Making Baritone Sax Mouthpieces

[MusicMedic]

Hey everyone. Around September 20th I am going to have Jey Clark (www.SaxMouthpiece.com) at my shop to do some mouthpiece work. Jey is a great mouthpiece re-facer and a wonderful guy to deal with.
After spending a great deal of time working with Jey and mailing mouthpieces back and forth, we've decided to get together and make a few of our own.

I would like to see if we (Jey really, I just want to play them!) can make some great open chambered mouthpieces that will work well with vintage Bari's. I have purchased about 24 blanks and have a few other pieces that we can work with. We want to try several facings and bore dimensions. We are hoping to come out of this with about 12 working proto-types.

Since Jey's shop is on the West Coast and MusicMedic is on the East Coast, we will be working very hard for the week that we are together.

After that week, I should have some prototypes here in my shop if anyone wants to try them out. I have several Bari's here that I can test MP's on. I would also like some opinions from other Bari Players. I have a few clients that have expressed a great interest; even tried to buy them...before they're made! Drop me an Email if you're interested in trying a few large chambered mouthpieces on that vintage Bari of yours!

Curt Altarac
Curt@MusicMedic.com

[Bootman]

Curt,
I would be very interested in giving these a try. Getting to the U S is a challenge though. Any thoughts?

[MusicMedic]

Just hop on a plane and come visit us! :D

But, if that's just not possible... I can pack them up and send them out to you.

We've had a great response to the mouthpiece project. Jey is traveling now and will be here in about 2 weeks. At that point the shop will close while Jey and I cut up a bunch of mouthpieces. We are hoping to make a few Bass mouthpieces as well as Bari pieces.

Some of the people that I consider to be the finest Bari players in the world have asked to try these mouthpieces and the list is growing. I think this is going to be a great project. Once they are done, I will send a few out for feedback and go from there. Bootman, I'll put you on the list!

[MusicMedic]

The time for Jey to arrive at my shop is coming close. I have a huge box of mouthpiece blanks and list of folks to send the mouthpieces to. Some of Jey's tools and mouthpieces arrived in the mail yesterday as well. I was tempted to bust it open and start trying the pieces but, I'll wait.

I spoke with Jey and he is as excited as I am. I don't see how he could be though. Imagine, I have about 25 mouthpieces (to start) and a mouthpiece refacer who's only motive is to make me a bunch of great mouthpieces. I love this job!

At any rate, I will keep those of you that contacted me posted on our progress with this project.

Curt Altarac
www.MusicMedic.com

[mark_m]

Hey there Curt, time for an update; are we there yet? :)

[MusicMedic]

Hi Mark,
Before coming to my shop Jey was planning a tour (so to speak) stopping at various MP manufacturers, facers, and machine shops. Jey is really into educating himself and seems to be driven to do so. That's what I really dig about him. Jey always has something new to talk about and knows what's going on.
At any rate, while in NY Jey got very sick. I think the climate change got the best of him. He was forced to go home (CA) and rest rather than come to the shop here (NC).
I guess that's bad news but Jey and I have been on the phone so much and have been throwing ideas back and forth so much lately that I wonder why we just didn't give ourselves more time in the first place. We have added a few more idea for various mouthpieces and we are going to double (at least) the length of his visit. Jey and I have contacted several great players and refacers to join us in the week. It's really looking like it's going to be a great time making mouthpieces.
I think it's going to happen in early December.

So far we are hoping to make some bari pieces that play well on vintage instruments for classical playing. We are planning on making a bunch of Bass MP's -which I am particularly interested in as I just got a 'new' Conn Chu Bass. We are planning on working on other pieces but that's not set yet; more on that later.

If you have any ideas that you would like to run by us, drop me a line. I'm more than open to suggestions.


Take care,
Curt Altarac
Curt@MusicMedic.com

[mark_m]

Sounds very very cool. I hope Jey is OK and recovering well. Sounds like such a fun project, and I'm sure it will be so educational for both of you. I love it when people step forward and take a risk - best of luck, tell Jey to let me know if I can be of any help, I'm right around the corner from his new shop.

[shmuelyosef]

Hey there Curt, time for an update; are we there yet? :)

Hey mark...you know that Jey has opened a store in Berkeley...I haven't been up there yet, I had two gigs on the day of his 'grand opening'.

Available by appointment.Phone (415) 497-6991
Email:sax@saxmouthpiece.com - On the web since 1995.
NOW OPEN in Berkeley California SAXOLOGY!
A Saxophone Store 1956 University Ave 510-843-2436

[mark_m]

Yes, I stopped by with just a few minutes and caught the last half-hour of his talk about mouthpieces, said hey and then had to jet, will be trying to make it back there soon with time to get more checked in...

Cool location, near the Jazzschool and close enough to U.C. to get students in.

[mark_m]

p.s. if you go there and have trouble parking, often there are spots on the next street back from the opposite side of University Ave., it might be Delaware..