On most mouthpieces, if you stand them upright, the table of the mouthpiece is nearly 
perpendicular the surface they are standing on, meaning the reed would be nearly parallel 
to the bore.

I have two Lamberson baritone sax mouthpieces that are very similar except for one thing.
On one of the mouthpieces, the table slants quite a bit. Both pieces play great, but if you 
stand them up side-by-side, the angle is quite apparent. The heel of the table on one juts 
outward, angling the tip inward by 5-10 degrees.

This affects the geometry of how the reed sits, and must change the angle of the air 
attacking the reed. With a bari sax, it is a bit more difficult to adjust the angle of the 
mouthpiece in one's mouth (compared to a tenor or alto).

Anyone else ever notice different angles on the tables of mouthpieces?

I find that most mouthpieces have tables that are angled to various
degrees.  On machined mouthpieces it is common to have a tapered body by a
few degrees.  The table must be angled to get enough width to match the
width of a reed.

Dr. Wyman's thesis documents many emperical tests of various mouthpiece
designs.  See the Links Literature area for a Link to get this paper.  It
is one of my favorites.  One of his observations was that it was desireable
(by my goals) for a mouthpiece to have a tip that was closer to the
centerline of the bore.  This takes a fairly steep table angle.


		
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--- In MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com, "gfgiedt" <gfgiedt@b...> 
wrote:
> 
> On most mouthpieces, if you stand them upright, the table of the 
mouthpiece is nearly 
> perpendicular the surface they are standing on, meaning the reed 
would be nearly parallel 
> to the bore.
> 
> I have two Lamberson baritone sax mouthpieces that are very 
similar except for one thing.
> On one of the mouthpieces, the table slants quite a bit. Both 
pieces play great, but if you 
> stand them up side-by-side, the angle is quite apparent. The heel 
of the table on one juts 
> outward, angling the tip inward by 5-10 degrees.
> 
> This affects the geometry of how the reed sits, and must change 
the angle of the air 
> attacking the reed. With a bari sax, it is a bit more difficult to 
adjust the angle of the 
> mouthpiece in one's mouth (compared to a tenor or alto).
> 
> Anyone else ever notice different angles on the tables of 
mouthpieces?   

   Hi,    I used to have a Frank Wells mouthpiece (Chicago).It had 
this steep incline that you mention.  JP