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.
