Making a Saxophone Mouthpiece by Hand

This video documents my first attempt at making a saxophone mouthpiece by hand from a solid piece of hard rubber.
Total construction time: 16 hours (over 2 days)
I filmed the entire process, which gave me quite a challenge to edit down 16 hours of raw footage to about 20 minutes.
No play testing was done during the sculpting process aside from the quick reed test you see in the video, and no modifications whatsoever were made to the piece after playing it for the first time. This is not the typical process for dialing in a mouthpiece but I wanted the additional challenge.
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[@spencerbrodhead]

Check out my second album! kzbin.info/www/bejne/hn3Nm6h9iZqbnJo

[@DirkJ.]

Someone get this man a mini lathe, like ASAP! Cool project

[@spencerbrodhead]

I'm actually building a custom lathe specifically for mouthpieces, it'll appear on this channel at some point!

[@DirkJ.]

@@spencerbrodhead Look forward to seeing what you do with it!

[@fitzmorrismartin3050]

I do declare you are a master craft man I'm very impressed with your skill

[@spencerbrodhead]

Wow thank you!

[@garystroud1629]

I think this is the most fascinating video I’ve ever seen on KZbin and I understand my mouthpieces so much more. Thank you so much.

[@spencerbrodhead]

Wow thanks for saying that! I'm glad that people like seeing the process, also I'm planning on making another one within a week or so watch out for that

[@terryhorlick9707]

@@spencerbrodhead Spencer, I have taken trash, unplayable mouthpieces for my soprano and supranino saxes and worked them into nice playing and sounding pieces. I work on the beak, table, and lay. Also adding a baffle with epoxy. As I find what I like I want to make some pieces out of hard rubber like you have done. Where can we find rubber blanks?

[@spencerbrodhead]

@@terryhorlick9707 By blanks do you mean a roughly mouthpiece-shaped object that then needs hand finishing? If that's the case I'm not sure what to reccomend

[@terryhorlick9707]

@@spencerbrodhead, thanks for contacting me. To me a blank is a rough chunk of hard rubber. I would cut it to rough dimensions and turn it on my lathe. All the finish carving and smoothing is done by hand.

[@terryhorlick9707]

@@spencerbrodhead I mean a chunk of hard rubber larger than a mouthpiece (I’m working on soprano and sopranino mouthpieces, so not large) which I will work up into a new mouthpiece. I have transformed several old, unplayable mouthpieces into very nicely playing pieces by adding epoxy and carving to the desired specifications. Once I have established the lay, tip and baffle I like best I want to replicate it in hard rubber or brass. Having been a dentist for over 30 years, precise carving isn’t a huge issue!

[@ismaelcontrerasjimenez9336]

Homie made a beautiful selmer concept

[@sergoblak4360]

Хороший саксофон и трость тоже😂😂😂

[@marsax3]

This video lesson is very good.

[@hannes4971]

Wow, that was really fascinating and I learned a lot about mouthpieces. Thanks for doing this. What a beautiful piece you created!

[@spencerbrodhead]

Thanks!

[@FC_LOZAN_MOLDOVA]

Verry nice work ! i want one mouthpiece for me !

[@skimanization]

Wow, that's an amazing craftmanship, I wish I could do that in my retirement. I have learned what's really important in a mouthpiece for it to function well. Thanks.

[@Joseph124269]

I am amazed how you are finding time to practice your saxophone.

[@kooky74]

Huge work with simple tools. Congrats. You are an artist!

[@spencerbrodhead]

Wow thank you!

[@vladimirlopez7840]

Amazing sounding mouthpiece and amazing craftsmanship!

[@spencerbrodhead]

Thanks!

[@dylanmenzies3973]

Heroic!

[@spencerbrodhead]

Thanks!!

[@user-uu5rp7gs6w]

awesome dude ,

[@halfabee]

A beautiful saxophone sound.

[@johnphillips7941]

Great video! John.

