4/3/07

Mouthpiece Room

I've got to say that I'm not the only mouthpiece nuts on the internet. I must admit that I did recently overextended my finances with some eBay buys (an early Babbit HR alto piece, a slant Link tenor piece and an old HR alto Dukoff). There are guys far worse than me, and I can prove it! A friend of mine recently hipped me to a site by a Japanese saxophonist who takes the cake.
On his site Eji has sound clips of himself playing about every mouthpiece ever made. He isn't the greatest player, so it's kind of hard to get a clear idea about the sound of a particular mouthpiece. He also clearly favors metal over hard rubber. None of the mouthpieces are for sale either!

How can one person have so many pieces?
Is he an eccentric billionaire?
Does he work at a huge music store?
How many does he keep at one time?

I don't read Japanese and his site may answers these questions, but I'll never know the whole story.
Saxophone Mouthpiece Room

Steve Neff, who I went to school with, also has a site that has clips of him playing different pieces. Steve is a much better player than Eji so it easier to tell what the mouthpieces are actually like. He also has a very interesting selection of pieces, a bit more to my liking. He even has a clip of an alto piece that I sold him (I still miss that piece).

Steve Neff's clips
Steve Neff's clip archives

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