Soprano mouthpiece

[Andrea]

I'm going to buy a new soprano, and Im wondering which is the best used sop mpc I could buy. Heard many good things about old soloist, bari, meyer, Selmer.
which size and brand do you suggest?

[Bootman]

Selmer Super Sessions are definitely worth checking out for a new model Soprano sax. The y play well on vintage sops too.

[Bill Gaulke]

Andrea,,
I have several sop mp'ses for sale,, e-mail me if interested,, I'm at::
bgaulke@techline.com good mp'ses, good prices...good cond,,, :)

[StevenW]

Has anyone else found soprano more touchy about mouthpiece selection than the bigger saxes? If you can get a shop to let you do a trial on a couple different mouthpieces use a tuner and try the combinations you might have good luck right off. I've an old Selmer Soloist I usually play on vintage sopranos, though I found the Runyon Custom better intonation-wise on new horns.

StevenW :D

[MojoBari]

I think most of us have found sops to be picky. Mine play best with medium to small chamber mouthpieces, like the ones SteveW mentioned.

[Chris Kelsey]

Up until recently I played soprano exclusively (!) for 13 years, and I used a Meyer 7 almost the whole time. I'd always used Meyers on alto, so when it came time to pick a soprano piece I just bought a Meyer. I never had cause to complain. Maybe I was just lucky...

[Anonymous]

It's been my experience that the soprano is more finicky about mpcs than the bigger saxes. It's best to keep trying different ones until you find what works. And don't disregard some of the less-expensive models.

[WriterMom]

MikeR, what are some of the less expensive models you'd recommend taking a look at? (If, say, someone wanted to try out five different mouthpieces, and had a tight budget, which ones would you recommend trying?)

[Anonymous]

Hite Premier, Morgan Protone, and the BARI Esprit.

You can get a BARI Esprit (made from the same material as the Morgan Protone) for less than $10 from www.daybreakenterprises.com. I tried one of these on a whim, and ended up selling my Runyon Custom and Vandoren S35.

[Perfect Pitch]

Having contemplated many of the posts here, I am changing opinions constantly! I have only used three different pieces on my VI.
The original Selmer piece
Otto Link ebonite
Yanagisawa Metal
For me the metal piece eats the ebonite pieces in projection and ease and strength of both lows and altissimo. The Link is alot fuller sounding than the Selmer piece which is very mellow. Invariably the Yanagisawa is used.
I know I must try some more pieces to get a better idea of options available but live in a hick town where mouthpiece selection is non existent. Guess the best advice is to take your horn to the shop and blow every piece there! 8)

[Mike Ruhl]

That, or order what you want to try from The Woodwind and Brasswind www.wwbw.com

You can try out mpcs for up to 45 days.

[Perfect Pitch]

:roll: over 60 choices in soprano from $20 to $320 - how to choose?



:argue:

[MojoBari]

This is a daunting task. But this is a good problem to have: many choices.

Budget considerations may narrow your choices immediately. Based on what you have played, pick sevearal pieces that look similar to what you like. If you are not sure, ask the forum what is similar. If you do not think you have tried enough of different designs, try some that are quite different from what you have tried. Just have an expectation that this is going to take several trials to narrow your search down.

You also need to try to separate tip opening from mouthpiece design/sound. Use the WW&BW chart to choose sizes similar to what has been comfortable to you when using a mid-strength reed. Soon you will get an opinion if you like a more closed piece with a hard reed or a more open piece with a softer reed (or just stay in the middle). Try not to reject a piece just because it has the wrong amount of resistance for you. It may be that you just need a larger/smaller size, or a different reed. So, make sure you have a nice selection of reeds to use to test mouthpieces.

Also... most pieces from the same maker that are marked the same will play differently. If you think you are getting close, you may want to consider having WW&BW, or whoever, to send you 3 of the same piece to try out. This really confuses things because you will not know if you did not like the Berg or Dukoff because of its design or because of its poor finish work. AT lot of the forum opinions are confounded by this problem.

Which leads to the my last point. Well-finished piece from a refacer will allow you to evaluate the mouthpiece design without having to deal with the question of whether it has a bad facing on it etc. So after you narrow down your preferences, get one of them hand faced and you will most likely have your favorite.

[Perfect Pitch]

Mojobari, thank you for an insightful and comprehensive response.

[Dave Dolson]

MojoBari recently worked on an alto HR piece I sent to him. Nice job.

I must comment about perceived differences among pieces from the same maker and in the same tip-openings. Specifically, I have three Selmer Super Session pieces for soprano, all in J-facings. I also bought then gave to my daughter a SS-I.

The three J-facings play the same. I cannot detect any difference among them. The I-facing played well but not as robustly as did the Js.

Just yesterday, I tried two of the three Js on my '23 Conn straight (which I've been playing lately) and on my S992 (bronze Yana straight). I used the same shaved-down Java 2 1/2 reed and a new Rovner and an old metal ligature. No differences detected, and both horns played wonderfully with either piece (that would be vintage vs. new for those who didn't catch the implication). The Rovner provided some mellowness to the tone (the metal lig being a bit more vibrant). There - did I cover all the soprano issues? DAVE