Hi folks,

I thought I would change the discussion a little, since I think the same couple of topics have been beaten upon for the last couple of weeks...

I have been under the impression that the Rico Metalite line had been discontinued back in the '90s. Around 2003, I found that Brook May Music had a small remaining stock of M5 tenor mouthpieces, so I bought the remaining stock they had--four M5 mouthpieces.  The Metalites are great performing mouthpieces for a bright sound.  They are cheap (about $20-25) and are quite responsive. With a high baffle, they are very easy blowing.  I have found that they work really well for C Melody tenors.  I play mostly C Melody and they work great for me.  They have a small-ish chamber and a very high baffle.  It kind of reminds me of the silverlite Dukoffs, but with a baffle that drops more dramatically into the chamber.  With a Metalite on a C Melody, I get sort of a lead alto sound, but you also have a lushy low register too.

I've noticed lately on ebay that Metalite mouthpieces have been showing up more often.  A seller was offering a bunch of M7 and M9 tenor pieces for about $22 USD at a buy it now.  So I thought I would give it a shot.  About 6 months ago, Metalites were pretty scarce on ebay and people were asking $50 or $60 for them.

The M7 and M9 mouthpieces showed up yesterday and when I opened the package, I was surprised that the box the mouthpiece was in, was not red.  Instead, it was in a white box.  I was thinking what is this???  I've never seen a Metalite in a white box... It says Metalite on the box and there is an M7 and M9 on it as well. Then a thought came racing to mind--Did Rico reissue the Metalite mouthpieces??!?!?  I know there are a lot of people out there wondering why Rico discontinued the Metalites when they worked so well.  When I looked at the box more closely, it had a copyright of 2009!  I went to the ricoreeds.com site and sure enough, under the mouthpiece-saxophone section, the Metalite mouthpiece is listed next to the Grafonite mouthpiece.  On the Rico site, the Metalite is listed as $29 USD.  You can buy directly from Rico!  WOW!

So what has changed?  The reissued mouthpiece looks very similar to the old Brillhart design if not exactly like it.  It is gray just like the original.  However, they are using a hard plastic now where the old one had a softer, waxy plastic.  I remember trying to reface the old ones and it would sort of gum up the sandpaper.  I also noticed that the new mouthpiece is now labeled Rico where as the old mouthpiece was labeled Rico Royal; like the Grafonites.  There were actually two different style Rico Royal versions. I think the earlier ones had a textured outside surface and later Metalite mouthpieces had a smooth outside surface.  I have both. I prefer the smooth surface. The reissued Rico Metalite also has a smooth outer surface.  The older Rico Royal Metalites came in M5, M7, M9 and M11.  I think the tenor M5 had a 0.095" tip opening, M7 - 0.105", M9 - 0.115" and M11- 0.125"  The reissued Rico Metalites only comes in M5, M7 and M9. You can
 only get M9 in the tenor and bari versions.  The soprano and alto versions only come in M5 and M7.  I have not measured the  tip openings of the new Metalites yet.

I'm not sure if there is anyone out there that is excited about the reissue or not. I thought it might be interesting to bring it up, so that you can now try out this legendary Arnold Brillhart designed mouthpiece if you haven't already. Unless you are buying the original Rico Royal Metalite, DO NOT PAY $50 or $75 for it.  You can get a new Rico Metalite for $25 or $30.  These mouthpieces make great blanks too.  If you are new to facing a mouthpieces, you can get a couple to fiddle around with.  There is a lot of material in the baffle and you can carve it up to experiment with baffle and chamber designs.

I also have a Rico Royal version M11 soprano Metalite for my C soprano sax.  It works well on that horn too.

OK, back to your discussions....

Regards,

Willis





      

"I thought I would change the discussion a little, since I think the
same couple of topics have been beaten upon for the last couple of
weeks..."


There is no limit to the number of subjects that can be discussed simultaneously and no subject (other than administrator subjects) has priority over any other.