[@yourmotherhasspoken3016]

i am not gonan lie, i clicked on this video without looking at anything but ur video, and at the end when i went to look at ur channel for more stuff i realized ur not a giant creator, from all the aspects u put into the video i genuinely thought u were a famous saxophone KZbinr i just so happened not to see before. good job on the whole video

[@spencerbrodhead]

Thanks for saying that, yep my channel is fairly new still, haven't posted too many videos in total

[@juanignaciocaino]

Congrats! the chamber design and geometry, while not "revolutionary", has some very clever modifications over the traditional pickle barrel shape. I make MPCs for myself too, and then kind of end up looking like that shape too.

[@johnasti5239]

Really beautiful work,!!! I'm very impressed.....

[@es9466]

This is cool

[@5420]

Making a saxophone wood mouthpiece is very accurate. Thank you for your efforts. I'm also a saxophone mouthpiece handmade sculptor.

[@Amanet13]

Beautiful

[@spencerbrodhead]

Thanks!

[@samtedesco3529]

Awesome video. The mouthpiece sounds rich in tone. I'm going to try this with a couple of messed up mouthpieces I have. Thanks for sharing your skill with us.

[@herbiedefoe]

Wonderful!!!

[@orestfilipov4000]

Very cool stuff!! I’m very impressed by your playing, craftsman’s skills and knowledge about the subject! Hands down!

[@spencerbrodhead]

Wow thank you!

[@mitchpaliga4851]

Fascinating, thanks!

[@joabomoro4063]

Amazing 👏👏👏

[@brainwoodman1646]

Awesome video!

[@MrRodrisax]

Fantastic! Thanks for this class!

[@williamsaxophonist222]

Very nice!!!!

[@AtulClassics]

Solid work

[@johntrlong]

Great work. Brilliant video

[@jimb4547]

Nice !!!!!! Loved it ! Thank you!!!

[@ElMU76]

Wonderfull...big Job...

[@GavinJorgensenMusic]

Very helpful thanks

[@marcomatabang5858]

Very nice good job👏👏👏

[@silpo4164]

Genius!!!!

[@joaquinamenabar9374]

fantastic job !!! thanks !!!!

[@OmreeG]

Woah this is an amazing insight into the trade

[@lesgoe8908]

Very interesting! Never thought I'd see a video about this. Thank you for posting.

[@heliobataglia3504]

Belo trabalho 👏👏

[@LalitMadhava]

beautiful work, just to look at it

[@eatreedsleep6437]

Wow. Great craftsmanship. Thx for this video!

[@user-xc6wd3hb4s]

Beautiful mouthpiece and it performs excellently. Great job!

[@markquiroz3460]

INCREDIBLE!!!

[@spencerbrodhead]

Thanks!

[@howling_at_the_moon1]

Very impressed with your skills Brother . And love the sound to finished mouthpiece.

[@chikoykoy1]

Wonderful video.... The only one that showcase a mouthpiece being actually made and tested at the end.

[@spencerbrodhead]

Thanks!

[@marcuszyy]

thats so cool looks like a selmer concept a bit

[@spencerbrodhead]

Thanks! yeah the shank does look like a selmer concept but that was just the easiest shape to make it, the internal geometry is totally different though

[@dasmensch2317]

cool

[@guillermomorillo8650]

Another mouthpiece with a lovely sound!!! You are a great player too!!! It’s not only the mouthpiece

[@stevelacatena]

That was amazing. And it sounds great.

[@spencerbrodhead]

Thank you!

[@mostainless1839]

Nice work! Try that with a rod of stainless 304. Takes a couple days longer.

[@spencerbrodhead]

haha thanks! yeah that sounds like a recipe for carpal tunnel, carving stainless steel by hand is the worst

[@vivianastridge2167]

We had had some correspondence quite some back concerning dimensions of mouthpieces and method of making these. One of the most difficult parts of the making process is the carving out or shaping of the interior of the mouthpiece. I have since our exchange made many mouthpiece of varying chamber sizes using just plain hand tools. I do not have video making equipment but could gladly send you a series of photos of each stage of the making process. I do not know if the Comments section would accept photos but I know that email would so if you so desire I could send you these on receipt of your email address.

