/RPC110B.mp3?_=2\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2018\/RPC110B.mp3\">https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2018\/RPC110B.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><strong>RPC 110B Red Letter Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece-Rigotti Gold 2 1\/2 Medium-Dry Recording<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding: 12px; background-color: #f0b646; line-height: 1.4;\">Disclosure: I purchased the RPC 110B tenor saxophone mouthpiece reviewed above used on the internet so I could try it and perhaps review it on my blog. Regardless, I only review mouthpieces that I enjoy playing and believe will be good for other saxophone players to try also. Steve<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today, I am reviewing a RPC 110B tenor saxophone mouthpiece made by Ron Coelho, at\u00a0RPC mouthpieces.\u00a0 \u00a0I used to own one of these 110B tenor sax mouthpieces back in the mid 2000&#8217;s before I started this website and remember gigging on it for about 6-8 months at the time.\u00a0 I was playing a lot of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":53417,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[487,1119,45],"tags":[1776,1777,658,1778,1791,178,117,265],"class_list":{"0":"post-53338","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mouthpiece-reviews","8":"category-tenor-high-baffle-reviews","9":"category-tenor-mouthpieces","10":"tag-1776","11":"tag-red-letter","12":"tag-review","13":"tag-rollover-baffle","14":"tag-ron-coelho","15":"tag-rpc","16":"tag-sax-mouthpiece","17":"tag-tenor-saxophone","18":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/63"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53338\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}