Today, I am reviewing an exciting new tenor saxophone mouthpiece from 10mFan saxophone mouthpieces that is designed with a new innovative octagon shaped chamber by 3-D technology.  This is the 10mFan Cabernet 7* tenor saxophone mouthpiece.   I have already reviewed a number of great 10mFan tenor, alto and soprano saxophone hard rubber mouthpieces in the past that you can find here as well as the great playing 10mFan Fireball alto saxophone mouthpiece that is made with the same 3-D technology as this 10mFan Cabernet tenor saxophone mouthpiece.

10mFan Cabernet Octagon Series Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

This will be the first 10mFan tenor saxophone mouthpiece I am reviewing that is made with this new 3-D technology as well as the first tenor saxophone mouthpiece I have ever tried with an octagon shaped chamber so I am very curious to see what Mark Sepinuck at 10mFan came up with in regard to this new Octagon Series Cabernet tenor saxophone mouthpiece.

Whenever Mark Sepinuck, at 10mFan mouthpieces, comes out with a new saxophone mouthpiece model, I am always really excited to try it out because all of his 10mFan saxophone mouthpieces that I have tried have been great!  Mark is always thinking about how he can meet the needs of the sax playing community with new, uniquely designed and originally crafted saxophone mouthpieces and this new 10mFan Octagon Series of saxophone mouthpieces is no exception to Mark’s standard for using innovative and original designs for each of his saxophone mouthpieces.

Mark sent me a 10mFan Fireball 6 & 7 alto saxophone mouthpiece and a 10mFan Cabernet 7* tenor saxophone mouthpiece to try out.  The mouthpieces came well packaged in sturdy cardboard tubes to protect them during shipping.  This review is of the 10mFan Cabernet 7* tenor saxophone mouthpiece.

10mFan Cabernet Octagon Series Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

The first surprise about these mouthpieces as I unpacked them was how solid and weighty they are.  Many of the other 3-D mouthpieces on the market that I have reviewed have been very light in weight compared to hard rubber mouthpieces of the same size and shape but these new 10mFan Octagon Series mouthpieces felt as solid and weighty as a hard rubber saxophone mouthpiece to me.

Here’s a description of the new 10mFan Octagon Series saxophone mouthpieces from the 10mFan website:

“The most revolutionary and proprietary saxophone mouthpiece chamber design in the marketplace!   If you know anything about saxophone mouthpiece design, most of the magic happens at the chamber!!!

That’s why all of my German barstock 10MFAN hard rubber sax mouthpieces play different than any of the vintage saxophone mouthpieces. They don’t blow like a Link or a Berg or a Meyer or any other sax mouthpiece, because of the internal designs, including the chambers. They may not appear super different to you, to your eye, but there’s a lot going on there.…. and that’s why my sax mouthpieces sound and blow like 10MFAN mouthpieces, and NOTHING else.

I wanted to take that further with these 3-D printed mouthpieces, and actually do a super unique chamber design with a totally different shape, size, and  added “chamber panels”, that have never been attempted before in the mouthpiece world.

These are saxophone mouthpieces using state of the art 3-D technology and design. These are not done on cheap home machines.  These mouthpieces have real weight (they actually weigh more than my hard rubber mouthpieces), a truly unique octagon chamber with “chamber panels” all around on the inside of the chamber, and are 100% infill, so they are stable. This proprietary design concept has never been done in the saxophone mouthpiece world, and it continues to carry on with my 10MFAN design commitment to innovation over imitation.

I have tried many different shapes with the chambers and the octagon chamber was a dream come true. Those of us who got to try these designs here with both a normal round chamber and octagon chamber felt the same exact way too. The octagon chamber with “chamber panels” sounded phenomenal with added clarity and speed. The totally unique chamber and chamber panels give the throat a squeeze like nothing else in the marketplace, ever before.  The combination of the sound bouncing off of the “chamber panels”, how the air interacts with the chamber, the size and shape of the chamber, the totally unique “squeeze” throat using 3-D technology has allowed me to make this unique internal design.

I design mouthpieces and I know when something plays great and when the designs work great…..and these two mouthpieces both play great and the designs work fantastic!!!!-Mark Sepinuck

The 10mFan Cabernet tenor saxophone mouthpiece is available in 6 tip openings:

6* – .095

7 – .100

7* – .105

8 – .110

8* – .115

9* – .125

10mFan Cabernet Octagon Series Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

Here’s a more specific description of the Cabernet tenor saxophone mouthpiece from the 10mFan website:

“This mouthpiece was designed for a killer straight ahead classic tenor saxophone sound, with lots of warmth, really good power, nice resistance to push against, and FOCUS. But, it can also be used for pop music which is blowing everyone’s minds right now, because the baffle is low and people don’t understand how I could make a mouthpiece that could do this with this design.That’s what making innovative original designs is all about!!! Because of that focus, the intonation is locked in. If you want less resistance, just go to a softer reed.

Think Bob Berg, Pharoah Sanders, Coltrane, focus! It’s incredibly heartwarming to be able to put out this mouthpiece because it is so different from all my 10MFAN hard rubber mouthpieces. This mouthpiece will have more focus like a vintage metal Otto Link…. and for me, more power and body available.

There are lots of fat sounding tenor mouthpieces out there, and my hard rubber 10MFAN mouthpieces certainly fit in that category, but I’ve been asked by many players over the years to put out something that has much more focus, where the sound stays right in front of the player,  and doesn’t get spread…..but still with a really big sound available when you want it!  So here it is!!!!!

The Cabernet has resonance, fullness, focus, and power.  It won’t be as wide sounding as a Slant or a Reso Chamber, because that’s NOT what I wanted here. I wanted more focus with this mouthpiece, but also really good power. This is different from anything I’ve put out, and I’m very excited about it. This mouthpiece has a low rollover baffle that allows for so much beauty in the sound, but still with plenty of presence and sparkle to carry that beautiful, rich classic tenor saxophone sound.

The vintage Otto Link players who wish their sound had more focus to it rather than spread, will LOVE this piece. This mouthpiece is going to please players who are using a whole TON of different straight ahead tenor mouthpieces. This mouthpiece just KILLS!-Mark Sepinuck

10mFan Cabernet Octagon Series Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

The new 10mFan Cabernet tenor saxophone mouthpiece has the traditional three rings on the shank that all of the 10mFan saxophone mouthpieces have but they are only on the bottom of the shank and are not white.  It also has “10mFan” and “Octagon Series” engraved on the top of the mouthpiece.  On the bottom corners of the mouthpiece next to the mouthpiece table is engraved “Cabernet” on one corner and “7*” on the other corner.

The mouthpiece looks great and right up to the normal everyday 10mFan standards of excellence.  From day one, Mark Sepinuck has been very serious about producing top of the line saxophone mouthpieces of the highes