[@titofernandez44]

Good job, man… and what a sweet sound it makes!!!. Bravo

[@spencerbrodhead]

Thanks!

[@shonsaliga7491]

Great to see you leverage your experience! Give me a call! Would love to catch up!

[@leanmchungry4735]

A terrific video, a lot of skills and knowledge were brought to this project, evident by the piece sounding good when finished.

[@spencerbrodhead]

Thanks!

[@neviozaninotto2110]

really impressive work my best compliments !

[@spencerbrodhead]

Thank you!

[@richardcasey7521]

Great sounding mouthpiece! Beautifully crafted!

[@spencerbrodhead]

Thank you!

[@reekeeibanez8904]

Amazing!!… soo much effort with sooo much passion bravo👏🙏💕❤️🎷

[@spencerbrodhead]

Thank You!

[@jamesoliverio7016]

Very impressive 🎷

[@spencerbrodhead]

Thanks!

[@julianovieira3435]

congratulations on the work. In addition to being very beautiful, the sound was great. Out of curiosity, what compound did you use to polish? thanks in advance.

[@spencerbrodhead]

Thanks! I use Formax brand buffing compound, for hard rubber the first stage of polishing I would recommend the brown tripoli (or the black bar), and then the light blue bar for the final high gloss polish

[@martondeaky8660]

Amazing video! Where I can buy raw material like this?

[@JuniorAmaral]

Sensacional

[@minty_lint]

I enjoyed this video. I hope to more like this on your channel. I just subbed.

[@spencerbrodhead]

Thanks! I think I'll make another like this soon

[@mariomalette4155]

Woww Very impressive work. And very good playing! Sounds good too. What a craftsman you are..and saxophonist. Thanks for sharing My regards Mario

[@spencerbrodhead]

Thank you!

[@bogdanrankovic6504]

Hmm….impressive work,and fantastic power sound,with perfect color balance and projection…thank you!

[@spencerbrodhead]

Thanks! Glad you like it

[@Debukochi]

I wouldn't be equivocal about protecting the table and rails while working on the chamber. I even do that while buffing. No matter how many times I've adjusted a mouthpiece (decades), I always do this. That paint tape is great for this purpose. If you only have masking tape available, you can adhere a strip of it to your inner forearm, peel it off, and then put it on the table and rails. This reduces the adhesive tackiness and makes it easy to peel off with no residual adhesive. (Fine arts school trick.) Great video.

[@spencerbrodhead]

Cool, yeah good tip. The blue tape I used here didn't leave any residue, peels off easy. For all the modern pieces I hand finish I never mask off the rails or table and I've never felt like I'm risking buffing those areas, I guess polishing thousands of times will build up some confidence haha, glad you liked the video!

[@stevel6895]

Awesome craftsmanship! That's why I never mess with my mouthpieces, if you don't know what you're doing, leave it to a professional.

[@spencerbrodhead]

Thanks!

[@haru_jazzsax]

🔥🔥🔥

[@jazzfdy]

Crazy！but I like it ！

[@leighmurrell5494]

The shavings and sawdust can be used for other things such as a flea repellent for dogs for example. It should be respected for just how rare and exceptional it is and so nothing is wasted .

[@spencerbrodhead]

I'm not so sure about that, the dust I make is not sawdust it's hard rubber dust mixed with all sorts of other things like the grit from the sanding sponges and other buffing compounds, I would not reccomend putting that on a dog

[@dasmensch2317]

wow

[@martyg374]

I have 4 years of machine shop experience, 60 years of pro sax experience and would have no idea how to "make a mouthpiece." Baffle height seems to make the biggest difference to me. I believe higher means easy blowing and brighter?

[@spencerbrodhead]

Ah very cool! Yes baffle height is one of the most dramatic changes in mouthpiece design variables, what you said is true.

