Hi Pete – That Merlot you have is a nice mouthpiece. The Celebration sounds pretty nice for the contributions Mark is adding to it. The 10MFan pieces are finished really nicely with the two guys Mark has finishing them (Eric and Brian). I tried a Robusto but settled for the Showtime. it is a little more brighter and punchier for me. Mark now has a Chameleon mouthpiece with a rollover baffle. Maybe next year. Steve Neff sure does some great reviews.
Simon – Theo Wanne pieces sure sound good. A little too steep in price for me. The Showtime by 10MFan has a step baffle. Not too high of a floor. I also was playing my high notes sharply. But this actually helped out my embouchure because I realized I was adding un-needed pressure to the mouthpiece and reed. By making sure the sides of my mouth were sealing the mouthpiece in more of an O shape, I started playing flatter and I was actually able to push the mouthpiece farther on to the cork and achieve a better sound.
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