{"id":79651,"date":"2019-12-11T23:21:49","date_gmt":"2019-12-12T04:21:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/?p=79651"},"modified":"2022-11-15T15:43:30","modified_gmt":"2022-11-15T20:43:30","slug":"saxscape-fat-cat-classic-tenor-saxophone-mouthpiece-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/2019\/12\/saxscape-fat-cat-classic-tenor-saxophone-mouthpiece-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Saxscape Fat Cat Classic Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today, I am reviewing a Saxscape Fat Cat Classic 7* tenor saxophone mouthpiece that Ken Barry at Saxscape mouthpieces<\/a> recently sent me to try out and perhaps review.\u00a0 Earlier this year, I reviewed a Saxscape Live model tenor sax mouthpiece<\/a> that I thought was superb and when Ken asked if I would like to review some of his other tenor sax mouthpiece models I immediately jumped at the chance.<\/p>\n

The Saxscape Fat Cat Classic mouthpiece model is on the Saxscape website but all the mouthpiece description says is “Well balanced, compact, fat sound!” That’s it!\u00a0 Five words!\u00a0 With that brief description, I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect from this mouthpiece but was looking forward to trying it out nonetheless.<\/p>\n


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Saxscape Fat Cat Classic Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Saxscape Fat Cat Classic tenor saxophone mouthpiece is made of Delrin which is a polyoxymethylene thermoplastic.\u00a0 Yes, I know I lost most of you already with the scientific wording, sorry!\u00a0 From what I can gather from google, Delrin is a plastic that has been cleared as food safe by the FDA.\u00a0 I have also read that it is a very tough and stable material.<\/p>\n

The Saxscape Fat Cat Classic tenor mouthpiece is a .105 tip opening which is a 7* tip opening. It has a traditional hard rubber tenor sax mouthpiece diameter and shape to it.\u00a0 Ken produces some tenor sax mouthpieces that have what is called a “slim profile” and other mouthpiece models with a more “traditional profile”. The diameter of the the Fat Cat mouthpiece is very close to the diameter of an average hard rubber Otto Link tenor sax mouthpiece and I used a\u00a0 generic metal ligature on it that is made for hard rubber tenor saxophone mouthpieces.<\/p>\n

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Saxscape Fat Cat Classic Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Saxscape Fat Cat Classic tenor saxophone mouthpiece looks great to the eye.\u00a0 Much of the mouthpiece seems to have some kind of machined pattern in the Delrin which gives it a modern look.\u00a0 The tip, rails and table look relatively even and well crafted.\u00a0 The shape of the tip matches the shape of the saxophone reeds perfectly.<\/p>\n

The baffle of the Saxscape Fat Cat looks to be a rollover baffle that rolls over gradually for about a quarter of an inch and then declines to the chamber opening in almost a straight line descent.<\/p>\n

The baffle ends at the chamber where it has a short drop off to the bottom of the chamber. The opening to the chamber looks to be a medium-small size opening to me. (I would consider a Selmer Soloist to have a small size chamber opening) The raised baffle floor at the entrance to the chamber and the straight sidewalls make it much smaller than a typical Otto Link chamber entrance.<\/p>\n

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Saxscape Fat Cat Classic Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Delrin has a smooth feel to the touch.\u00a0 I didn’t want to take the chance that my teeth might mark up the beak so I put a Forestone mouthpiece patch on it and it has been on the mouthpiece ever since without moving. The beak profile is also similar to a typical hard rubber Otto Link mouthpiece and feels comfortable to me even with the patch on it. The beak does feel higher to me than the slim profile Saxscape mouthpieces.<\/p>\n

I know that some people have contacted me worrying that the machine marks would stop the mouthpiece from getting a good seal with reeds but this is not the case with any of the four Saxscape Delrin saxophone mouthpieces I have played.\u00a0 Each mouthpiece has been very reed friendly and all the reeds have sealed well when performing the suction test.<\/p>\n

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Saxscape Fat Cat Classic Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n

The part I dread about trying saxophone mouthpieces and reviewing them is always finding the best reeds for each mouthpiece.\u00a0 For this mouthpiece, I ended up recording sound clips with a Boston Sax Shop 2 1\/2 reed and a Rigotti Gold 2 1\/2 strong reed.\u00a0 I also tried a BSS 3 reed and a Rigotti 3 Light and 3 Medium reeds which worked great also but just felt a little too hard for me.\u00a0 In the end, I preferred the less hard 2 1\/2 reeds on the Saxscape Fat Cat mouthpiece.<\/p>\n

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Saxscape Fat Cat Classic Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Saxscape Fat Cat Classic tenor saxophone mouthpiece had a focused tenor sax tone that leaned to the darker and warmer sound of a tenor sax tone in my opinion.\u00a0 The Boston Sax Shop reed seemed to strengthen that core and focus in my opinion and I thought it was a bit darker than the Rigotti Gold reed.\u00a0 The Rigotti Gold reed seemed to give the tone a bit more buzz and brightness compared to the BSS reeds I think.<\/p>\n

The intonation was really great!\u00a0 My Selmer SBA tenor saxophone (from the 50’s) can tend to be a bit sharp on certain notes with higher baffled and smaller chamber mouthpieces but the Saxscape Fatcat mouthpiece was very easy to play those notes in tune.<\/p>\n

