A little background on myself for those of you who don’t know me:
My name is Mark Sepinuck and I was the biggest vintage mouthpiece dealer on the internet for about 3 decades, and then I decided to offer my own mouthpiece designs in 2013. I have made my entire living solely as a professional saxophone player, educator, and dealer of the finest vintage mouthpieces and saxophones for 35+ years. In the 80’s, I went to Berklee College of Music, where I won the Phil Woods scholarship award. After Berklee, I went to The New England Conservatory and studied with the great Jimmy Guiffre for 2 glorious years. I am overly passionate about music, saxophone mouthpieces, and I am a well-seasoned saxophone player. My day job has been the saxophone and my night job has been the saxophone. I sleep it, I live it, I love it!
So you are probably wondering about the 10MFAN Company name? What is that all about? Well, thats easy…… I have been a huge fan of the Conn 10M saxophones for a long time, thanks to my friend Les Arbuckle. ( If you want your vintage Conn to sound its best, look up Les at Saxoasis, and get yourself the best overhaul available!). I have used the 10MFAN username on ebay and different saxophone forums forever, so when it was time to start my company for my own mouthpiece line, I kept 10MFAN because everyone already knew me as that and the trust and respect was already built into the brand.
As for mouthpieces, I’ve had the opportunity to own more vintage mouthpieces than probably anyone on the planet, and having this collection of so many primo original vintage mouthpieces has challenged me to make what I consider to be even more phenomenal mouthpieces in terms of their flexibility, sound color options, etc, for players today.
I have been thrilled and inspired greatly by this challenge, because I have had a deep love for the vintage mouthpieces for over 3 decades. I can honestly and very proudly say that my mouthpieces were not going to be released until I firmly believed that they were the finest playing, most flexible tenor mouthpieces I have ever played in each of my categories I put them in.
Since these are completely new original designs, the mouthpieces had to pass the test of pleasing me first, and then I knew they would be ready for release. I personally will never play a vintage mouthpiece again, because there is simply no need. My 10MFAN hard rubber saxophone mouthpieces are far better for me and allow me to sound the best I can sound. Will everyone feel that way?—of course not. That would be impossible. My goal was to please myself, and then I knew so many others would feel the same.
I couldn’t be happier with my alto and tenor saxophone mouthpieces and I say this with immense passion and pride. I wanted players of all levels including pro players like myself, to have new mouthpiece options, original designs, and a simple categorical system to be able to pick the right mouthpiece for themselves. I offer all my designs in my German bar stock hard rubber, and also my orange semi-transparent Ultem.
Keep swingin‘ and enjoy your journeys,
Mark Sepinuck
10MFAN™