Jody Espina wrote that these are the basic questions he asks before 
making a mouthpiece recommendation to someone.  I thought it was a 
pretty good list:

1.The mouthpiece that you play now. 
2.The make and model of your saxophone or clarinet. 
3.The type of playing that you do. 
4.How many hours a week that you play. 
5.What you are looking for in a mouthpiece. 
6.What brand and strength of reed that you currently play. 

Of course, what you do with the answers is a big deal too.  But you 
have to ask the right questions.

Several of the questions have to do with the seriousness of the 
player and what kind of chops they may have, though the player may 
think they are accoustic questions.

Jody's questions remind me of the ones that Bob Ackerman asks at his 
web site in his article "Selecting a Mouthpiece":

1. Is your present mouthpiece size comfortable? 
2. What is it that you are looking for that you're not achieving with 
your present mouthpiece? 
3. What idiom and style of music are you working in? 
4. What brand and style of reed to you like? 
5. What brand, model and age horn do you play?

--- In MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com, "Keith Bradbury 
<kwbradbury@y...>" <kwbradbury@y...> wrote:
> Jody Espina wrote that these are the basic questions he asks before 
> making a mouthpiece recommendation to someone.  I thought it was a 
> pretty good list:
> 
> 1.The mouthpiece that you play now. 
> 2.The make and model of your saxophone or clarinet. 
> 3.The type of playing that you do. 
> 4.How many hours a week that you play. 
> 5.What you are looking for in a mouthpiece. 
> 6.What brand and strength of reed that you currently play.