J-Series

How it plays

The J-Series is the piece to reach for when you want the sound to have some size to it. The weight sits low and broad rather than forward and bright, which is a direct consequence of the chamber being as large as it is. Push it and it gets bigger instead of getting thinner, and that is the single most useful thing about it.

Response is deliberately not instant. A short baffle running right up to the tip gives you an immediate edge and a lot of feedback under the reed, and there is a place for that, but it is not what this piece is for. The baffle here starts well back, so the note takes a fraction longer to arrive and asks you to commit to it. Once you do, the note is already the full size you wanted rather than something you have to grow into.

It projects on core rather than on brightness. That means it fills a room instead of cutting through one, which suits acoustic playing, small groups and anything recorded with a decent microphone in front of it. In a loud band with no reinforcement it will work, but it is not trying to be the loudest thing on stage and it will not win that argument against a piece built to be shrill.

The bottom of the horn is where the deep floor shows itself most clearly. Low notes start cleanly at volume and hold their shape instead of spreading, and subtone is available across the whole range. The floor does ask something of you in return. It rewards a developed throat and an open oral cavity, and it will make an underdeveloped one obvious, which is either a feature or a problem depending on where you are up to.

The design

Baffle

The baffle starts 7mm down from the tip. It is a true rollover in the sense that an old Otto Link is a true rollover, meaning the surface rises and then falls away in a continuous curve rather than sitting as a flat shelf with a step off the back of it. Most modern pieces described as rollover are really stepped shelves. The difference matters because a genuine curve keeps the air attached to the surface for longer, and that is what produces body instead of brightness.

Chamber

Large, and genuinely larger than a modern Otto Link rather than large only by comparison with high baffle pieces. This is the single feature that most defines the series. Everything else on the piece is chosen to work with it.

Window

Relatively wide. A narrow window would constrain what the chamber is able to do, so the window is opened up to let the chamber behave the way it was cut to behave.

Floor

Deeper than most modern mouthpieces run. This is where the body of the sound comes from, and it is also the feature that makes the most demands of the player. A shallow floor does some of the work of shaping the air for you. A deep one hands that job back, which is why the piece rewards developed throat technique rather than supplying a substitute for it.

Bite plate

Dental enamel. It is harder wearing than the usual patch material, it does not go tacky, and it can be replaced without touching the table.

Dimensions

Every figure below is still to be confirmed.

Feature	J-Series
Chamber	Large
Baffle	True rollover, starting 7mm from the tip
Window	Relatively wide
Floor	Deep
Facing length	To be confirmed
Bite plate	Dental enamel

Tip openings

The J-Series is cut to order, so the tip opening is set to the number you ask for rather than chosen from a fixed range of sizes. There is a minimum and a maximum that the geometry will carry sensibly, and both are still to be confirmed.

	Measurement
Recommended range	To be confirmed
Minimum	To be confirmed
Maximum	To be confirmed

If you already play something you like, the most useful thing you can send is the make, the model and the tip opening, along with what you want to be different about it. That is a far better starting point than a number on its own.

Ordering

The J-Series is in production and can be ordered as a custom build. Every piece is cut to the player, so there is a conversation before there is a mouthpiece.

Shops, studios and specialist outlets ordering more than one should get in touch about trade terms rather than ordering through the site.