The primary readers are in the U.S., so that's done. My second most common blog visitor is from Russia (WHY?), so $12 converts to 769 rubles. Next is Portugal (again WHY?) at 11 euro. United Kingdom at 9.30 sterling. France and Germany are euro, so that's done. Canada at $16. Australia at $17.73. Ukraine would be 288 hryvnias (My auto-correct kept trying to change the word to "hernias." 288 hernias sounds like a lot of money). Japan is 1,314 yen . . . . all the way to Viet Nam at 278,502 dong. That makes $12 seem like a bargain.
So what do you get for $12 (that includes shipping) from China? It turns out that I get the same mouthpiece that I paid $30 for when it was falsely labeled as a Jody Jazz mouthpiece in this prior blog. I'm not really interested in making knock-off mouthpieces, so I'll gladly save $20 to make the same thing without the trademark infringement. That's what I'm going to do in this blog.
These mouthpieces are all over the on Ebay right now. Some show that the come in a nice box for retail sales. Mine showed the nice box in the picture, but it actually came China Post in a plastic bag that was very securely packaged as shown below.
It is the same as the Jody Jazz knock off. Well, it was finished a little differently. The tip opening was .075 instead of the tiny tip opening on the fake Jody Jazz. And the finish on the facing was much nicer in that it didn't have the coarse milling marks. In fact, the facing on the second piece has very thin rails which meet the tip perfectly. Not surprisingly, it plays well right out of the box.
Like the fake Jody Jazz, it is injection molded plastic and not, as advertised, Bakelite. It isn't ebonite. It is considerably lighter and, although I can't put my durometer on this mouthpiece, it seems like this formula of ABS plastic would be softer than ebonite. It also seemed softer when cutting a new facing with sandpaper. What that could mean is that it might not hold up as well as an ebonite piece. It would need more cautious handling and storage.
Or it could mean that you need to buy several. Buying more isn't a problem. The "pea shooter" chamber on these is basically identical to a vintage Selmer Airflow or Rico Gregory, both of which sell for over $300. For the same price, you can buy 25 of these.
It is a shame that the facing is so nice on this one because I am going to change that. A tip opening of .075 inches (1.9 mm) is just a bit too small. The softest tenor reed that I have is a medium and I can't see buying a stiff reed just to try out this mouthpiece.
Something that you should buy for this mouthpiece is a tooth guard. I said that it looks to be made of a softer material than ebonite and I now know that is true. I've played the similar Jody Jazz knockoff for maybe 30 hours and I can see a slight indentation on the beak. I don't usually mark up the beak, but it seems this material is easily marked. Youngsters with sharp teeth could probably chew through one of these in a year. Best to buy a cheap selection of tooth guards.
I'm going to give you the curvature numbers that I will be using on this mouthpiece. If you want, you can pretend that the numbers were copied from a fantastic playing really expensive vintage mouthpiece played by a famous player. People like to hear that (and also say that to other players). Unfortunately, famous players change mouthpieces throughout their careers. And, just like other players, they drop pieces, wear them out, or change mouthpieces for no rational reason. Owning a mouthpiece played by a "famous" player is like owning a bat used by Babe Ruth. Don't expect to start hitting home runs.
I will be posting the "Brand numbers" that I will be using when I find them. I keep a record of the lay that I like, which ends up making a tip opening of between .090 and .095 for those of you who designate mouthpieces by tip openings. My favorite lay could produce a tip opening of .09342 on this piece for all I care.
But first, I just bought a boat and have been spending a lot of time messing around on it. Saxophone takes "second fiddle" to boats. I'll have to get back to you with the numbers.
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