Posts Tagged ‘mouthpiece’

Do you have a number of mouthpieces you’d like to display? While I pretty much stick to one mouthpiece, I periodically like to go back and try other mouthpieces that I’ve collected over the years. Here’s a cool looking display you make relatively quickly. I’ll step you through the steps.

The Mouthpiece Display Stand

I started with a nice piece of solid maple, about 12 by 18 by 1 inches, leftover from a shelving project. I had in mind what I roughly wanted, so I also picked up a 3 foot long piece of 1/2 inch dowel. My friend Lon has a wonderful woodcutting studio, so I started by cutting the maple down to roughly 8 by 18.

We then routed the four sides of the maple, giving it a nice professional look.

Next I used the drill press and cut 1/2 inch holes, about 1/2 an inch deep. I picked a spacing of 2 inches (front to rear), and 3 inches (side to side). This would allow me to mount three rows of six dowels, or 18 total.

Next I cut the dowels. I cut six for the back row (sized for tenor mouthpieces), six slightly shorter (for alto), and six even shorter (for soprano).

The next step is to use a grinder to nicely finish the ends of the dowels, taking off the sharp edge.

Now it’s time to oil the maple for a nice finished look. I decided not to oil the dowels, since my mouthpieces were going to be on them. I used Teak Oil for the maple base, and it came out very nice.

Once the maple base was oiled, I mounted the dowels, long ones in the back and short ones in the front. I used just a touch of wood glue to make sure they wouldn’t wobble or come out.

All in all, a very easy project, and I know I’ll get a lot of use out of the stand!

See the photos below for more details of each step.

There are many variables that affect the sound you will get from your saxophone. These include the saxophone itself, the mouthpiece, the reed, the ligature, your embouchure, your oral cavity, and the way you move air through your horn. We will talk more about sound production in other lessons, so for now we’ll just discuss some mouthpiece basics.

For a student starting out, it’s best to buy a quality mouthpiece (such as a JodyJazz HS* for tenor, or a Meyer for alto), and stick with that mouthpiece at least until the student has developed good embouchure habits. For starters, a simple ligature (such as a Rovner Dark) should be used. Once the embouchure and intonation is developed, and the student has a good feeling for the sound he or she wants, other mouthpieces (such as metal ones) can be tried.

I happen to use a Jody Jazz HR* on my tenor, alto, and soprano. I think they get a great warm, dark sound, and are fairly free-blowing. But I also like to use a Dave Guardala King if I’m doing an R&B or blues gig. The Guardala has a much louder, bright sound that cuts through the band, but is far too bright (for my liking) in more quiet settings.

The mouthpiece should be cleaned weekly, usually with just warm water and soap. Check with the manufacturer to make sure what method they prefer.