SaxophoneMouthpieceMaterials-Part2byTheoWanne

InapreviousarticleIdiscussedthetwomostcommonmouthpiecematerialsusedthroughhistory,brassandhardrubber.InthisarticleIwilldiscussotherinterestingmaterialsusedthroughthehistoryofthesaxophonemouthpiece.

OTHERVINTAGEMOUTHPIECEMATERIALS

COPPER-Commerciallypurecoppermustcontainlessthan0.7%totalimpurities,meaningitisatleast99.3%purecopper.Copperismuchsofterandductilethanbrassorbronze.Itssoftnessdoesnotmakeitidealformouthpiecesasitispronetobendingandgivesoffadullertone.It’sdullnessoftoneisalsowhyit isnotusedtomakebellsorsymbols,andwhybrassisafavoriteinthemanufacturingofsaxophonemouthpieces.Copperisbecomingmorepopularasasaxophonebodyandneckmaterialtocreateaverydarkandwarm,thoughlessresonant,tone.

SILVER - Silver, like copper, is quitesoft andductile. It ismoreprone tobendingoutofshapethanbrass,andtendstohaveamellow,moregeneric,tone. It has not been a commonmouthpiecematerial;however, ithasbeenputtogoodusebyBrendanTibbsandTedKlum.AveryrareversionofavintageMeyerBros.solidsilvertenormouthpiece is shown here. Silverdoestarnishtoformapatina,whichis

justoxidation.Itisthispatinathatmakessilverdarkenovertime.

SILVERITE-Silverite,aformofpewter,whichisapproximately98%tinand2%copper,doesnotactuallycontainanysilver,thoughitsdensityand color resemble silver. Silveritehasbeenused since the1970s inBobby Dukoff mouthpieces. This material is quite soft and must behandledcarefully.ThismouthpiecewasmadefamousbyDavidSanbornwhoplaysontheDukoffSuperPowerChambermodel.PriortoDukoff’suseofSilverite,andstartingbackinthe1940s,Dukoffmouthpiecesweremadefrombrassandhardrubber.These1940sDukoffmouthpiecesareverysimilartotheOttoLinkmouthpiecesmadeduringthattime.

Rare Meyer Bros. Solid Silver Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece.

Dukoff mouthpiece made of Silverite

STAINLESSSTEEL-BergLarsenmouthpieceshaveusedstainlesssteelsincethe1940s.Ingeneralstainlesssteelhasabrighter,moresteriletonethanbrass.Inthe1960sand1970s,BergLarsenmadesomebrassandbronzemouthpiecestoo.Theirbrassmouthpieceshadalotmorecolorandwarmthintheirtonethantheirstainlesssteelcounterpartsbutareveryrare. Thebronzeonesweresomewhat in-betweenthebrassandstainless in tone. Shownon the far left is the firstmodelstainlesssteelmouthpiecemadebyBergLarsen,affectionatelycalledaLong-TableBergLarsenduetoitsreallylongtable.Nexttoitaretwodifferentvintage‘DuckBill’models.

PLASTIC - Though oftenassociated with studentmouthpieces, Brilhart andRunyonbothmadeprofessionalquality mouthpieces fromplastic. These mouthpieces

often contained some percentage of syntheticrubberdust(upto 30%)inthemixtureaswell.Themost notable musicians who played plastic

mouthpieceswereGeneAmmons,who played a tenor Brilhart Ebolinmouthpiece, and Charlie Parker who has been reported to play aBrilhart Tonalin, white Runyon Model 22, and white Selmer Englandaltoplasticmouthpiece.

Runyonmaterials

YamahaResinmouthpieces. Thesemouthpiecesset the tone foranewageofmouthpiecematerials.Thesematerialswewilldiscussinournextarticle.

Runyonmouthpiecesareagoodbridgebetweenvintageandnewastheyareatrulyvintagecompanybutwerealsothefisttostartusingnewmaterials(besidestheYamahastudentmouthpiecejustmentioned).

Runyonmakesmouthpiecesfromthreematerials:

TheCustoms,Model22's,Model88's,andothermoldedmouthpiecesaremadeofablend,or"alloy"asSantycalledit,ofappx70%acrylicandtheremainderasyntheticrubber.Itisengineeredtohavethesame"flexmodulus"(meaningitvibratesthesame)aspremiumhardrubber.Theadditionofthesyntheticrubber(whichisclearalso)givesthematerialsomeflexsoitismuchlessbrittle,lesspronetocracking,thantheacrylicalone.Itwillnotwarplikehardrubber.Itresistswearverywell.Youdon'tseenthesideandtiprailsroundedofffromlonguselikeyouseewithhardrubber.

Vintage Berg Larsen Mouthpieces made from

Stainless Steel

Gene Ammons with his Brilhart Ebolin tenor

saxophone mouthpiece

Aminisculeamountoftintingmaterialisaddedtomakethis"alloy"black,transparentred,etc.Forexample,ifyouscoopedupabigdoublehandfulofthemixedacrylic,synthrubberbeadsasitgoesintothehopperontheinjectionmoldingmachines,youwouldonlysee6-10ofthetintbeadsmixedin.

Themainreasonfortinting,Mr.Runyonsaid,nomatterhowcleaneverythingisyoustillgetlittlespecsofgrit,hethoughtcameintheplasticfromthemfg,anditwasunsightly.thetintcoversthatup,ormakesitunnoticable.

Admachinedbrass,whichistripleplatedchrome(copperflash,nickle,chrome,youknowhowthatis)forthemetalmodels.

Andlast...somemachinedDelrinmodels.TheseincludetheXL(machinedtosamedimensionsastheRunyonMetalSmoothbore),andtheQuantum(machinedtosamedimensionsastheQuantumMetal).

Delrinmachinesbeautifullybecauseitis"selflubricating",doesnotmeltalloverthecuttingtools,andcanbemachinedveryprecisely,too.Formouthpieceslikesopraninoorbassandcontrabassmouthpieces,wherethecostofmoldingdieswouldneverberecoveredfromthequantitysold,Delrinisagreatoption.Andbeing"plastic",nocostsforplating.

ThematerialusedforthemoldedRunyonsisfarsuperiortotheABSusedbymanyothermfgsforplasticmouthpieces.Also,somemouthpiecessoldas"hardrubber"aren't,butarereallyABSwithsomehardrubberdustmixedin,accordingtoMr.Runyon.