Anyone have experience playing a Claude Lakey Mouthpiece for Tenor Saxophone?

[Michael]

I’ve lately been doing some experimenting with my MP/reed set up with my T.J. Saxophones and over the last few days I’ve had the opportunity to play the model of Claude Lakey Mouthpiece for on my Alto that Johnny reviewed in his video of Trevor James Saxophones…what a KILLING mouthpiece. There’s a music shop that sells Claude Lakey here locally. I had inquired about the same model of MP for the Tenor, but I didn’t get to try it because they didn’t have it in stock. Has anyone ever got to try that model/any model of Claude Lakey MP for Tenor? I went to Amazon and they have them for sale for very respectable prices, all with 5-star reviews. One review said, for Tenor, it was “ravenous” and perfect for Rock, Blues, etc.. Another review said that it had “no place in Jazz” because it’s so edgy. The MP I used for the Green Onions was custom made; tip opening and everything is fine, but I did some research and discovered that the metal used was cheap metal imported from Bejing. The way it resonates has always felt to me to be rough & scruffy so to speak, and my recent upload with it has compounded those thoughts/feelings. I would most certainly look at a Theo Wanne, but it’s out of my price range right now in light of my recent purchase of the Trevor James Saxophones. Many more trial & error uploads to come, thanks for your help/input guys!

[Michael]

Forgot to attach some pics…this MP on the Alto is AWESOME. Big, huge projection. I’m very curious about using it for Tenor. The metal that was used for my Custom Tenor MP, as I learned, was cheap Metal imported from Bejing.

[jake]

Hey Michael, I have the same mp for my alto. I really don’t use it much though, I rarely play my alto as I primarily use my tenor. Personally I think the 7*3 is a little open for my liking and amount of playtime it gets. I have another that just plays a little better for me. Never tried one on the tenor. Is the MP the one you got from Jary awhile back? They do look like imports but I have been having decent results from mine. It plays so nice and freely. I had a MBII handfinished and I really am preferring the cheap import that was handfinished/customized for me over the MBII. I guess everyone is different and you never know until you personally try a specific setup. Let me know how you make out with the setup journey. LOL.

[Michael]

Hey Jake,
I had it made recently and used it for the first time on the recent upload of the Green Onions. To my ears when I play it was coming across as a little bit too harsh and thought that maybe it had to do with the blank itself. The funny thing is, my wife and some others through e-mail told me that they loved it and that it fits my personality LOL I’m having just a little minor adjustment work done to it. I had no problems playing it at all, hitting very high Altissimo notes like nothing on it and it’s very free blowing as you brought out. Dave’s work is as good as it gets, he’s been working on MPs for like 30 years or so. Yes, his MPs are definately way better than the Guardalas that were at one time available on Amazon. As you know, I got one a year ago and used it for awhile (they’re no longer available). But as time has passed and my ears have gotten more atuned to things like pitch, projection, intonation (you can thank Johnny’s lessons on ear training in the Altissimo course for that LOL) it comes across as very “flat”. I think whoever made those were just mass producing them in machine shops.

[Author]

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