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by Bari Mary
(1 post)
4 years ago

Mark VI Alto mouthpiece options

Hi everyone! I'm a lapsed sax player hoping to get back into the action and I'm looking for suggestions for a new mouthpiece and ligature. 

I play a heavily-refurbished early-60's Selmer Mark VI alto. (I know they're controversial, but a mentor found an amazing deal for me when I was a poor college student in need of a decent horn of my own, and it's what I've got.) My current mouthpiece is a Selmer C* CS80 with a rovner ligature.

When I was in college a decade ago, my sax professor was very insistant that all his students play on C*s, which was fine for classical study, but to be honest I've never really liked it. More importantly, it doesn't seem to pair well with my horn, which had ALL its lacquer by a previous owner stripped (I assume to further amplify "that Mark VI sound.") 

I haven't played much in the last ten years—mostly at church and in community bands—but now I'm trying to get back into jazz and rock with small local combos. I'm not trying to show off on high overtones or anything like that. I just want to jam with musician friends and have a decent, fat sound and good intonation, without working too hard. 

But I'm open to all kinds of suggestions: What's your favorite rubber mouthpiece? What are metal mouthpieces about? What's a good ligature to go with your mouthpiece? Do you prefer certain reeds for different mouthpieces? 

Thanks!

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  2. by mijderf
    (282 posts)
    4 years ago

    Re: Mark VI Alto mouthpiece options

    I have a feeling that no one has responded yet to this posting because it is so wide open, and you do not define the type of sound that you would like to have.  That makes it pretty hard to recommend equipment.  If most of your experience with with one mouthpiece, then I would not worry about HR vs metal, and I would not worry much about the ligature get.  Any simple 2 screw lig that fits the mouthpiece is a good starting point.
    At this point, I would not spend a great deal of money on your next mouthpiece.  You could look into something like a used Jody Jazz HR* mouthpiece in maybe a 6 tip opening, which is larger than the tip on the C*.  For good performance at a reasonable price, I like Greg Wier mouthpieces (gwindplayer on Ebay).  He has some easy playing, clean sounding options at good prices (I am not affiliated in any way with this mouthpiece maker, I just have had good experiences with his pieces).  Each September he clears his Ebay offerings as he goes on break, or gets into some project work.  His pieces are not listed on Ebay now, but from experience, they should be back in about a week.  He has some Meyer like pieces that may be a good launch point for finding the kind of mouthpiece you like.
    Good luck! 

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