Say you went to a dinner party with lots of people, all sat at one big table. During the dinner, would you wait for the person to your left, conversing with the person on their left, on a subject that you found uninteresting, to stop talking before you attempted conversation with the person on your right, on a topic of your choosing?  I doubt it.  If you didn't wait, would you feel obligated to address the people on your left, and apologize for doing so, or to comment on what you thought of their conversation?  Probably not.  





      

But if your parents are arguing at the dinner table, you better keep quiet... ;)

I still do not mind the acoustic discussions.  I am a little disappointed that the science is not presented well enough in the papers and books that those interested can agree on how to apply it.  I had hoped that a few spot tests would resolve the disagreements.  But then there are disagreements on those too.




________________________________
From: MartinMods <lancelotburt@...>
To: MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Fri, March 12, 2010 4:25:30 PM
Subject: Re: [MouthpieceWork] Subject Matter Priority

  
"I thought I would change the discussion a little, since I think the same couple of topics have been beaten upon for the last couple of weeks..."


There is no limit to the number of subjects that can be discussed simultaneously and no subject (other than administrator subjects) has priority over any other.

Say you went to a dinner party with lots of people, all sat at one big table. During the dinner, would you wait for the person to your left, conversing with the person on their left, on a subject that you found uninteresting, to stop talking before you attempted conversation with the person on your right, on a topic of your choosing?  I doubt it.  If you didn't wait, would you feel obligated to address the people on your left, and apologize for doing so, or to comment on what you thought of their conversation?  Probably not.  


 




      

I always wondered why they stopped selling these. AFAIK, they were the only
high-baffle, low price plastic mouthpiece on the market.

My favorite soprano mouthpiece right now is an M9 Metalite that has had some
baffle modifications (combined with a Hahn synthetic reed.) Didn't need to
change the facing. I had to cut it shorter, though, because I had to jam it
way way onto the cork to get it to play in tune.

I've been wanting to try to duplicate it, in order to have a back-up, so
it's nice to know they're available again.

Barry

> Hi folks,
> 
> I thought I would change the discussion a little, since I think the same
> couple of topics have been beaten upon for the last couple of weeks...
> 
> I have been under the impression that the Rico Metalite line had been
> discontinued back in the '90s. Around 2003, I found that Brook May Music had a
> small remaining stock of M5 tenor mouthpieces, so I bought the remaining stock
> they had--four M5 mouthpieces.  The Metalites are great performing mouthpieces
> for a bright sound.  They are cheap (about $20-25) and are quite responsive.
> With a high baffle, they are very easy blowing.  I have found that they work
> really well for C Melody tenors.  I play mostly C Melody and they work great
> for me.  They have a small-ish chamber and a very high baffle.  It kind of
> reminds me of the silverlite Dukoffs, but with a baffle that drops more
