Metal Yani pieces

[RS]

I read the thread on metal soprano pieces but there were only a couple comments on the Yani metal pieces. Has anybody else played these? I'm playing a Yani hard rubber piece that I like pretty well but I have an itch to try something with some more cut.

[Dr_sax]

I am playing a yanagisawa metal #7 on my soprano S900. Very nice and not to bright sound. While playing I can get the full variety from smooth to cutting just with a small change of playing. I use rico royal reeds 2.5 to 3 strength.

[Morry]

I am playing a #7 on my black nickel Keilwerth. Smooth, powerful sound, and just a tad more correction needed to keep the upper octave in tune as compared to my Bari hard rubber piece.

[Dave Dolson]

RS: I have the stock Yanagisawa pieces that come with their new horns. They don't play for me unless I use harder reeds than I prefer.

I tried two metal Yanagisawa soprano pieces while at Kessler's in Las Vegas buying a new horn from him. I did not care for either metal Yanagisawa piece (I believe they were #7 and #9). Other posters like the metal Yanagisawa pieces, and that's okay, but I don't like them. DAVE

[RS]

Dave--I believe the Yani stock pieces are #5s which is very closed for me. The #9 Yani (hard rubber) is fairly open (.074") and feels about right for me. The response is good and I like the tone pretty well too, but I'm curious to see what a little more cut would be like. If the metal Yani pieces play similarly to the hard rubber but with a little more cut then they might be worth a look. I think what I'll do next though is shave down one of the epoxy wedges that I got from Mojobari for my RIA bari piece. If I can get one to fit the Yani piece it should at least give me an idea what a more cutting piece plays like. Might even work pretty well. Wedges work great in my bari pieces.

[Dave Dolson]

RS: I have not compared the HR and metal Yanagisawa pieces side-by-side, so I don't know if similar numbers play similarly.

My only experience with removable wedges was with a JodyJazz #7 piece I own. I prefer the JJ without the wedge. But after all is done, I still like my Super Session Js the best of anything I've tried/own.

The ability to "cut" comes from a combination of set-up, experience (developing embouchure if you will), and stylistic goals, I believe. Some of the softer players I know can still be heard over all the cacophony by playing the correct notes (talking improvisation here - finding a place in the ensemble, rather than competing with other instruments for the same note).

For a mouthpiece to give you cutting power requires volume and focus - a piece with lots of warmth and spread (like Lakey pieces I used to use) will give you less cutting power. Still, my Lakeys (or SS, or Yanagisawas, for that matter) will sound entirely different when someone else plays them. DAVE

[Dr_sax]

Just to add- Before I got the metal #7 Yani mpc I played the stock mpc that came with my yanagisawa S900 soprano and I didn´t like it very much-Much too close and weak sound. After trying some dukoff and selmer mpc´s I got the yani and am happy with it since the last 5 years. Just go to a shop, take some time and a set of different reeds and try what you can get. I did that for about 2 weeks. Then took home a dukoff and the yani on trial for another week. :)

[RS]

I cut down a bari wedge and got it to fit in the rubber Yani piece. Adds maybe a little more cut. Not much though. I think I got it positioned too far grom the tip. But I found that the taper inside the piece allows for a wedge to be held firmly in place. So it might be worthwhile to do some more experimenting with wedges. Also, at some point I'd like to check out a few more pieces including: Metal Yani, Selmer Super Session, Runyon Custom, Runyon Smoothbore, Lawton, and maybe a Lakie. In the meanwhile, I'm pretty happy with the #9 rubber Yani piece. It's possible that after I satisfied my curiousity about the other pieces I would decide to just stick with the Yani.

[RS]

I finally got around to trying out a metal Yani piece. A #9 (.073" tip). This is the piece I've been looking for. It has a little more edge than my #9 HR Yani piece but still can get the warm and mellow sound of the HR if I play it softly. If I put a little more air through it it starts to cut nicely. The response is good. It has some resistance but this is starting to feel about right after a week of playing. And especially after trying out several other pieces--a Bari 66, Selmer Super Session J, hard rubber Berg Larson 75/1, and a Bari Gold (.075" tip I think). The Bari (hard rubber with .066" tip) had the smallest tip yet was the most resistant of all these pieces. I found it to be too much work in relation to the amount of sound it produced. It reminded me of my Beechler diamond inlay alto piece which sits on a shelf while my easy blowing JVW/ Meyer hangs out in my alto case. The Super Session was a little better but still more resistant than I like. I also found its' tone a little thin. Too much work for too little sound. The Berg blew pretty easily but had the softest sound (least amount of edge) of all the pieces. This surprised me as I figured the #1 baffle (second highest) would give some good edge. But it was more subdued than even the HR Yani piece. The Bari Gold (a high baffle metal piece), on the other hand, was a real paint peeler. Unbelievably loud and cutting. And extremely easy blowing too. It seemed that if I just breathed into it I'd be playing at MF. It was actually a struggle to play softly with this piece. It showed me that it's possible to have too much of a good thing. After playing it I came to appreciate the amount of resistance on the metal Yani piece. With the Yani I can get a good dynamic range from PP to FFF and with a decent tone quality. And it's not at all tiring to play. So I expect to stay with the metal Yani for the foreseeable future if not permantly. Very nice piece.

[oppai]

I have a Yanagisawa metal #6 (I believe most shops offer 5,7 and 9) which I acquired oversea in Asia. For me it chirps a lot when playing low D and E, which aren't a problem with an Link STM. That's why I am starting to hunt for another piece.

[Russ]

I use Yanagisawa metal #7's on all of my horns as I find them very mellow, but very bright when needed.
I've tried many combinations but these pieces really do it for my style of playing. Perfect.

[JimMetcalf]

The metal Yani 9 is a good piece-well machined and has good intonation ov range of SOP- I thought it was my perfect piece for SOP---until I tried the LAWTON Stainless 9B! The Lawton has much less resistance-blows easier-intonation is equal to the Yani and tone is a bit darker-but has more volume (I play mostly Dixie with 2 trmpts and Bone-so need to be heard among the brass) I use Bari* Med reeds :?

[Dave Dolson]

Jim: Sounds like an Oliver/Watters style band, eh? How does that Lawton work on SNAKE RAG? DAVE