Hey all!

Just curious for those that have had their Hammond mouthpieces altered or done custom work, what did you change? I've sort of enjoyed their tenor pieces, but they seem a bit dead, and their bass pieces seem to be air hogs.

Thanks!

I had a set of 10-series pieces cut and threaded for DE XT rims. Doing that required some of the cups to be widened slightly to avoid a step where the rim and cup meet, but other aspects like the throat and backbore were untouched. I really liked those, but after moving in the direction of playing larger rim IDs on tenor, I don't use them anymore. I think I sold or traded one, but the rest are on my shelf. None of them seemed "dead" to me, but there were some leadpipes and combinations of equipment that worked better than others. I've never tried their bass pieces.

[quote="bassbone1993"]Hey all!

Just curious for those that have had their Hammond mouthpieces altered or done custom work, what did you change? I've sort of enjoyed their tenor pieces, but they seem a bit dead, and their bass pieces seem to be air hogs.

Thanks![/quote]

I worked with Hammond to fine tune my custom. I started with a 12MXL and ended up with my personal piece. We ended up changing the rim, the cup, the throat, the backbore, and the overall length. Best mouthpiece I’ve ever played.

If you want more specific detail feel free to email me. I’d be happy to chat more about it.

I’ve never felt Hammonds play dead…at least not the smaller pieces.

My old 13M is lively, even more so after knurling down the shank to cut some mass. It works well with every small horn I own. I once played a skeletonized 12S that spoke to me too, but the rim was a little too wide for my needs at the time. I’m on Greg Black now, but the 13M still sings when it fits (the slots could be tighter). I’m thinking about revisiting Hammond and exploring a custom path.

Karl Hammond is a highly skilled guy, and he's very nice and accommodating. I tried his pieces for a bit, and if memory serves he made a 21BXL with a slightly flatter rim for me.

But yes, the bass pieces are air hogs, and I thought the BXL was too deep and BL too shallow. If I were working with Karl on a bass mouthpiece, I would ask for a cup just a touch shallower - or with a little less volume and/or a different shape - than the 21BXL, and a throat smaller than his standard .316. I can manage .312, but every mouthpiece I've ever tried with a larger throat than that leaves me working too hard and not making phrases.

And my Doug Elliott stuff proves that you don't need a huge throat to make a big sound or have a great low register.