Since I have decided to endeavor in some soprano playing and eventually work I immediately noticed that most modern sop pieces have that peashooter installed in them whereas vintage pieces do not.  What is the purpose of this design.  It seems really strange to me.  What happens if you get rid of it?

Since I dont know the proper term for this constricted little item I couldnt run a reasonable search.

Thanks

I've also thought about this quite a bit, especially since Wayne Shorter plays an old slant Link with a large chamber in it. I love his sound. However, as you noticed lots of modern soprano designs - (and I'm pretty sure even the old Selmer Soloist HR soprano designs that are so famous) - have that small chamber inside. I love the sound a soprano makes and I especially like it when it's warm and round sounding without being thin. Out of curiosity this summer I tracked down a Zinner hard rubber large-chamber soprano blank because I thought it might be an improvement over most of the small squeeze chambered sop pieces out there today. I still have it, but actually didn't end up liking it that much. It's funny, the small squeeze-type chambers seem to work really well on soprano. I don't have any idea why, but it just seems to add the right amount of presence to the sound for a soprano. Of course, I've never tried a real Link slant with a nice facing on it, so I don't really know how it would compare to this Zinner blank I have. However, I found the Zinner large-chamber to be a bit dull and bland sounding compared to the 3 other sop mouthpieces I have, a BARI HR soprano mouthpiece, a current model Otto Link HR mouthpiece (my main piece), and a Yanagisawa HR soprano mouthpiece.

I would be interested to see what the difference would be if you took two modern HR sop Links and bored the squeeze chamber out of one of them. It'd be interesting to see the effects it would have on sound, response, and intonation as well. 

Hey, by the way, what kind of soprano do you have? If you're still looking for a nice horn, I'd really recommend at least taking a look at a Keilwerth soprano. I've got one of the black-nickel SX90II models, and although I'd probably prefer to have the single one-piece straight-neck model, this SX90II is a killer horn! Definitely a nice easy-to-play horn. But I'm sure there's lots of nice horns out there.


--- In MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com, "sigmund451" <sigmund451@...> wrote:
>
> Since I have decided to endeavor in some soprano playing and eventually work I immediately noticed that most modern sop pieces have that peashooter installed in them whereas vintage pieces do not.  What is the purpose of this design.  It seems really strange to me.  What happens if you get rid of it?
> 
> Since I dont know the proper term for this constricted little item I couldnt run a reasonable search.
> 
> Thanks
>

Interestingly, I have 2 generations of Bari HR soprano pieces.  I 
chipped the tip of a .66 that I purchased in 1981 and had a new one 
overnighted because I was in the middle of a show run that I needed the 
horn for.  The new one was also a .66.  The body was narrower in 
profile, and the bore of the shank was .003 smaller.  The piece 
(puchased in 2008 btw) has totally different playing characteristics as 
well.  Once the show run was over, I had Paul Coates fix the old piece 
and "rationalize" the new piece to match the old.   It still isn't as 
comfortable as the old piece.  I'm convinced that the difference is in 
the chamber, and now that I'm tooled up for mouthpiece work myself, I'll 
start taking as many measurements as I can.

I love the Keilwerth horns.  I have a vintage Couf Bari & Alto that I 
love.  Some of the Taiwanese horns have gotten so good that it's hard to 
justify the sticker price on Keilwerth and Selmer these days.  I have a 
Mauriat that they did a custom gold plate job on for me.  Since they 
have to lay on heavy silver before the gold, it added some nice body to 
the horn.  It's easier to play and way more in tune with itself that my 
old Mk VIl, and the cats I regularly play with think it sounds much more 
full bodied.  Like Matt, I would probably prefer a one piece straight 
neck version.  Luckily the case design allows me to just leave the 
straight neck installed.

For the record, my tenor is a 1962 The Martin "Music Man" model.  I 
fitted it with black Roo pads and moved my Ken Beason made resonators to 
the new pads.  I think I'll be cremated and have my ashes buried in that 
horn.

