 Aizen MouthpiecesPerfect timbre and ease of control The most important factor governing timbre and control is the hardness of the materials making up the mouthpiece. If the materials are too hard, the sound will be too harsh, and the basic appeal of the sax sound will be lost. On the other hand, if the materials used are too soft, the sound becomes mellower - but it becomes more difficult to produce sound expressively. While firmly maintaining core sound quality, we've managed to reach perfect balance with hardness of mouthpiece materials, allowing for ease of expression when playing. In this way, the Aizen Mouthpiece was developed through a long period of trial and error, which finally led us to the ideal combination and hardness of materials. Pleasing sound quality, for both player and listenerGood timbre and consistent sound quality are crucial for saxophonists. However good the phrasing is, however great the song, the playing won't hit home to the audience if these factors aren't right. In mouthpieces, timbre and sound quality depend on the balance between baffle and facing. High-quality vintage mouthpieces (each costing US$1,000 and over) display an exquisite balance of baffle and facing, along with meticulously fine craftsmanship. And Aizen has perfectly re-created the vintage mouthpiece structure, making possible a rich, reverberating sound - just like an original vintage mouthpiece. Ease of volume control and sound expressionThe saxophone's greatest appeal as an instrument is the way that it lets players express themselves through subtle variations in volume and tone. In the proper hands, the saxophone takes on the full expressive power of the human voice in song. But no matter how talented players may be, they can never realize their full musical potential if the mouthpiece doesn't play its part just right. Aizen's painstaking research on materials and structure has produced a mouthpiece that lets players of all skill levels really give of their best. Using an Aizen mouthpiece, payers find it easy to control their volume output by varying their breath production. So, players can express themselves musically to the highest degree. Smooth breath flow promotes playing accuracyWith some mouthpieces, keeping in tune is no easy task. This is usually because the facing has been designed with an unnatural curve. Under concert or recording conditions, saxophonists have to pay attention to a lot of things simultaneously - finger placement, tone, phrasing, rhythm, and so on. Performing players should be able to concentrate entirely on these aspects of their art. Expecting them to use their mouth and lungs just to keep their instrument in tune is really just getting in the way of the music, and handicapping their performance. At Aizen, we pay obsessive care to the curve of the facing when we're manufacturing our mouthpieces. So, when saxophonists use them, they can glide from top to bottom of the register, blowing smoothly without a care about the mouthpiece. We think that's one less worry - and one big step closer to an enjoyable performance for everybody. Play for hours with easeWith some mouthpieces, the sound seems to be trapped, and the air you blow in just seems to be escaping somewhere. With some mouthpieces, it's hard to control the tuning and tone. Or it's hard to match another player's hook. Or you blow into it and get rewarded with some kind of wheezing sound... Either this kind of mouthpiece is just plain badly designed, or the table's poorly finished. Not so with Aizen. We're extremely finicky about the details,that way, you can blow through an Aizen mouthpiece for hours without tiring or getting stressed. High cost-performanceYou buy a cheap mouthpiece. It's not a precision instrument. So, you rarely or never find satisfaction in using it. So, you start looking around for something better. So you buy another mouthpiece... Then again, vintage mouthpieces are in high demand, but they're also very expensive. You can expect to pay hundreds of dollars at least for one, if not something over a thousand. These mouthpieces come from another age - an age of skilled hand craftsmanship. They're popular because they're so well-made, the materials are so good, and they offer players easy control over a sound of great tonal quality. But finding such a mouthpiece takes an awful lot of time and money, along with a well-trained eye. At Aizen, we've picked the single best vintage mouthpiece from the cream of two thousand contenders, and our skilled craftsmen have faithfully re-created the sound. Our production methods produce dependable product quality to the highest degree, and each mouthpiece is individually hand finished by skilled craft workers before it goes on sale. Each and every Aizen mouthpiece offers exactly the same performance quality as a vintage mouthpiece costing a thousand dollars or more - at a fraction of the cost and with none of the trouble. Thorough quality controlThe unfortunate fact is that today's mass-produced mouthpieces mostly don't come up to scratch. The quality control staff don't have the requisite experience, and moreover the producers are often too concerned with costs to check every mouthpiece one by one with the needed care. As a result, there are inevitably big variations between individual mouthpieces. So, the marketplace gets flooded with products of varying quality, leaving the consumer to sink or swim when it comes to making the right choice. Our manufacturing process and combination of materials ensure that product variation is kept to an absolute minimum. Also, because our mouthpieces are individually hand finished by skilled craft workers before shipping, Aizen mouthpiece users have no cause for concern about the quality of our products. |
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CRAFTSMENSHIP
