The History of Materials Used to Make Saxophone Mouthpieces

Why are saxophone mouthpieces typically made of hard rubber? Is it because hard rubber is more "resonant" than another material? Spoiler alert, actually it's not. Discover the history of the different materials that were used to make mouthpieces in the early 20th century.

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By Pauline EvenoAug 20, 2024

The Early Years: Natural Materials

In the beginning, saxophone mouthpieces were crafted from natural materials:

Wood: Primarily ebony and granadilla (African Blackwood) were used. These wooden mouthpieces often featured metal shank rings to prevent splitting when pushed onto the saxophone neck.
Ivory: Both elephant ivory and hippopotamus teeth were utilized. Ivory mouthpieces were prized for their stability and durability.
Bone: Though less common, bone was also used in early mouthpiece construction.

These natural materials, while traditional choices for instrument components, had drawbacks. Wood was prone to warping when exposed to moisture, and ivory was expensive and limited in supply.

The Rise of Hard Rubber

By the late 19th century, hard rubber emerged as a game-changing material for mouthpiece manufacturing:

Hard rubber, or vulcanized rubber, was discovered almost at the same time as the saxophone was invented. The saxophone was patented by Adolphe Sax in 1846, while hard rubber was patented by Nelson Goodyear in 1851.
Hard rubber is often called ebonite because it's black like ebony, and many people confuse the two materials. This similarity in appearance might contribute to misconceptions about its acoustic properties.
This material offered stability, durability, and cost-effectiveness compared to traditional materials like wood and ivory.
By the early 1900s, hard rubber had become the dominant material for saxophone mouthpieces.
It allowed for mass production through casting and molding techniques, meeting the growing demand for saxophones.

The choice of hard rubber for mouthpieces was primarily driven by practical considerations rather than acoustic properties. Its resistance to warping when exposed to moisture, unlike wood, and its ability to be mass-produced made it an ideal material for mouthpiece manufacturing.

Experimentation with Synthetic Materials

The early 20th century saw experimentation with new synthetic materials:

Bakelite: The first synthetic plastic, Bakelite was used by manufacturers like Martin, King, and Conn for mouthpieces in the 1920s.
Glass (Crystal): Selmer advertised glass mouthpieces as early as 1910, though they were not continuously available until the late 1920s.

The Age of Composites

Innovative composite designs emerged in the early 20th century:

Metal Core and Table with Hard Rubber Body: Patented by Friederich Starke in 1905, this design was later adopted by companies like Holton and Goldbeck.
Hard Rubber with Metal Table: Several manufacturers, including Naujoks-McLaughlin, Harry O'Brien, and Lelandais, patented versions of this design in the 1920s.

These composite designs aimed to combine the benefits of different materials, though they ultimately proved unnecessary for most applications.

All-Metal Mouthpieces

While less common, all-metal mouthpieces were also produced:

The Goldbeck Company was a pioneer in manufacturing all-metal (nickel-silver) mouthpieces for various saxophone sizes.
Other companies, like Sinclair, also experimented with all-metal designs.

The Standardization Era

By 1930, the period of extensive experimentation with materials largely concluded, ushering in an era of standardization in saxophone mouthpiece production:

Hard rubber and metal emerged as the standard materials for saxophone mouthpieces, having proven their durability, stability, and suitability for mass production.
Production became more specialized, with companies focusing exclusively on mouthpiece manufacturing. Key players in this specialized industry included:
- J.J. Babbitt Company in the United States
- The Woodwind Company in the United States
- Otto Link in the United States
- Charles Chedeville in France
- Riffault et Fils in France
The manufacturing process for hard rubber mouthpieces shifted predominantly to molding rather than machining from solid material. This change significantly increased production efficiency.
Some major saxophone manufacturers, such as C. G. Conn and The Buescher Band Instrument Company, sourced pre-cast mouthpieces from the American Hard Rubber Company. These manufacturers would then finish the mouthpieces to their specifications.
Despite the standardization of materials, the internal design of mouthpieces began to evolve during this period. Manufacturers started experimenting with smaller chambers, various baffle designs, and more open tips. These modifications were aimed at altering the instrument's sound, particularly to increase volume and brightness of tone.
These design changes were partly driven by the needs of saxophonists playing in new musical contexts, such as small ensembles with amplified instruments, particularly in jazz and other non-classical genres.
However, some classical saxophonists, notably Sigurd Rascher, continued to prefer mouthpieces that replicated the original large-chambered design of Adolphe Sax. This preference was based on a desire to maintain the "smooth, velvety, rich tone" that was characteristic of the early saxophone sound.

This standardization era marked a significant shift in saxophone mouthpiece production, balancing efficiency and consistency in manufacturing with the evolving needs of musicians across different musical styles.

Conclusion

After reviewing this fascinating paper by Timothy R. Rose, I find it to be a really interesting and informative study on the evolution of saxophone mouthpiece materials. It provides valuable insights into the historical context and practical considerations that shaped the development of mouthpieces.

To answer the question we started with: Why is hard rubber used to make saxophone mouthpieces? The paper makes it clear that hard rubber was chosen primarily for practical reasons, not for any supposed "resonant" properties. Here's what we can conclude:

Hard rubber offered significant advantages over earlier materials like wood and ivory in terms of stability and durability.
It was resistant to warping when exposed to moisture, a common problem with wooden mouthpieces.
Hard rubber could be mass-produced through casting and molding techniques, making it cost-effective and able to meet the growing demand for saxophones.
Its similarity in appearance to ebony (hence the name "ebonite") may have made it more acceptable to musicians used to traditional materials.