10MFAN Mouthpieces:
“An Invitation To A Better Sound”
I am offering the highest quality, original design, expertly hand finished, German bar stock hard rubber soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone saxophone mouthpieces in the marketplace. These are original designs that set my mouthpieces apart from EVERYONE ELSES! It gets no better than this, yet I charge far less than many others. The reason is that I want to get my mouthpieces into as many players hands as possible, so they are priced at a moderate and incredibly reasonable price for the highest quality hard rubber mouthpiece offerings in the marketplace. I use the same German barstock hard rubber that Freddie Gregory used. Super resonant!
DAVE POLLACK
NO SHORT CUTS: I use the finest German bar stock hard rubber available, and the 2 BEST refacers in the entire mouthpiece business—-The MouthpieceGuys: Brian Powell and Erik Greiffenhagen. These two learned everything they know from the legendary Ralph Morgan. Both share the same exact charts for every tip opening with every facing curve for all of my different mouthpieces. They are both doing beautifully precise hand finishing on my mouthpieces to ensure that EVERY mouthpiece plays perfect. When you order one of my mouthpieces, there is no such thing as “Please, can you pick out a great one for me”, like in the old days. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF MY MOUTHPIECES PLAYS PERFECT, just as designed.
A ton of R&D and prototyping work goes into innovating new designs for players today to enjoy. I had been the biggest dealer of vintage mouthpieces for over three decades before I decided to form my company and make my own mouthpiece line in 2013. My goal was entirely focused on making original proprietary design mouthpieces that played better for me than the best playing vintage pieces that I had made a living buying, selling, and using for over 35 years. Absolutely no copies or tweaked up versions of vintage mouthpieces here. To set myself apart, I focus on designing new designs of the absolute highest quality, and offer them at affordable price for players today.
10MFAN Mouthpieces: “ Innovation over imitation”.
RAY GELATO
This is a very unique website to help educate players, set up by an overly passionate professional saxophone player, educator, mouthpiece expert, and vintage mouthpiece dealer for over 3 decades. I understand about sound and design– and I know what’s really going on out there in the saxophone world. This is not a website set up with just pictures of mouthpieces and price tags next to them. I have always helped to educate players and have been extremely passionate about making a real difference in the saxophone mouthpiece world. This website continues that tradition with a lot of great information for players of all levels.
I would like to preface my website by saying there are many mouthpieces out there, both vintage and modern, and I hope you all enjoy your own personal journeys finding which ones suit you the best. Some players like small chambers, while others prefer medium or large. Some like low baffles, while others like more medium or higher baffles. Some like scooped sidewalls while others like flat sidewalls. Some like lower floors, while others want medium or higher floors. Some like lower beaks, while others prefer medium height or higher beaks. These design preferences go on and on. There are different flavors for everyone to enjoy, and that’s how it will always be.
There is no “BEST” mouthpiece out there that everyone will agree on as being the “BEST”, because we all enjoy different things. So I wish you a fun journey finding what works best for you. On a personal note, I am thrilled that ny journey has ended right here with my 10MFAN saxophone mouthpieces, and I hope yours does too!
JOEL FRAHM
10MFAN original design saxophone mouthpieces: THAT BIG SOUND!!
My intention for designing my own saxophone mouthpiece line after 30+ years of playing on and selling the finest vintage mouthpieces, was to learn from those designs and make what I consider to be BETTER playing original design mouthpieces for myself and others seeking new and fresh designs and options. I wanted to offer players today a truly refreshing alternative to the same mouthpiece model copies we have seen over and over again from one mouthpiece maker to the next. Todays technology allows us to do better, and thats my driving passion.
My deepest feelings are that saxophonists today deserve new original mouthpiece designs also….so that’s what I offer.
Its so sad to see what has happened in the mouthpiece world, and the same exact thing has happened with saxophone making also. Look at the big 5 saxophone makers over the last 80 or so years. The originators, the vintage Conns, Selmers, Bueschers, Martins, and Kings all offered players originality and a real difference in their horns.
Here at 10MFAN saxophone mouthpieces, we offer original designs for players today looking for an alternative to whats in the marketplace. Designed by almost a 4 decade pro player, for players looking for super flexibility and versatility in fresh, new, original mouthpiece designs. Saxophone mouthpieces that allow players to get their own unique sound without feeling like they sound like everyone else who uses the same model mouthpiece. The focus on my tenor models is to get that big tenor sound in all of my models. Whether its the warm category, the middle category, or the powerful category—all of my mouthpieces play with that beautiful full-bodied sound.