The evenness of notes throughout the range of the horn was nice and smooth when playing fast lines also.\u00a0 I felt like the fast lines had a bit of a warm velvety sound to them that I really dug also.<\/p>\n

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Saxscape Fat Cat Classic Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n

On many mouthpieces that are darker, the altissimo range can sometimes be harder to produce but the Saxscape Fat Cat Classic mouthpiece performed really well up in that higher range of the horn.\u00a0 I think that smaller chamber opening helps to direct and focus the sound so that it is easier to hone in on those altissimo notes.\u00a0 I have had a similar experience with Selmer Soloists also.<\/p>\n

As the name suggests, the Fat Cat mouthpiece although focused , also has a nice fat round sound to it that I really enjoyed.\u00a0 It seemed like I could really hear that fatness when I played out into the room but as soon as I turned to the wall,\u00a0 the tone immediately sounded like it had more core and focus as it made the short bounce back to my ears.<\/p>\n

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Saxscape Fat Cat Classic Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n

On the sound clips below, I try to give a good range and variety of sounds and textures so that you can hear the Fat Cat mouthpiece perform in different styles.\u00a0 I perform my usual favorites so you can compare these clips with other clips on the site.<\/p>\n

As has been my habit lately,\u00a0I have added some slight reverb to each of the clips for those of you who like to check out the recordings with reverb added also.\u00a0 I try not to put a lot of reverb on the clip but just enough to thicken the sound a little bit.\u00a0 The reason I think reverb is good to add to the clips is that you can get an idea of how the mouthpiece might sound in a dry room and how it might sound in a room with natural reverb like a garage or bathroom. (I love playing in my garage!!)<\/p>\n

The first two clips are with the Fat Cat Classic tenor mouthpiece with the Rigotti Gold 2 1\/2 strong reed.\u00a0 I put the sound clips with reverb first because I really dug them but if you don’t like reverb you can just listen to the dry clips.\u00a0 It’s interesting because I usually don’t like reverb on darker sounding mouthpieces but I really like the reverb on these clips. I think the reality is that I don’t like reverb as much on spread mouthpieces but the Saxscape Fat Cat mouthpiece is focused enough and the core sound concentrated enough that the reverb sounds great when it fattens it up even more.<\/p>\n

As I listen to the clips, I do enjoy the reverb a bit more on the Rigotti Gold clips so maybe it is the added brightness I like with the reverb as well.\u00a0 I’m not sure as I write this.\u00a0 \u00a0Take a listen yourself and let me know what you think in the comments below……..<\/p>\n

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Saxscape Fat Cat Classic Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n

In my opinion, the Saxscape Fat Cat Classic is a great tenor saxophone mouthpiece for those of you looking for a sax mouthpiece with a warmer dark tone that also has a nice focused yet fat sound.\u00a0 \u00a0I think Ken Barry at\u00a0 Saxscape mouthpieces<\/a> has done a great job with the Fat Cat tenor saxophone mouthpiece.<\/p>\n

Ken has recently revamped his website at Saxscape<\/a> so make sure you check it out if you are interested in the Fat Cat tenor saxophone mouthpiece.\u00a0 He also has many other models of saxophone mouthpieces on his site that you can check out as well that I hope I can also review in the future (I have a Downtown MB1 and a Florida model also on my desk as I write this).\u00a0 Besides his website, you can also contact Ken Barry by phone or text: 570-350-5843, by email<\/span>:\u00a0saxscape@gmail.com<\/a><\/span>\u00a0 or on Facebook<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you try a Saxscape Fat Cat Classic tenor saxophone mouthpiece or have any thought or comments on this review,\u00a0 I would love to hear what you think in the comments below. Thanks,\u00a0 \u00a0Steve<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2019\/SaxscapeFCRigReverb.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

Saxscape Fat Cat Classic Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece-Rigotti Gold 2 1\/2 Strong Reed-Slight Reverb Added<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\nhttps:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2019\/SaxscapeFCRig2.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

Saxscape Fat Cat Classic Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece-Rigotti Gold 2 1\/2 Strong Reed-Dry Recording With No Effects Added<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\nhttps:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2019\/SaxscapeFCBSSReverb.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

Saxscape Fat Cat Classic Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece-Boston Sax Shop 2 1\/2 Reed-Slight Reverb Added<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\nhttps:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2019\/SaxscapeFCBSSFinal.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

Saxscape Fat Cat Classic Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece-Boston Sax Shop 2 1\/2 Reed-Dry Recording With No Effects Added<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I received the sample mouthpiece mentioned above for free in the hope that I would 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":"

Today, I am reviewing a Saxscape Fat Cat Classic 7* tenor saxophone mouthpiece that Ken Barry at Saxscape mouthpieces recently sent me to try out and perhaps review.\u00a0 Earlier this year, I reviewed a Saxscape Live model tenor sax mouthpiece that I thought was superb and when Ken asked if I would like to review […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":82075,"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":[487,1121,45],"tags":[1909,196,361,658,7,1786,1788,265],"class_list":{"0":"post-79651","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mouthpiece-reviews","8":"category-tenor-low-baffle-reviews","9":"category-tenor-mouthpieces","10":"tag-fat-cat-classic","11":"tag-ken-barry","12":"tag-mouthpiece","13":"tag-review","14":"tag-sax","15":"tag-saxscape","16":"tag-slim-profile","17":"tag-tenor-saxophone","18":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79651","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=79651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}