Are mouthpieces easily damaged?

[Anonymous]

8 weeks ago my sax slipped off the hook & fell on my foot and ended up on the carpeted floor when i was cleaning it and twisted it around.

it was on a closed hook, so i must have accidently knocked the hook open – the reason it came off.

I got it back from the repair shop – lower Bb key was bent, bottom pad was bent, bottom rail slightly offset.
The high D key took a hard knock and punched a bubble into the sax, so when you looked inside the top of the sax where D key is you can see a raised semicircle bump.

Did’t cost much to fix, i didn’t get the lump fixed as that would have been a complete strip down etc..

When i got it back, the sax sounded a lot better, as it was slightly serviced.

Then i had 3 weeks off, with no sax playing, started back playing a few weeks ago, and started noticing slight problems with the upper register, the higher i went up – i was having to work a lot harder.

At the time i thought my mouthpiece didn’t need to go to the repair shop with the sax. Now i’ve come to the conclusion, that the mouthpiece in some way was afftected by the sax falling.

Luckily i kept my selmar c** mouthpiece which is a size lower, got that out, and the tone & ease of playing was far better!

So now i’ve got to replace the other one!

So anyone out there- don’t drop your mouthpiece (especially on the sax) – they can be damaged and not look like they have been damaged

[Anonymous]

Hi James

I bought a Tenor Yamaha 4C MP this weekend because the previous owner dropped the 4C and chipped off a piece of the lip.
One has to be very careful, because according to Big Dave the air flow over the leading edge is quite critical. The tip opening of the 4C and Vandoren VL5-T27 is nearly identical, but all the other small variations mean that I’m much more comfortable with the 4C. My wife says the sound is warmer and rounder, and I’m enjoying it much more than the VL5.

I played my Alto today and my tone has improved again (after my weekend Tenor practice session). I think that playing standing up is the better position. Lower lip pressure can be controlled just by leaning forward or back. Today I used much less pressure on my lips with emphasis on pushing my upper lip forward and with lighter pressure on the mouthpiece. I guess my lips would be more in an oval shape than round as before. All these changes produce a darker, and louder sound which makes sense as the less pressure we place on the reed the more freely it can vibrate.

My Tenor has become my tutor, as it is teaching me a better way to play and I can notice the improvement between the Alto practice sessions.

[Anonymous]

yeah- i watched big daves advice about biting, no need to bite at all, he plays all the overtones with no biting, so i’ve taken on board his tips – use slight lip pressure but not teeth to support the lip pressure

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