From amateurs to professionals, the search ends with AIZEN! Let's face it: mass-produced mouthpieces aren't all that well-made. So players of all levels are forced to go from one supplier to another, searching for a better piece. Mass production really got into gear in the 1970s. To cut costs, makers had to stop hand-checking their mouthpieces individually...and the quality started to nosedive. At AIZEN, we do things differently. We're real sticklers for quality and precision manufacturing. Let's take a quick look at the AIZEN way of making mouthpieces - and then checking them one by one, by hand. |
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STEP 1
The engraving is done with the mouthpiece firmly secured on a work pedestal, so the engraving tool doesn't slip because of jolts or jogs. The engraving tool used (technically speaking, a burin) is a fine instrument, with a 0.5 millimeter edge. Lines are engraved at a width of 0.3 millimeters. Vintage Resin, the material used in the mouthpiece, is slightly friable, so the engraving isn't done in one stroke. The lines are retraced two or three times, gradually deepening the engraving. Aizen Mouthpieces are uniformly engraved, one by one, with great care and professionalism. |
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STEP 2
After the hand-craft work is finished, AIZEN mouthpieces are sandblasted and each one is given a uniform matt finish, creating a sophisticated look. At the same time, this process improves the harmonics and gives a richer sound quality. |
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STEP 3
Next, the shank is shaped using a lathe. Because the lathe is set to maximum rotation, the positioning has to be carefully controlled so that the mouthpiece doesn't go off axis. When the shank is at ideal proportionate length, the sound can be controlled to the maximum degree. |
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STEP 4
Mass-produced mouthpieces are shaped at high temperatures, so the table warps when they are cooled down. And an awful lot of manufacturers ship out their products in this condition. This is one of the main reasons why the quality of sax mouthpieces is so uneven. The reed doesn't fit right, and players feel a lot of resistance when they use their mouthpiece. At Aizen, we individually file each mouthpiece table to make it flat. In order to protect our trade secrets, we're not at liberty to discuss the kind of file we use but it's special, and the filing is done in an even, gentle left-right motion that brings the table to a perfect horizontal. Getting the balance of the table right is an absolute must for achieving a smooth, stable airflow through the mouthpiece. Then we're ready to shape the facing curve to match. Next, and working by hand, we put an extremely subtle, just-there-and-no-more concavity into the center of the table. There's no room for error, because if this goes slightly wrong the airflow will be seriously impeded. It takes a lot of skill and practice to get this step down just right. With mass-produced mouthpieces, you often see cross-markings, machine marks left by drilling. The slight marks cut across the breath flow coming in from the tip. You get a mouthpiece that can't transmit fine vibrations smoothly; a mouthpiece that can't convey fine nuances in the playing. At Aizen we shape the table by hand. The resulting marks in our mouthpieces 'go with the grain', letting the air flow through unimpeded. At Aizen, we've developed our own unique way of crafting the table, based on comparing the very best vintage examples we could find. The way our table is shaped means that the reed is firmly in place, and that the reed vibrations are brought out to their fullest. Airflow resistance is minimal, and at the same time you get a big, rich sound with lots of range |
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STEP 5
As mentioned above, mass-produced mouthpieces often have warped tables due to the cooling down process after being produced at high temperatures. The problem is that when there's curvature of the table, it's often difficult to play lead in synch - and you feel too much resistance. When the table is horizontal as it should be, none of these problems occur. It's also much easier to play pianissimo, and the air flow is good. At AIZEN, we check that the facing curve is ideal by inserting a special multi-thickness paper at certain points in each of our mouthpieces, one by one. We pay special attention to the length of the facing curve. Getting this right is vital. If the facing curve is too long, it's difficult to blow through, and it's also difficult to produce low notes. On the other hand, if the curve is too short, the sound loses resonance and it becomes more difficult to control. Next, we check that the rail joining the forepart to the back is symmetrically curved. Sound quality suffers if the symmetry isn't perfect, and performance becomes more difficult. The production process at AIZEN requires such time and labor that in order to guarantee the highest possible product quality, our current output is limited to five saxophone mouthpieces per day. Each one is a handcrafted original. Vintage pieces tend to vary a lot in sound from piece to piece, even if they're by the same maker. By contrast, AIZEN mouthpieces are exceptionally consistent, and we do everything we can to keep consistency at the very highest possible level. Each and every AIZEN mouthpiece is hand-finished individually by skilled and experienced staff. And we don't stop there. Every mouthpiece is mechanically measured to make sure it's accurately shaped. Our mouthpieces leave our production facility tried and tested. Of course, there is one catch with the painstaking AIZEN production process. It's not suitable for mass production. We can't market our products in mass production quantities, and they take a lot of time and effort to make. That's why we sometimes have to keep our customers waiting for the pieces they've ordered - but we're just not going to compromise on quality. |
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