Making a wooden mouthpiece at the house

[Jonathan Hurst]

Hey guys need major advice. I’m getting into saxophones even more and I decided to pursue the dream of making my own mouthpiece!I have a drill, knife, wood, and a saw, NO fancy machines!! Anyway, I need help on how to get it down to the most defined shape and edges. I already messed one up, ill try to Include photos. I’m using Maple Wood

[Michael]

@ Jonathan: Wow, that’s a big endeavor–and a good one to pursue Jonathan. Our member Kevin has done some MP modification for me and does fantastic work, but I’m not sure if he has any knowledge/experience in the way of wooden MPs. Hopefully if he sees this post he may be able to provide some of his valuable/awesome insights. I’ve never seen a post of this sort here on Johnny’s site before, but it’s really interesting for sure. How’s your playing coming along these days? Would love to see a video from you. Keep up the great work Jonathan 🙂

[Jonathan Hurst]

Michael that means a lot to have you reply! A big challenge as you said but fun as well! My playing is going very well, I don’t know if you’ve seen the first I’d I posted here before. If you have a req for what I should learn let me know! I can sorta do Night Train, Tequila, Pink Panther, etc.

[Kevin]

Jonathan, The particulars of making a mouthpiece regarding it’s tip opening, face curve, baffle design, and chamber size can get pretty involved and will take much more than just a weekend or two to first learn the basics. Then trying to make one by hand with only basic hand tools though not impossible (I’m sure someone has forged this path before) is also giving yourself a very difficult challenge. Choosing to use wood as the material would not be my first choice as well, due to it’s characteristic of changing shape due to moisture and/or cracking etc.. I would hate to have put numerous hours into making MP only to result in seeing one of the thin tip rails split on a grain line at some later date.
If you are just wanting to do this for a quick fun endeavor that will at least result in something that will make noise with no more precision than a duck call, then you should be able to achieve that with basic hand tools.
If you want to achieve results that are at least comparable to entry level MP’s, then you likely won’t achieve that with hand tools, and will need some basic calipers and means to accurately measure the face curve (and baffle). You can purchase a glass scale and feeler gauges for this. (google on the internet)
I have personally experienced and read that on the face curve surface, you can make a 0.001″ change somewhere along that curve, and our ability to perceive a difference with our emborochure, feel, etc. can sense that small change. To me that is incredible, because that is approx. 1/3 the width of a human hair. Now that is the other end of the spectrum and you will get something playable and will have learned something about the art/design of MP’s well before approaching the “end of the spectrum”.
Hope these comments help…

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