Being an incredibly cheap high school student, I took it upon myself to create a monster playing bari mouthpiece when I needed one to play in pep band. Using nothing but a Rico Graphonite and some plastic putty, I created a mouthpiece that when pushed, can be heard over the band. Many of you have probably heard of the Rico Metalite, the near-mythical monster that sells on ebay for several times its original retail price. This was the basis for my mouthpiece. I have an alto Metalite, so I was able to copy off of it. I will do my best to explain how to create your own turbocharged mouthpiece. I would definitely recommend this for bari, and I am sure it would work for tenor too. If you want to sound remotely like David Sanborn or Kenny G, you could try it on alto and soprano.
Step 1. Slightly sand down the rollover baffle so that it is slightly flat.
Step 2. Use the putty to make a giant wedge baffle that extends from the back of the flattened rollover to the where the window begins to curve. Make sure the baffle is low enough that it is not higher than the chamber!
Step 4. Sand the baffle flat.
Step 5. Cut a slant in the baffle. It is up to you exactly at what angle to cut it. Experiment, find what works for you.
Step 6. Sand it smooth.
Congratulations! This is all you needed to do. Enjoy your mouthpiece. If it doesn’t play, you probably made the baffle too high. Be sure to use a hard reed (I use Hemke 4 or ZZ 3.5). Put a lot of air through the horn, there is no need to hold back.
Instrument Modification Articles
>> Mouthpiece Modification by Aaron Smith with illustrations
