Tenor HR ("Hard Rubber Profile"): Outer shape similar to an Otto Link hard rubber or Selmer hard rubber piece.
Tenor SP ("Slim Profile"): Outer shape similar to a Link metal piece.
Alto: Similar to a Meyer hard rubber piece on the outside.
My goal is to work with the outer shapes that have become standards in the sax mouthpiece industry: Your favorite ligature will probably work fine with one of the available Saxscape models. The models are based on designs that have stood the test of time in many genres, from west coast cool jazz, to powerful rock and roll, and everything in between... straight-ahead, fusion, bop, all the sounds that today's player needs to bring to almost any gig situation. Of course years of practice is a given, none of these are "chops in a box." I have my concept of what it takes to get good at playing, but I leave that to the past masters and today's teachers to get you there.
Delrin (acetal) material:
Acrylic material: Used to be my main material but I phased it out because it ended up being prone to chipping when dropped.
Do I think material makes a difference? Not to the listener, but the vibration of the mouthpiece beak being transmitted through your top teeth and to your inner ear through bone conduction will vary depending on the material, so that may or may not change how you feel about the sound. That's a very personal thing. This is all my opinion of course.
After
having been a player in the Miami, Kansas City, and North New Jersey scenes
for over 20 years, I kept being frustrated by the inconsistency with mouthpieces
that you'd find in the local music stores..... try out 10 of them and maybe
one would work for you. I had taken some courses in engineering, so that gave
me some of the technical chops I needed to analyze exactly what was going
on, as far as reed movement and air flow and resonance, and that would become
important as I got further into the world of mouthpiece making. I am applying
these physics principles now in these mouthpieces, where I give the required
attention to the tip curve, the tip opening, the facing curve, the rail shapes,
and the baffle shapes, and I know that when I make a piece, it will be easy
to play, give you a good dynamic range from a whisper to a shout, be reed
friendly, and be easy to get in tune with your horn. Within the Saxscape brand,
I've come up with a half dozen or so tenor styles, because different players
need different types of pieces (Stan Getz and Lenny Pickett would have far
different requirements!). I've got so far about 4 alto styles, and I haven't
gotten started yet with soprano and bari...... but I've played both of those
professionally so it is just a matter of having enough time and getting the
correct tooling fabricated to be able to cut the right shapes on my machinery.
Musical Influences: John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Cannonball Adderly, Don Myrick, Michael Brecker, Bob Sheppard, Rich Perry, Kenny Brooks, Jim Gailloreto, Dave Liebman, Ira Sullivan, Bob Franceschini, Gary Campbell, Jan Garbarek, Chet Baker, John Abercrombie, Allan Holdsworth, John McLaughlin, Joe Zawinul, Wayne Krantz, Keith Carlock, Artt Frank
Mouthpiece Concept Influences: Frank Wells, Jon Van Wie, Ted Klum, Theo Wanne, Fred Lamberson, Ron Coelho, Bobby Dukoff, Wolfe Tayne, Dave Guardala, Otto Link, Frank Meyer, Freddie Gregory
Horn Preferences: Selmer Mark VI, Super Balanced Action, or really good imitations thereof.
Chief Consultant and Endorser: Nick Franciosa. Nick was the cheif horn evaluator for Dave Guardala back when Dave was doing the hand finishing, has studied saxophone with Bob Berg and Steve Grossman, and continues to play gigs in the NYC area.