Saxophone Forum


by threetenors
(18 posts)
17 years ago

Squeaky mouthpiece... advice?

I am borrowing a new mouthpiece from my teacher. I am used to playing on jazz mouthpieces, as well as metal mouthpieces, but this is like something I have never even played before. I'm just wondering... it squeaks a lot right now, mostly in the higher register, but sometimes in the low as well. Is there anyhting that I can do to my emboucheur, or air stream to get rid of the squeak... I know that it's not the reeds, because they work on other mouthpieces... Also, this new mouthpiece has a baffle, something that I'm not used to... I'm basically wondering if it will ever stop squeaking, and thus, if it would be a good idea to get it (I love the tone that I get when it's not sqeaking)

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  1. by definition
    (963 posts)

    17 years ago

    Re: Squeaky mouthpiece... advice?

    It would help to know what kind of mpc it is

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  2. by Donnie The B
    (282 posts)

    17 years ago

    Re: Squeaky mouthpiece... advice?

    I don't know for sure about your particular situation, but I've heard that squeaking is often caused by irregularities in the mouthpiece. If one rail were higher than the other, table not flat or etc. Good Luck.

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    1. by knorter
      (205 posts)

      17 years ago

      Re: Squeaky mouthpiece... advice?

      Donnie, Which type of squeak? The really obnoxious chirp when you start a note with the tongue or are you actually hitting a higher partial? You also said something that I wanted to clarify-if you use a reed that has been used often on another mouthpiece it may not work on a new mouthpiece. The reason for this is that the reed slightly alters it's shape to create a seal with the facing of the mouthpiece. I would only use new reeds for now. If it is the chirping then that's a reed/ mouthpiece sealing problem. If it's the upper partials then I think you are raising the back of your tongue too much. This is something that you had to do before with a mouthpiece that had a lower baffle. Now that you're using a jazz mouthpiece with a higher baffle you don't have to raise your tongue as much for the higher notes. Kristy

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      1. by Sax Mom
        (964 posts)

        17 years ago

        Re: Squeaky mouthpiece... advice?

        Thanks! Kristy! We played for church last Sunday and I had trouble with a chirpy reed. I'm glad to know now what the problem might have been. It's possible the reed (which had been stored in a reedguard) had been used on a different mouthpiece.

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        1. by Seano
          (132 posts)

          17 years ago

          Re: Squeaky mouthpiece... advice?

          When my friend started playing on his Otto Link STM 8 he had a similar problem, he fixed it by trying harder reeds. You may want to give that a try

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