Soprano Saxophone Mouthpieces

[Michael Bishop]

Hi Johnny,
Now that I have a Soprano I’ve been experimenting with different MPs; I was curious in your Soprano Saxophone videos what MP you were using. When you borrowed the Soprano, was it an MP that came with the Sax or was it an MP that you had? So far the best results I’ve had has been with the MP that simply came with my Soprano. Provided I have a good embouchure and create a seal with my lips around the MP itself, along With the Winslow ligature and the right reed it sounds really, really good. I’ve had the best results with Java Green reeds. My Instructor has a friend who plays Soprano Sax and he mentioned that Theo Wanne’s Gaia Soprano MP was the best he’s ever used, that it was very free blowing with the sweet sound we all love. I asked him to contact his friend to see if there’s any way we can meet in the next couple weeks so that I can try it myself…Theo Wanne’s MPs are always worth looking into. I don’t plan on making the Soprano my mainstream Sax, but I will certainly be doing plenty with it. As you know, the Soprano is a very different Saxophone than the rest of the family, but I’m having lots of fun with it 🙂 I’m getting close to making my MP of choice and I get the feeling it’s going to be very different from my Tenor or Alto set up.

[jake]

I really don’t have much expertise in this area but I really like my Vandoren V16 S7 mouthpiece on my soprano. I know you had issues with the tenor vandorens so don’t know if these would give you the same issues. I pair it with ZZ 2.5 reeds. This is the setup I used on Mandy that I sent you. I don’t play it all that often but this setup works well for me. I use a vandoren LC56AP lig that pair well. Good luck finding your setup!

[Michael Bishop]

Hey Jake, yeah I tried the Vandoren V16 for the Soprano but it didn’t click with me that well, mostly because of the shape of the MP itself and getting embouchure stability, not too much to hold onto with the V16. The couple of MPs I have tried that have clicked with me are slightly more elongated and not so short. I’m getting close to nailing it down/making my choice. Thanks for your insights! 🙂 Keep up the good work you’re doing, you have some public playing coming up in the next few months don’t you?

[john]

The mouthpiece was on the soprano when I bought it off a jazz player, I think John Coltrane played on these mp’s so they were very popular with many soprano players.
It’s a Selmer Metal E and has it’s own lig.

[jake]

Since we talking bout mouthpieces. I know it’s not the soprano topic that was started but I’m finally playing my tenor fatboy!!!! I’m still working with some different reeds but really feel this is my mouthpiece now! My shiva that I was previously playing is gonna hit the auction block with about 10 other pieces I have accumulated. This thing is the real deal!!! Also the lig is a fantastic match with it. Once I put a little time into it I will be sure to post something to the blog!! Thanks for making these available to us Johnny. Especially with the discount u offer!!!!!!

[Michael Bishop]

that is cool Jake to hear for sure, everyone is pumped about the Guardalas…and for good reason 🙂 I’ve been really curious about the Shiva in hard rubber, do I remember you had mentioned you tried that one? What have been your impressions of it? If you’re going the direction of Metal MPs and I’m an ebonite/hard rubber type of player, we could have 2 totally different takes on that MP–2 unique different viewpoints 🙂 What size did you get it in?

[john]

OK glad to hear that Jake…I just emailed you to see if you had received it yet cause I been away for a few days and am just getting caught up here on the forum.

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