DOUG LAWRENCE
10mfan saxophone mouthpieces have become the mouthpiece choice for thousands of players all over the world who have been yearning for originality, superb craftsmanship, world class designs, and incredible playability,. Every single mouthpiece plays as it was designed. There are no duds or mediocre pieces coming out of here. They are all perfect players, and I take immense pride in that! The finest hand finishing is done to every single mouthpiece that leaves here, and I personally play test all of them extensively.
Here at 10mfan saxophone mouthpieces we are truly focussed on making a difference in mouthpiece design. No gimmicky designs, no snake oil salesmen, no paid endorsers, and no BS.
I am very proud that 10mfan saxophone mouthpieces are enjoyed by so many players of all different abilities, from heavyweights, all the way to players who play simply for fun. No one is paid to do so!
TONY LAKATOS
How the 10MFAN saxophone mouthpieces are made:
My saxophone mouthpieces are original proprietary design saxophone mouthpieces, and the designs are saved to the computer, then the pieces are milled on a state of the art 5-axis vertical mill. Each mouthpiece is then hand finished, balanced, and voiced one at a time. The hard rubber saxophone mouthpieces are made from the absolute finest pure German bar stock hard rubber. My orange Ultem pieces are made from Ultem bar stock and also hand finished. Each saxophone mouthpiece design was prototyped until I finally nailed what I wanted. A huge thank you to Mike Crouch for the ultimate support with my mouthpiece line. Our engineer Jeff Gjertsen is one of the top engineers anywhere, and is an absolute pleasure to work with.
My 10MFAN™ original design saxophone mouthpieces are the first mouthpieces I have ever played that truly allow the player serious customization of sound through simple reed changes. Not just a little change, but alot. Reeds are your friends, and the better friends you become with them, the better you can make your sound all you want it to be for yourself. Dialing in what you want for response, feel, and color—-comes from due diligence with trying many brands of reeds!
REGGIE PADILLA
My 10MFAN alto and tenor saxophone mouthpiece models are original designs and made to give us all more options than what’s been available to us. When I ventured into making my own mouthpieces, my goal was to make hard rubber tenor mouthpieces that I felt outplayed the absolute best vintage mouthpieces for me, in the categories I set them up in, and to make them affordable for players today. It was an enormous undertaking, but something I felt was really necessary and immensely important for the saxophone world. The consistency from one piece to the next is remarkable. If you lose yours or drop it and break it, you will never have to worry about finding one that plays as well as that one, because all of mine play with incredible accuracy.
I feel strongly that it is about time we stop comparing every mouthpiece to the old vintage mouthpieces. If you have played an old Link for 40 years and that’s the best mouthpiece you’ve ever played, enjoy it…. there’s no need to change if you are content. I will however ask you strongly to come and check out what my 10mfan saxophone mouthpieces are all about, because you may very well be blown away. There are many reasons players have made the switch.
New options are now available to players with my 10mfan™ saxophone mouthpiece line. Having been in the mouthpiece world for 35 years, I can proudly tell you that the bar has been raised.
ROBERT ANCHIPOLOVSKY
Countless players who have played on those vintage mouthpieces for decades are now switching from their main piece to my 10mfan™ saxophone mouthpieces. You can use one for everything you do, or mix it up and use a couple to accommodate those particular playing scenarios you might encounter where you need something specific. I want to help put individuality into sound. My 10mfan saxophone mouthpieces are truly mouthpieces that don’t get in your way, and actually let YOU sound like YOU. Mouthpieces that are so comfortable in the mouth that they allow you to forget about the mouthpiece while you’re playing, so you can just concentrate on the music being made – without worries about any mouthpiece issues.
BEN WENDEL
My 10MFAN saxophone mouthpieces can sound vintage and modern depending on how you blow them and what you want to do with them. Listen to the Robusto hard rubber audios on my website of David Mann, then Jan Garbarek, then Mark Sepinuck, then Joel Frahm, then Zoltan Sagi. You’d swear there were 5 different mouthpieces being played—but they’re not! Just 5 great players displaying some of the huge sound spectrum that’s available in one mouthpiece model. They all get their OWN unique sounds from the same mouthpiece model—that says so much about these mouthpieces. All of my mouthpiece models offer that same huge sound spectrum flexibility within the categories I have set them up in.