[@martyg374]

I currently play a Ponzol on my tenor, one of the very few he built with a moveable baffle, controlled by an allen wrench. I think I will "screw" with it today as a result of our communication. I have spoken on the phone with Peter Ponzol about the mouthpiece.@@spencerbrodhead

[@udos.7611]

Ist ja cool 💪🏽

[@rielzuad7028]

When I do the facing I always end up having a gap from the table going to the rails :(

[@leighmurrell5494]

I handmade Baritone Sax MP for myself a few years ago out of Huon Pine which is a beautiful timber, commonly used for boat building because of its natural oils and fine grain that gives it water resistant qualities. It is native to Tasmania Australia. I played it for a couple of years but ultimately decided the sound was a bit softer than I wanted.

[@spencerbrodhead]

Oh cool, actually I'm planning to make another one out of wood maybe this week or next week just for fun, although wood is not the best material for mouthpieces because of its response to moisture/ temperature/ cracking

[@diegojorge9659]

Pretti cool!!! Does any body knows were to find rubber rods in Europe? Thanks

[@georgiyzinchenko726]

BRAVO BRAVO BRAVO /

[@noosweat7022]

Awesome work. You should start your own mouth piece company. Invest in a 3D Printer and build custom pieces. You could make your money back in no time and be into profit. Just a thought!👀

[@spencerbrodhead]

Yeah thanks, I've had a 3d printer for a few years now actually!

[@ajsaxbass]

🤩

[@u2ontour192]

Thanks so much for posting this, Spencer - the precision and professionalism at which you are working (and playing) is mindblowing. Fantastic job. One of my sax is a Yamaha Alto and they tend to produce a sound that is too soft for playing jazz (I guess because the lacquering is too thick) - would you give it a chance to modify the sound towards what you go out of your horn with the right mouthpiece or does it need another neck ... or none of the two - I do know that some professionals experiment a lot with their mouthpieces and get them custom-built; difficult to get one of these as a hobby musician. Thanks for your work : )

[@spencerbrodhead]

Thanks for the nice words! As for your yamaha I'm not sure what you're asking, for me to work on the mouthpiece? As far as the horn goes I seriously doubt that the laquer is causing you any issues

[@u2ontour192]

@@spencerbrodhead Thanks for your fast reply - and apologies if the question was not clear - I was just wondering whether a different mouthpiece or neck would be more efficient in changing the color of the tone. All the best for your new projects!

[@spencerbrodhead]

@@u2ontour192 Yeah no worries I enjoy answering questions about this stuff. The mouthpiece has the greatest effect for changing the tone and feel of the overall setup, so if you're having issues thats the first thing to change. As long as the neck on your yamaha isn't severly bent or damaged it's almost certainly fine. I play a 1980s yamaha 52 alto as my main and its great, most other yamaha's that are in working condition are very good horns. If the problem that you're having is not getting enough volume, than a jazz style mouthpiece with a larger tip opening would be the first thing to look for. Of course the main contributing factor in tone production is the player, so if there are embouchure issues no mouthpiece is really going to solve that. In my opinion, what contributes to the overall tone is: 80% player, 15% mouthpiece, 5% horn

[@Greg_ThymeTraveler]

Nice. I've been researching and experimenting with designing and 3D printing my own mouthpieces. I've been successful with getting a playable print, which I've uploaded to grabcad, but I'm still working out some design details that I'm not satisfied with. This is video is very enlightening, though.

[@spencerbrodhead]

thanks! yeah 3d printing is great for rapid prototyping, the main thing is to make sure the tables are flat from the print texture but (with a good facing) they can play really well

[@florianjaeger6733]

Great work and good playing! 😃 I'd be interested, though: Were you happy with the sound and feeling of the piece when playtesting? Your thoughts on that?

[@spencerbrodhead]

Thanks! Yeah it plays well (much better than I was expecting), but my more recent wood one plays better, not because of the material, just the geometery is different

[@taisonlaw]

👏👍

[@hernanhernandezrodriguez6171]

Como me gustaría aprender hacer las boquillas yo sería un gusto

[@leighmurrell5494]

Yes, I agree with you about the potential problems with using wood. I chose Huon Pine because it limited those issues a fair bit. I have thought about making another one with a hard timber and using Tung Oil to seal it. Of course instruments such as Clarinets, Oboes and Bassoons are made of wood but I presume that the bodies, being a bit further away from the source of moisture, don't suffer quite as much as a MP would. Good luck with yours.