On 11/9/2010 2:42 AM, Matt wrote:
>
> I've also thought about this quite a bit, especially since Wayne 
> Shorter plays an old slant Link with a large chamber in it. I love his 
> sound. However, as you noticed lots of modern soprano designs - (and 
> I'm pretty sure even the old Selmer Soloist HR soprano designs that 
> are so famous) - have that small chamber inside. I love the sound a 
> soprano makes and I especially like it when it's warm and round 
> sounding without being thin. Out of curiosity this summer I tracked 
> down a Zinner hard rubber large-chamber soprano blank because I 
> thought it might be an improvement over most of the small squeeze 
> chambered sop pieces out there today. I still have it, but actually 
> didn't end up liking it that much. It's funny, the small squeeze-type 
> chambers seem to work really well on soprano. I don't have any idea 
> why, but it just seems to add the right amount of presence to the 
> sound for a soprano. Of course, I've never tried a real Link slant 
> with a nice facing on it, so I don't really know how it would compare 
> to this Zinner blank I have. However, I found the Zinner large-chamber 
> to be a bit dull and bland sounding compared to the 3 other sop 
> mouthpieces I have, a BARI HR soprano mouthpiece, a current model Otto 
> Link HR mouthpiece (my main piece), and a Yanagisawa HR soprano 
> mouthpiece.
>
> I would be interested to see what the difference would be if you took 
> two modern HR sop Links and bored the squeeze chamber out of one of 
> them. It'd be interesting to see the effects it would have on sound, 
> response, and intonation as well.
>
> Hey, by the way, what kind of soprano do you have? If you're still 
> looking for a nice horn, I'd really recommend at least taking a look 
> at a Keilwerth soprano. I've got one of the black-nickel SX90II 
> models, and although I'd probably prefer to have the single one-piece 
> straight-neck model, this SX90II is a killer horn! Definitely a nice 
> easy-to-play horn. But I'm sure there's lots of nice horns out there.
>
> --- In MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com 
> <mailto:MouthpieceWork%40yahoogroups.com>, "sigmund451" 
> <sigmund451@...> wrote:
> >
> > Since I have decided to endeavor in some soprano playing and 
> eventually work I immediately noticed that most modern sop pieces have 
> that peashooter installed in them whereas vintage pieces do not. What 
> is the purpose of this design. It seems really strange to me. What 
> happens if you get rid of it?
> >
> > Since I dont know the proper term for this constricted little item I 
> couldnt run a reasonable search.
> >
> > Thanks
> >
>
> 

The squeeze chamber design does work very well on sop sax for intonation.  I 
think this is why the design dominates the mouthpiece choices for sop sax.  The 
larger chamber stubby design has a nice sound, but the palm keys can be very 
sharp.  These notes are easy to lip all over the place on soprano.  So a player 
can use muscle memory to play in tune on any mouthpiece.  But this strategy does 
not work well if you double on several saxes.  I think it is better to adopt a 
more neutral embouchure and limit your mouthpiece choices to those that play in 
tune for you. 





________________________________
From: sigmund451 <sigmund451@hotmail.com>
To: MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Mon, November 8, 2010 10:59:13 PM
Subject: [MouthpieceWork] Pea shooter soprano pieces

  
Since I have decided to endeavor in some soprano playing and eventually work I 
immediately noticed that most modern sop pieces have that peashooter installed 
in them whereas vintage pieces do not. What is the purpose of this design. It 
seems really strange to me. What happens if you get rid of it?

Since I dont know the proper term for this constricted little item I couldnt run 
a reasonable search.

Thanks





      

Thanks for all the information.  I was guessing it had to do with quirky intonation of sops.  It just runs contrary to my overall approach and taste...then again Im not a soprano player.  


--- In MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com, Keith Bradbury <kwbradbury@...> wrote:
>
> The squeeze chamber design does work very well on sop sax for intonation.  I 
> think this is why the design dominates the mouthpiece choices for sop sax.  The 
> larger chamber stubby design has a nice sound, but the palm keys can be very 
> sharp.  These notes are easy to lip all over the place on soprano.  So a player 
> can use muscle memory to play in tune on any mouthpiece.  But this strategy does 
> not work well if you double on several saxes.  I think it is better to adopt a 
> more neutral embouchure and limit your mouthpiece choices to those that play in 
> tune for you. 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ________________________________
> From: sigmund451 <sigmund451@...>
> To: MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Mon, November 8, 2010 10:59:13 PM
> Subject: [MouthpieceWork] Pea shooter soprano pieces
> 
>   
> Since I have decided to endeavor in some soprano playing and eventually work I 
> immediately noticed that most modern sop pieces have that peashooter installed 
> in them whereas vintage pieces do not. What is the purpose of this design. It 
> seems really strange to me. What happens if you get rid of it?
> 
> Since I dont know the proper term for this constricted little item I couldnt run 
> a reasonable search.
> 
> Thanks
>