CRISTIANO GIARDINI
The feedback has been spectacular. “A new standard in mouthpiece design” is what I keep hearing, and I am incredibly proud and humbled by that. Passion always wins. The fact that players of all levels all over the world are enjoying these mouthpieces, confirms that. Look for the 3 rings around the shank of my hard rubber mouthpieces when you are out seeing guys playing. They have been seen on The Voice, The Today Show, Jimmy Fallon, Good Morning America, The View, Letterman, and on countless tours with heavyweights including the guys who play with Blood, Sweat and Tears, Smokey Robinson, Selena Gomez, Al Jarreau, Justin Timberlake, James Taylor, Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande, etc, etc……. You may have also seen jazz greats like Joel Frahm, Pharoah Sanders, Jan Garbarek, Jerry Bergonzi, Dave Pollack, Reggie Padilla, Emanuele Cisi, Doug Webb, Tony Lakatos, Jay Thomas, Robert Anchipolovsky, Antoine Roney, Ray Gelato, Dave O’Higgins, Doug Lawrence, Giulio Carmassi, Fredrik Kronkvist, David Mann, Max Ionata, Ray Gelato, Ivan Renta, Roger Manins, Ken Gioffre, Cristiano Giardini, Herve Letor, and SO many more who have enjoyed their 10mfan™ mpc’s.
For my 10mfan original saxophone mouthpiece designs, there are NO copies, NO marketing BS, NO endorsers, NO overpricing.
Now doesn’t that sound refreshing!…… IT IS!!!!
JOAQUIN SOSA
A HEARTFELT thank you to the “BIG 6” original vintage mouthpiece makers:
I pay homage and will be forever grateful to the Big 6 vintage mouthpiece makers who started it all and set the mark for mouthpiece making: Meyer Bros, Otto Link, Brilhart, Berg Larsen, Selmer, and Dukoff. These companies made original mouthpieces that sounded unique and offered players a great variety of different designs and sound choices to choose from.
These guys laid down the foundation for what makes a great saxophone mouthpiece, and I am forever grateful for their efforts. These designs are timeless, and I will be coming out with a vintage copy line in late 2020, to honor their hard work and offer great copies to players today. It has been my vision to make original designs that sound and feel unique, embrace the past, and offer players today something new. I will honor the original mouthpiece designers properly with my vintage copy mouthpiece line, when they are released.
GREG HAWKINS
Materials and hand finishing:
My 10MFAN™ mouthpieces are made from 100% pure hard rubber bar stock from Germany. This is the same hard rubber that Freddie Gregory used for his mouthpieces. ALL of my mouthpieces are all made in the U.S.A., and all of these are masterfully hand finished by Brian Powell and Erik Greiffenhagen. The hand work is incredibly accurate and exceptional. I have spared no expense in making these mouthpieces perfect.
When you play my mouthpieces, you’ll understand. My mouthpieces are not produced from anyone else’s pre-made blanks. These mouthpieces are precision made, incredibly accurate, and these are original proprietary designs, not copies of anything past or present. My mouthpieces and model names are trademark protected. They are made here in the U.S.A., and I am very proud of that. I will not cut corners with overseas production, just to save money. Its all about the quality and playability, and those 2 things are at their absolute peak.
JEFF RUPERT
Design limitations:
I know what my personal mouthpiece needs as a player have been for almost 40 years. My business has been to watch the mouthpiece marketplace carefully, and listen to what players needs are. I’ve been very fortunate to have owned the very best playing vintage pieces. I played on them for almost 40 years because that’s what was the best option available to me, in my opinion. Now I have another choice, and I play on my original designs.
The problem is that vintage mouthpieces are what they are….they don’t change. Don’t get me wrong—again, many are wonderful mouthpieces. Technological advances allow design adaptations to accommodate the needs of today’s musicians. Let me explain about design limitations: You can’t play an original vintage Dukoff Fluted Chamber tenor with a small chamber, a shorter table, narrower window, higher floor, higher beak, or a super high baffle.
These are just examples of design limitations. In other words, designs of vintage mouthpieces do not change over time. They are what they are and that’s it. People are still playing the mouthpieces that were designed 50-70 years ago. Many of those are very good mouthpieces, but I certainly don’t want to be limited to their same old designs. Today’s technology allows us to do so much more.
I have made tenor mouthpieces here where the beaks feel incredibly comfortable, yet different than anything you’ve tried. All of my tenor mouthpiece tables are extra long so you can line up a reed properly. The insides are masterfully designed, an abundance of ligatures fit these pieces very well, and the sounds are incredibly versatile to allow you to get YOUR sound. The baffles, floors, chambers, throat squeeze, etc, are different on all of my mouthpieces. The pieces were designed one at a time to meet the desired sound concept for each of the 3 sound categories.