[@spencerbrodhead]

yep that's right, and grenadilla in clarinets/ oboes is a very hard wood

[@RodneyBerry]

Huon would smell and taste so amazing too. I'd be so conscious of not wasting the tiniest amount though, especially when I think of how many hundred years of growth I just left on the workshop floor.

[@JackFright]

African Blackwood has no problem with saliva, whatsoever. That's why clarinets and oboes are made out of it.

[@6mark111]

Good job. Nice craftsmanship. Where can I buy hard rubber stick? Could teach me please?

[@spencerbrodhead]

Thanks, if you google search "german hard rubber rod" you'll find some places to buy it online, depending on how much you need and what size

[@evangelhogelho]

SOUNDS THICC

[@andrewsax]

можно взять чуть большую по диаметру фрезу. И для камеры и для обработки клюва мундштука. Гораздо быстрее.

[@danivc9878]

Amaing job done. I don't want to reduce all the editing and efforts of making it to the end cost, but how much is it worth it!? Considering you invest two complete days of work, besides the editing time etc

[@spencerbrodhead]

Glad you like the video! Yeah I was never planning to sell this piece, for that many hours into it that would have to be like a $1500 mouthpiece or something like that which is crazy, I'm currently designing new techniques and equipment that will let me make them by hand in a much more efficent way

[@augustosanchez2896]

Nice, Do you sell them? I play a bit of tenor love dark sound

[@spencerbrodhead]

Thanks, yeah I'm planning to at some point!

[@lotofacilpaulo48]

Me engana que eu gosto! tem uma chave que ele usa e vc pode perceber no finalzinho do vídeo,,, a chave é tipo pisto de trompete... na mão esquerda...

[@theleftymonster]

👏👏👏👏👌👍

[@michaelrogers8682]

Would acrylic make a good mouthpiece?

[@spencerbrodhead]

Yep! (funny you should mention that..........hint hint) It's a strong / stable material and holds the required dimensions well

[@016_]

How would you source a block (Or cylinder) of rubber? I feel like finding the rubber is a challenge on its own I wonder how hard finding a cylinder of rubber-like you have in the video is. I'm trying to do essentially what you've done here.

[@spencerbrodhead]

What is your experience working on mouthpieces?

[@016_]

@@spencerbrodhead I refaced my trash it came with the cheap 300$ soprano sax 3d printed mouthpiece into slightly less garbage of a mouthpiece. (I had to flatten the table and thin the rails and tip as well as fix some of the baffle. It's an entirely different mouthpiece now. If I'm trying to find a thing of rubber though I'd want it to be a little bigger (Tenor sax bigger)

[@spencerbrodhead]

@@016_ rawkrafted.com/nyh-ebonite-rod-germany-hard-rubber-black-by-the-inch/ you can find some here, although keep your expectations low for what you want to do, you are almost certainly not going to be successful diving into an expert level project like this after working on one mouthpiece, this was hard even for me. I would recomend buying some super cheap plastic mouthpieces and working on those as much as possible, that's going to be the best way to learn.

[@domishere4313]

Woahh what was that you played at the end? Or was that something you did yourself?

[@spencerbrodhead]

Just some random noodling to show that the piece works

[@garygoodridge7634]

Great video.. do you sell these?

[@spencerbrodhead]

Not right now, but that will probably happen sometime soon once I upgrade my tools that will speed up the manufacturing process

[@jasminenecker1775]

Is that 3" diameter? Where do you even get that? Anything over 2", that I can find, is metal.

[@spencerbrodhead]

The hard rubber rod was around 32mm diameter, 1.26 inch

[@howidietz]

Yoooo should of done a play test 10:14 lol

[@spencerbrodhead]

Yes Howi! More like 5:34 for maximum resistance