> dramatically into the chamber.  With a Metalite on a C Melody, I get sort of a
> lead alto sound, but you also have a lushy low register too.
> 
> I've noticed lately on ebay that Metalite mouthpieces have been showing up
> more often.  A seller was offering a bunch of M7 and M9 tenor pieces for about
> $22 USD at a buy it now.  So I thought I would give it a shot.  About 6 months
> ago, Metalites were pretty scarce on ebay and people were asking $50 or $60
> for them.
> 
> The M7 and M9 mouthpieces showed up yesterday and when I opened the package, I
> was surprised that the box the mouthpiece was in, was not red.  Instead, it
> was in a white box.  I was thinking what is this???  I've never seen a
> Metalite in a white box... It says Metalite on the box and there is an M7 and
> M9 on it as well. Then a thought came racing to mind--Did Rico reissue the
> Metalite mouthpieces??!?!?  I know there are a lot of people out there
> wondering why Rico discontinued the Metalites when they worked so well.  When
> I looked at the box more closely, it had a copyright of 2009!  I went to the
> ricoreeds.com site and sure enough, under the mouthpiece-saxophone section,
> the Metalite mouthpiece is listed next to the Grafonite mouthpiece.  On the
> Rico site, the Metalite is listed as $29 USD.  You can buy directly from
> Rico!  WOW!
> 
> So what has changed?  The reissued mouthpiece looks very similar to the old
> Brillhart design if not exactly like it.  It is gray just like the original. 
> However, they are using a hard plastic now where the old one had a softer,
> waxy plastic.  I remember trying to reface the old ones and it would sort of
> gum up the sandpaper.  I also noticed that the new mouthpiece is now labeled
> Rico where as the old mouthpiece was labeled Rico Royal; like the Grafonites. 
> There were actually two different style Rico Royal versions. I think the
> earlier ones had a textured outside surface and later Metalite mouthpieces had
> a smooth outside surface.  I have both. I prefer the smooth surface. The
> reissued Rico Metalite also has a smooth outer surface.  The older Rico Royal
> Metalites came in M5, M7, M9 and M11.  I think the tenor M5 had a 0.095" tip
> opening, M7 - 0.105", M9 - 0.115" and M11- 0.125"  The reissued Rico Metalites
> only comes in M5, M7 and M9. You can
> only get M9 in the tenor and bari versions.  The soprano and alto versions
> only come in M5 and M7.  I have not measured the  tip openings of the new
> Metalites yet.
> 
> I'm not sure if there is anyone out there that is excited about the reissue or
> not. I thought it might be interesting to bring it up, so that you can now try
> out this legendary Arnold Brillhart designed mouthpiece if you haven't
> already. Unless you are buying the original Rico Royal Metalite, DO NOT PAY
> $50 or $75 for it.  You can get a new Rico Metalite for $25 or $30.  These
> mouthpieces make great blanks too.  If you are new to facing a mouthpieces,
> you can get a couple to fiddle around with.  There is a lot of material in the
> baffle and you can carve it up to experiment with baffle and chamber designs.
> 
> I also have a Rico Royal version M11 soprano Metalite for my C soprano sax. 
> It works well on that horn too.
> 
> OK, back to your discussions....
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Willis
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 