With todays computer technology, there are virtually no limitations. Technology allows us to do things that the past mouthpiece makers could’t do, due to the technology available at that time. I was able to make pieces that embrace the past, but meet the needs of today’s players looking to get beyond the limitations of vintage mouthpieces. I have heard over and over again, “I love my piece in my living room, but when I go on the gig, I can barely hear myself. Then I blow harder to get louder, and my mouthpiece won’t take all the air I want to give it.” The world’s best players have said to me for decades that they wished their mouthpieces “opened up” and “released the sound” more when they’re blowing hard and blowing up high on the palm keys of the horn. Many vintage hard rubber pieces stay pretty warm throughout the ranges and many players find they end up hitting a wall when they try and really push them. I have addressed all of this with my 10mfan™ original design mouthpieces.
MAX IONATA
REEDS:
Pay attention please——This is very important. My mouthpiece DO NOT NEEED HEAVY REEDS. Start soft and move up to the next size if you need to. The reed is the most important factor to getting a great sound, and that means finding the right cut, brand, and size reed to give you the right response, feel, and desired color palette you desire. Don’t be against trying certain brands and cuts of reeds on my mouthpieces even if you have hated them on other mouthpieces. That would be a huge mistake.
I seem to be the only mouthpiece maker talking about the importance of reeds, and how they can color your sound and effect the response of the mouthpiece dramatically. Color your sound warmer or brighter with the correct reed choices for yourself. My saxophone mouthpiece designs are so unique, that reed selection allows you the opportunity to truly customize the sound color you desire from my mouthpieces. It’s crucial for you to understand reeds better in order to get the most out of your mouthpiece. Reed choice makes all the difference with my saxophone mouthpieces, so picking out a reed is much more than just getting the correct size for yourself. Put a BSS darker reed on my Robusto mouthpiece and it will be warm and darker. Put a brighter BSS cut reed on, and it will give it more power and more highs. Put a Rigotti reed on and it will make it brighter with alot of punch.
Pick the right reed brands that give you the response and color you want from your mouthpiece. You can totally customize your sound to your particular needs with the proper reed choices. If you always use a certain size and brand reed with your mouthpiece, and then you get a 10MFAN mouthpiece, you may find that reed too soft, too hard, too warm, or too bright with my mouthpiece. Its very important to treat each mouthpiece on an individual basis, and find the proper reed set-up that gives you what you desire, even if its not what you have gotten used to using on your current mouthpiece. My mouthpiece facings are so incredibly efficient and you will see what I mean when you try them.
We don’t need 20 mouthpieces by one mouthpiece maker to cover 20 different shades of darker and brighter. I also feel strongly that people need to stop running to their mouthpiece refacer when they want their sound slightly darker/brighter. What would be most effective, is for players to learn how to use reeds to their advantage. In my tenor mouthpiece categories, I offer a focussed and spread option for each of my categories. This makes things so much more simple and effective, than the way anyone else has their mouthpieces set up.
There is nothing more important for a great sound, than the right reed. It all starts with a great reed. Reeds are more important to your sound than a great saxophone or mouthpiece! If you have an $8000 saxophone, and a $500 mouthpiece along with a bad reed…you won’t sound good. 🙂
Be open minded please. Countless players are finding that certain brands they never liked before, sound great on my mouthpieces. My mouthpieces are incredibly reed friendly.
Vintage mouthpieces and many other modern mouthpieces I’ve played don’t offer as much of a variety in tonal colors even with reed changes, so I wanted to make sure that mine did. You need to be aware of this and have fun “fine-tuning” what you want to get from my mouthpieces. This may be a new concept for you, as I have discovered many people don’t know about this stuff.
Reed choice and ligature choice can really take care of brighter/darker variances on my mouthpieces to a far greater extent than many people realize. Try different strengths of reeds, different brands and cuts, and try different ligatures. You’ll be amazed at how easy it is to alter your sound brighter/darker by a very large degree, based on reeds and ligatures alone. My facings are so efficient and you need to be open to reeds in all the sizes, cuts, and brands out there). With all the reed companies out there, it’s like a great big buffet—so go have some fun with reeds again!
The saxophone reed comparison charts on the internet are a fantastic resource for getting you zoned in on your correct size. iI you find your mouthpiece a little warmer than you wanted, than go to brighter cut reeds and visa versa. theres alot of tweaking and customizing you can do with reeds to help you achieve your goals. if you play a Selmer Mark VI and your Robusto mouthpiece is perfect for you with a Rico Royal reed, but its too dark sounding on your martin with that same reed set-up—–just change to Rigotti and you’ll get more pop on your Martin.
WILL CICOLA
It’s all about fine tuning to get what you want and deserve from your sound.
