Thanks, guys, but the horn is not up for debate. I said I was thinking of trying it out, but I can't try it out without a mouthpiece. I won't know if it happens to be a decent horn if I try it out with a bad mouthpiece. If I get a decent mouthpiece, I can keep it for whatever horn I eventually settle with (if any). I would want more of a classical sound, so what tip, baffle, etc. do I want on a soprano? The facing on my mouthpieces for Alto and Tenor is a 3, but I don't really know anything about the rest of the specs, Sumner Acousticut out of Minneapolis. They were recommended by my college instructor. I've notice that Guy Hawkins comes in at least 3 types for soprano. What would be the more classical?

oh, I thought you were just kind of starting to learn the soprano - the sop is kind of a different animal and a lot of stuff has to be learned on it, their basic bore design is different than the alto, and the embouchure takes rather major adjustment. For a classical piece, the rousseau R's are good - I would go with the biggest tip you can get - on a sop the pieces and tips are so small that you get to where the low notes dont play right I beleive 5 is the largest. The soloists also play really good on sops for classical. I would go for an E there.

For classical playing, I use an old Geo Bundy hard rubber piece - a 3 facing. I play Vandoren ZZ 3 1/2 reeds on it and get a real rich tone such that I can cover English Horn parts with a solid low end and without the tinny/"saxy" sound of jazz soprano. I use the same mouthpiece for doubling/tripling at church using a Bari synthetic reed (hard). The sound is a little brighter using one of those reeds, but it is still warm and tasteful. With a hard reed, expressive vibrato is possible on a 3 facing, but softer reeds pinch off as it's rather closed. I don't know how the modern Bundy HR mouthpieces play, but I recently tried a Jewel Concert HR soprano piece along side my old Geo Bundy and I couldn't tell the difference. You want a mouthpiece with little or no baffle for classical playing, and one with a larger chamber as opposed to a smaller one. What kind of group are you playing in? If you need lots of volume, then you should go for a larger tip opening - my Bundy is my "finesse" piece. My Vandoren S35 is for when I need lots of projection. A Vandoren S25 might be a good "middle of the road" though I've not tried one. If you want to go metal, then I would recommend trying the Otto Link Super Tone Master pieces as they are large chambered with only a moderate baffle which keeps it rich enough for classical. Maybe a 5 opening.

I play with a rather makeshift group of saxophone and brass, usually for church, hence the classical tone. I may also do some solo work, depending on the occassion. Thanks for all the mouthpiece help (don't think I'll go metal, as just the thought hurts my teeth!)