Do you (or anybody else) know if they still make the Graftonite series? I
guess whoever owns the molds could make all they want. Several manufacturers
used this series as original equipment, and I always thought it was a pretty
good choice.

 

From: MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com [mailto:MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com]
On Behalf Of Barry Levine
Sent: Sunday, March 14, 2010 12:47 PM
To: MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [MouthpieceWork] Rico Metalite

 

  

I always wondered why they stopped selling these. AFAIK, they were the only
high-baffle, low price plastic mouthpiece on the market.

My favorite soprano mouthpiece right now is an M9 Metalite that has had some
baffle modifications (combined with a Hahn synthetic reed.) Didn't need to
change the facing. I had to cut it shorter, though, because I had to jam it
way way onto the cork to get it to play in tune.

I've been wanting to try to duplicate it, in order to have a back-up, so
it's nice to know they're available again.

Barry

> Hi folks,
> 
> I thought I would change the discussion a little, since I think the same
> couple of topics have been beaten upon for the last couple of weeks...
> 
> I have been under the impression that the Rico Metalite line had been
> discontinued back in the '90s. Around 2003, I found that Brook May Music
had a
> small remaining stock of M5 tenor mouthpieces, so I bought the remaining
stock
> they had--four M5 mouthpieces.  The Metalites are great performing
mouthpieces
> for a bright sound.  They are cheap (about $20-25) and are quite
responsive.
> With a high baffle, they are very easy blowing.  I have found that they
work
> really well for C Melody tenors.  I play mostly C Melody and they work
great
> for me.  They have a small-ish chamber and a very high baffle.  It kind of
> reminds me of the silverlite Dukoffs, but with a baffle that drops more
> dramatically into the chamber.  With a Metalite on a C Melody, I get sort
of a
> lead alto sound, but you also have a lushy low register too.
> 
> I've noticed lately on ebay that Metalite mouthpieces have been showing up
> more often.  A seller was offering a bunch of M7 and M9 tenor pieces for
about
> $22 USD at a buy it now.  So I thought I would give it a shot.  About 6
months
> ago, Metalites were pretty scarce on ebay and people were asking $50 or
$60
> for them.
> 
> The M7 and M9 mouthpieces showed up yesterday and when I opened the
package, I
> was surprised that the box the mouthpiece was in, was not red.  Instead,
it
> was in a white box.  I was thinking what is this???  I've never seen a
> Metalite in a white box... It says Metalite on the box and there is an M7
and
> M9 on it as well. Then a thought came racing to mind--Did Rico reissue the
> Metalite mouthpieces??!?!?  I know there are a lot of people out there
> wondering why Rico discontinued the Metalites when they worked so well.
When
> I looked at the box more closely, it had a copyright of 2009!  I went to
the
> ricoreeds.com site and sure enough, under the mouthpiece-saxophone
section,
> the Metalite mouthpiece is listed next to the Grafonite mouthpiece.  On
the
> Rico site, the Metalite is listed as $29 USD.  You can buy directly from
> Rico!  WOW!
> 
> So what has changed?  The reissued mouthpiece looks very similar to the
old
> Brillhart design if not exactly like it.  It is gray just like the
original. 
> However, they are using a hard plastic now where the old one had a softer,
> waxy plastic.  I remember trying to reface the old ones and it would sort
of
> gum up the sandpaper.  I also noticed that the new mouthpiece is now
labeled
> Rico where as the old mouthpiece was labeled Rico Royal; like the
Grafonites. 
> There were actually two different style Rico Royal versions. I think the
> earlier ones had a textured outside surface and later Metalite mouthpieces
had
> a smooth outside surface.  I have both. I prefer the smooth surface. The
> reissued Rico Metalite also has a smooth outer surface.  The older Rico
Royal
> Metalites came in M5, M7, M9 and M11.  I think the tenor M5 had a 0.095"
tip
> opening, M7 - 0.105", M9 - 0.115" and M11- 0.125"  The reissued Rico
Metalites
> only comes in M5, M7 and M9. You can
> only get M9 in the tenor and bari versions.  The soprano and alto versions
> only come in M5 and M7.  I have not measured the  tip openings of the new
> Metalites yet.
> 
> I'm not sure if there is anyone out there that is excited about the
reissue or
> not. I thought it might be interesting to bring it up, so that you can now
try
> out this legendary Arnold Brillhart designed mouthpiece if you haven't
> already. Unless you are buying the original Rico Royal Metalite, DO NOT
PAY
> $50 or $75 for it.  You can get a new Rico Metalite for $25 or $30.  These
> mouthpieces make great blanks too.  If you are new to facing a
mouthpieces,
> you can get a couple to fiddle around with.  There is a lot of material in
the
> baffle and you can carve it up to experiment with baffle and chamber
designs.
> 
> I also have a Rico Royal version M11 soprano Metalite for my C soprano
sax. 
> It works well on that horn too.
> 
> OK, back to your discussions....
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Willis
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 

Not just molds. 

The facings have been ground. There are very fine grooves with a slight arc,
that run across the facing. They are visible with a jeweler's loupe.

on 3/14/10 1:55 PM, STEVE GOODSON at saxgourmet@... wrote:

