Meyer MR-402-5MM Rubber Alto Sax Mouthpiece

At age 74, and not having played a wind instrument since 1965, I decided to use retirement gift money and purchase an alto saxophone. At first switching from the mouthpiece that came with it to a Yamaha 4C worked out well, enabling me to actually produce a pleasant sound and progress through the initial phases. But there left something to be desired in the lowest and highest notes and in trying to make overtones part of the routine. Online sites said it was now time to switch up to a better mouthpiece. At first I tried to simply go to a Yamaha 5C but that was a lot of work developing the emboucher for it. Eventually that was successful but even enhanced with of Rovner Gold ligature and using a Legere American Cut 2.5 reed it still left something wanting. Then came the reading and reviewing of so many of the more advanced mouthpieces out there. So confusing. And the advice to go out to a music store and try several of them fell flat to my Covid sensitive ears. So I took the next classic (some say vanilla) step up and ordered the Meyer 402-5MM mouthpiece. With great trepidation I unboxed it, exchanged the ligature that came with it for my Rovner, mounted the Legere reed. What a difference! How free blowing! How easy ! With a lovely tone that allows me to go low or high and even to succeed with some overtones. And it does not feel in any way vanilla. Now I can concentrate on the other skills I have to learn. There is a reason this mouthpiece has been recommended for students advancing and it still remains valid.

For the past three months I picked up playing the sax after being away from my horn for the past 10 years. I had purchased a Jody jazz jet for my YAS 62 purple logo that I acquired a couple of months ago. Though YAS-62 horns are known to be bright, especially in the higher register, I found my Jody jazz mouthpiece was great for hitting altissimo with relative ease, but I didn’t appreciate the sound I was getting out of this combo. I considered the Jody Jazz HR and the Syos Smoky mouthpieces but I felt inspired after seeing some old time videos, Phil Woods in particular and felt like I needed to get something timeless. The sound I was looking for is exactly what this mouthpiece is giving me. Super balanced and timeless sounds. This mouthpiece is like a blank canvas that allows the user to create a truly unique and timeless sound. Combining this Meyer 6 HR with my YAS-62 I believe has given me the the iconic sound that allows you to go from jazz to big band to Latin in a flash. What an amazing mouthpiece, and I’m in disbelief with how good value this is compared to other modern mouthpieces. I’ve paired this with a Legere 2.5 classic signature reed and Rovner dark ligature . I’ve also used LaVoz medium hard reeds and have gotten great sound out of it. You won’t beat the value of this mouthpiece!!!

I love this mouthpiece. It has a warm, dark, centered sound and plays in tune in all registers. I tried different reeds and they all work well. I highly recommend!

If 5 Stars=A, then this purchase should be “A-“. The “minus” is for the ligature that comes with it. It is of pretty cheap quality and above all, it doesn’t really fit when you add the reed. (Read the other reviews that mention the same issue about the size and fit of the ligature.)That being said, I think the mouthpiece itself is a solid 5 Stars! You should get a much deeper, clearer, smoother sound on your sax. To test the tone quality difference for yourself, use the setup of your current mouthpiece/reed/ligature and then switch out just the mouthpiece to your new Meyer. You will probably say, Wow! I fell in love with it as soon as I blew into my sax and hit the first run. Solid lows down to Bb and up to high altissimo. And everything in between was smooth, solid, and in tune; even that sometimes annoyingingly out-of-tune middle C and C# were in tune and controllable. The “growls” sounded good too. You can bend the notes easily and in tune as well.So, overall I am very satisfied with the mouthpiece. 5 Stars! I am just wondering why the ligature that comes standard with it is almost useless. But I guess it is just a token ligature and they expect you to use your own or upgrade with the mouthpiece purchase.

This definitely is one of the most versatile mouthpieces for alto saxophone. Its world renowned for a reason. Sadly, it fails to live up to its name in full because the ligature that comes with it is absurdly annoying, almost done in a hurry, does not fit the mouthpiece very well. So save some more and get yourself a decent ligature and also a small rubber tooth protector to put on top!All of the negative observations aside, its easy to get many sounds out of this with almost any reed. Its also pleasant to the touch.Only reason for the four stars is really, the ligature. Meyer, get your act together!or either sell it for less without such a crap ligature that honestly no one will use.

I'm a thirteen year old saxophone player in my middle school band and I purchased this mouthpiece as a step up from the beginning mouthpiece, as recommended by my music tutor. After less than a month, I realized that this mouthpiece was squeaking on higher notes, which to begin with I thought was my reed or the learning curve of a new mouthpiece. After multiple tutoring sessions, my tutor came to the conclusion that this mouthpiece was misshapen or defective. After playing squeaky high notes with this faulty mouthpiece, I tried a mouthpiece of my tutor's which worked perfectly fine on these high notes. This was a $150 mouthpiece for a student, and it was a large investment. Unfortunately my tutoring session was a day after the end of my return policy and I am very disappointed that I will have to buy a new mouthpiece after buying such an expensive one.

Suites my playing with upgraded ligature but it is all down to personal choice.