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baritone reed on tenor mouthpiece

4K views 10 replies 7 participants last post by  John Laughter 
#1 ·
I've heard about this for years and read it on SOTW but never got around to trying it. In a Facebook SOTW thread, I think it was Tim Price who mentioned that Plas Johnson plays a bari reed on tenor. I had heard this about Plas before. (He's my role model sax player; I saw him perform in a couple of jazz clubs several years ago. He's 86 now so I don't know if he's still playing.)

I use 2.5 Plasticover reeds on a Metalite M11, playing loud blues-rock. It dawned on me that I have 2.5 Plasticover bari reeds in the bari case. I took some to band rehearsal last night and tried it out. Wow. I'm a convert. More volume, more power, more projection, more tone, bigger sound. Also easy blowing, crisper, more control over intonation, bending notes, vibrato. I can't explain or describe it. It may be in part a placebo effect of just playing something different.

I looked at the tenor and bari reeds together. They're both about the same width but the bari reed is longer, with a longer shank and longer vamp (I'm not sure what you call the parts of a reed). Maybe this greater overall length adds some oomph to the reed on a tenor mouthpiece. Whatever it is, I liked it. It was more mojo. I'm gonna play this set-up at Saturday night's gig. I think I'm in love.
 
#3 ·
I got a rescued Brilhart hard rubber personaline. It had been mangled so bad by a chainsaw artist that fixing it entailed widening the table such that baritone reeds are a better fit. The result is my favorite mpc. I like Forestone baritone 3s or 3.5s on it (.092). I get a slight bump up on projection from them compared to the plasticovers, which I like a whole lot .

Since I played baritone almost exclusively for five years and had a ton of bari reeds, I was predisposed to use them anyway.

I have found that some tenor mpcs are wider than others. With some, the bari reed hangs over the side and can pinch.

The main thing is going with what works.

Congrats!
 
#4 ·
Lester Young also used a baritone reed on tenor (during his Basie band period).

Actually it's like playing a softer reed, because the thinner part of the reed is longer on a bari reed. So that makes that it bends more easily around the facing curve and plays with less resistance. Going to a softer tenor reed might give you about the same results. A pro friend of mine played bari reeds on tenor for a while, but he told me he got intonation issues in the upper register (going sharp). I've never tried one myself.

But theory and reality are not always the same, so enjoy the ride if it works fine for you and you are happy with the results. :)
 
#6 ·
Actually it's like playing a softer reed, because the thinner part of the reed is longer on a bari reed. So that makes that it bends more easily around the facing curve and plays with less resistance.
That makes some sense.
 
#5 ·
I've heard about this for years and read it on SOTW but never got around to trying it. In a Facebook SOTW thread, I think it was Tim Price who mentioned that Plas Johnson plays a bari reed on tenor. I had heard this about Plas before. (He's my role model sax player; I saw him perform in a couple of jazz clubs several years ago. He's 86 now so I don't know if he's still playing.)
I asked a good friend of Mr. Johnson to ask him when he used the baritone reed. It was on the early recordings and possibly on "Pink Panther". I don't know about recent years.

He was playing with a "rehearsal band" in recent years and can be seen on Youtube. Not sure about today.

I used a Plasticove baritone reed on a Rovner "Deep V" for many years and enjoyed it. Just had to be careful in the upper range for intonation and sometimes a thinner tone depending on the reed strength. But once you get it under control it is one fat and loud sound and the subtones are excellent.

I went back to a tenor reed a couple of years ago when I changed over to an RPC. Just did no work too well on the new m/p. But who knows, I may give it another try now that you have mentioned it :)

Also used a tenor reed on alto for a while and it worked fine. Back to an alto reed these days.
 
#8 ·
I used a Plasticove baritone reed on a Rovner "Deep V" for many years and enjoyed it. Just had to be careful in the upper range for intonation and sometimes a thinner tone depending on the reed strength. But once you get it under control it is one fat and loud sound and the subtones are excellent.

I went back to a tenor reed a couple of years ago when I changed over to an RPC. Just did no work too well on the new m/p.
As always, the specific combination of reed and mouthpiece makes a difference. It may be that my accidental combination of a 2.5 Plasticover with wide open Metalite M11 works well for me, and a different combination of reed and mouthpiece (and player) might not be so good. If intonation in the upper register becomes a problem, I may switch back. For now, I'm enjoying the turbo boost on my tenor. :mrgreen:
 
#7 ·
I tried it for a while with good results. The only reason I stopped is because Bari reeds are super expensive and they lose their snappyness way faster (conform and bend towards the facing of the mouthpiece) when you use them on a tenor mouthpiece.
 
#10 ·
MMM - I got to chat with Plas several years ago in Boston just after his set ended and got to look at his setup pretty closely which confirmed what I had always read....a Plasticover baritone reed on a wide open Berg.

In my bar band days, I played a Plasticover 2.5 baritone read on a RPC 125B, which was a great set up for that kind of sound. I also had Erik Greiffenhagen open a Vandoren Jumbo Java T97 to .145" on which I used a Plasticover 1.5. Frankly, the latter was so open that, although it was really loud, I never spent enough time on the piece to learn how to control it. The RPC setup was terrific, however....easy to play and control and worked really well for that sort of sound.
 
#11 ·
which confirmed what I had always read....a Plasticover baritone reed on a wide open Berg.
Thanks. Good to know.

Well I did try the bari again on the RPC and realized that it had nothing to do with intonation. I was using a #4 plasti baritone years ago and it was closing up on the 120. The Rovner "Deep V" was a shade more open than the RPC so the #4 bari worked fine. Never closed up. I like the RPC better and am using a #4 plasti tenor which works fine.
 
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