> Do you (or anybody else) know if they still make the Graftonite series? I
> guess whoever owns the molds could make all they want. Several manufacturers
> used this series as original equipment, and I always thought it was a pretty
> good choice.
> 
> 
> 
> From: MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com [mailto:MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com]
> On Behalf Of Barry Levine
> Sent: Sunday, March 14, 2010 12:47 PM
> To: MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [MouthpieceWork] Rico Metalite
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I always wondered why they stopped selling these. AFAIK, they were the only
> high-baffle, low price plastic mouthpiece on the market.
> 
> My favorite soprano mouthpiece right now is an M9 Metalite that has had some
> baffle modifications (combined with a Hahn synthetic reed.) Didn't need to
> change the facing. I had to cut it shorter, though, because I had to jam it
> way way onto the cork to get it to play in tune.
> 
> I've been wanting to try to duplicate it, in order to have a back-up, so
> it's nice to know they're available again.
> 
> Barry
> 
>> Hi folks,
>> 
>> I thought I would change the discussion a little, since I think the same
>> couple of topics have been beaten upon for the last couple of weeks...
>> 
>> I have been under the impression that the Rico Metalite line had been
>> discontinued back in the '90s. Around 2003, I found that Brook May Music
> had a
>> small remaining stock of M5 tenor mouthpieces, so I bought the remaining
> stock
>> they had--four M5 mouthpieces.  The Metalites are great performing
> mouthpieces
>> for a bright sound.  They are cheap (about $20-25) and are quite
> responsive.
>> With a high baffle, they are very easy blowing.  I have found that they
> work
>> really well for C Melody tenors.  I play mostly C Melody and they work
> great
>> for me.  They have a small-ish chamber and a very high baffle.  It kind of
>> reminds me of the silverlite Dukoffs, but with a baffle that drops more
>> dramatically into the chamber.  With a Metalite on a C Melody, I get sort
> of a
>> lead alto sound, but you also have a lushy low register too.
>> 
>> I've noticed lately on ebay that Metalite mouthpieces have been showing up
>> more often.  A seller was offering a bunch of M7 and M9 tenor pieces for
> about
>> $22 USD at a buy it now.  So I thought I would give it a shot.  About 6
> months
>> ago, Metalites were pretty scarce on ebay and people were asking $50 or
> $60
>> for them.
>> 
>> The M7 and M9 mouthpieces showed up yesterday and when I opened the
> package, I
>> was surprised that the box the mouthpiece was in, was not red.  Instead,
> it
>> was in a white box.  I was thinking what is this???  I've never seen a
>> Metalite in a white box... It says Metalite on the box and there is an M7
> and
>> M9 on it as well. Then a thought came racing to mind--Did Rico reissue the
>> Metalite mouthpieces??!?!?  I know there are a lot of people out there
>> wondering why Rico discontinued the Metalites when they worked so well.
> When
>> I looked at the box more closely, it had a copyright of 2009!  I went to
> the
>> ricoreeds.com site and sure enough, under the mouthpiece-saxophone
> section,
>> the Metalite mouthpiece is listed next to the Grafonite mouthpiece.  On
> the
>> Rico site, the Metalite is listed as $29 USD.  You can buy directly from
>> Rico!  WOW!
>> 
>> So what has changed?  The reissued mouthpiece looks very similar to the
> old
>> Brillhart design if not exactly like it.  It is gray just like the
> original. 
>> However, they are using a hard plastic now where the old one had a softer,
>> waxy plastic.  I remember trying to reface the old ones and it would sort
> of
>> gum up the sandpaper.  I also noticed that the new mouthpiece is now
> labeled
>> Rico where as the old mouthpiece was labeled Rico Royal; like the
> Grafonites. 
>> There were actually two different style Rico Royal versions. I think the
>> earlier ones had a textured outside surface and later Metalite mouthpieces
> had
>> a smooth outside surface.  I have both. I prefer the smooth surface. The
>> reissued Rico Metalite also has a smooth outer surface.  The older Rico
> Royal
>> Metalites came in M5, M7, M9 and M11.  I think the tenor M5 had a 0.095"
> tip
>> opening, M7 - 0.105", M9 - 0.115" and M11- 0.125"  The reissued Rico
> Metalites
>> only comes in M5, M7 and M9. You can
>> only get M9 in the tenor and bari versions.  The soprano and alto versions
>> only come in M5 and M7.  I have not measured the  tip openings of the new
>> Metalites yet.
>> 
>> I'm not sure if there is anyone out there that is excited about the
> reissue or
>> not. I thought it might be interesting to bring it up, so that you can now
> try
>> out this legendary Arnold Brillhart designed mouthpiece if you haven't
>> already. Unless you are buying the original Rico Royal Metalite, DO NOT
> PAY
>> $50 or $75 for it.  You can get a new Rico Metalite for $25 or $30.  These
>> mouthpieces make great blanks too.  If you are new to facing a
> mouthpieces,
>> you can get a couple to fiddle around with.  There is a lot of material in
> the
>> baffle and you can carve it up to experiment with baffle and chamber
> designs.
>> 
>> I also have a Rico Royal version M11 soprano Metalite for my C soprano
> sax. 
>> It works well on that horn too.
>> 
>> OK, back to your discussions....
>> 
>> Regards,
>> 
>> Willis
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
> 
> 
> 
>