Today, I am reviewing another new Retro Revival tenor saxophone mouthpiece made by Joel Peskin and Bob Sheppard at Retro Revival. This is the Retro Revival Modern Line Cutting Edge tenor saxophone mouthpiece.  This is a high baffled hard rubber tenor saxophone mouthpiece with an 8 tip opening designed in the spirit of the vintage Guardala tenor saxophone mouthpieces of the 1980’s.

If you take a look at the Retro Revival site, you will see that they now have 23 different saxophone mouthpiece models available.  Last time I did a review of a Retro Revival saxophone mouthpiece, they only had seven mouthpiece models listed, so Retro Revival mouthpieces has been very busy since then.

Retro Revival Modern Line Cutting Edge 8 Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

The Retro Revival Modern Line Cutting Edge tenor saxophone mouthpiece is based off of the Retro Revival Seventh Avenue South metal tenor saxophone mouthpiece which is describes as a replica of an original 1980’s Guardala Michael Brecker II tenor saxophone mouthpiece that Joel Peskin owns.  Here is some more details about the Seventh Avenue South model that the hard rubber Modern Line Cutting Edge model is based off of:

“The Seventh Avenue South model is a copy of my own personal MB II tenor sax mouthpiece that Dave Guardala made for me when he first started his operation in the 1980’s. He was making these choice tenor saxophone mouthpieces for Michael Brecker, Branford Marsalis, Tom Scott and others. 

The Seventh Avenue South tenor sax mouthpiece has tons of power, core, and center. Not just edge. Unlike many other copies that are available on the market this is a direct replica from a hand made and hand picked mouthpiece by its creator Dave Guardala.

The Seventh Avenue South tenor sax mouthpiece blows very free and has a huge sound. The baffle is very responsive and just takes the air and turns out many RPMs of volume and sound! It has a larger chamber behind that hot baffle and you can produce a really warm fat sound or blow the windows open. This mouthpiece is ultra reed friendly and plays very well in tune. It’s a great mouthpiece for Jazz, Latin, R&B, Blues, etc.  It has extreme power and a great tone.”

Retro Revival Modern Line Cutting Edge 8 Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

Here’s a quote from the  Retro Revival website about the Modern Line Cutting Edge hard rubber tenor saxophone mouthpiece:

“The Cutting Edge tenor sax mouthpiece is a powerhouse. This higher baffle, medium shelf design produces balanced harmonics with enough cutting edge needed for any contemporary setting. Based on our Seventh Avenue South tenor saxophone mouthpiece, the hard rubber feel is extremely “reed friendly”, super fast responding and amazingly flexible. So impressive is the ease to produce the most subtle sub-tones to screaming rock volumes. You will discover a very special and fun playing experience with our high baffle design made from the highest quality german hard rubber. You can go anywhere on the Cutting Edge. Precision CNC milled, hand polished and quality controlled. Rovner Cap & Ligature are included.”

*If you are wondering what the difference between metal and hard rubber mouthpiece is or if there is a difference, you can check out this article:  Does the mouthpiece material make a difference? Theo Wanne Gaia 3 Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece Comparison  (That is not what this review is about, but I thought I would add the link for those interested).

Retro Revival Modern Line Cutting Edge 8 Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

Joel was kind enough to send me a Retro Revival Cutting Edge hard rubber tenor saxophone mouthpiece in an 8 tip opening to review.  The Cutting Edge mouthpiece came in a strong cardboard cylinder to protect it while shipping.  A Rovner ligature and mouthpiece cap were included with the Cutting Edge mouthpiece.

The mouthpiece has RR engraved on the top of the shank of the mouthpiece and “CUTTING EDGE” engraved length-wise on the top of the body.  The bottom of the shank has “Modern Line” and the tip opening of 8 engraved.

The thickness of the mouthpiece is wider than a typical metal Guardala but not as wide as a typical hard rubber tenor saxophone mouthpiece.  The size of the body looks to be more the size of a hard rubber alto saxophone mouthpiece or clarinet mouthpiece.

Due to this smaller mouthpiece size, ligatures that fit on typical hard rubber tenor sax mouthpieces would be too large for the Cutting Edge tenor saxophone mouthpiece.  The Rovner mouthpiece ligature that comes with it fits fine but if you slide it too far back on the mouthpiece body, there is a danger that the tightening screw on the top of the ligature will make contact with the mouthpiece body and gouge into it when you tighten it, so be careful of that (I have gouged many a hard rubber mouthpiece with a Rovner ligature in my early days of saxophone playing).

I think a ligature built for hard rubber alto sax mouthpieces or clarinet mouthpieces would also work fine on the Retro Revival Cutting Edge mouthpiece.  For the mouthpiece clips below, I used a Vandoren Optimum alto saxophone ligature.  I think most alto saxophone or clarinet ligatures would do the job.

Retro Revival Modern Line Cutting Edge 8 Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

Upon inspection, the Modern Line Cutting Edge tenor sax mouthpiece table, rails and tip look beautiful, even and nicely crafted.   The tip rail is very close to the shape of the different tenor saxophone reeds that I tried on the mouthpiece (Rigotti Gold and Vandoren Java reeds).

The Cutting Edge mouthpiece has a familiar looking high shelf baffle that Guardala mouthpieces were known for back in the day.  The flat shelf of the baffle is 7/8’s of an inch long as it descend at a slight downward angle toward the ending edge of the shelf baffle.  After that baffle edge, the baffle continues at a more aggressive decline into the medium chamber of the mouthpiece.

The bore diameter of the mouthpiece is larger than the chamber diameter and I would consider the chamber to be a medium sized chamber.  The inner side walls of the mouthpiece are straight as they travel to the medium chamber.

In the photos below, it looks like the bore of the mouthpiece is smaller in diameter compared to the chamber but this is not true.  If you look at the photo of the bore (four photos below this), you can see than the bore is wider than the chamber diameter.

Retro Revival Modern Line Cutting Edge 8 Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

The Retro Revival Modern Line Cutting Edge tenor sax mouthpiece played great with a Rigotti Gold 3 Light tenor saxophone reed.  I did try some Rigotti Gold 2 1/2 Strong tenor sax reeds as well but they just felt a little too soft for the 8 tip opening for me.  I think the 2 1/2 Strong sized reeds would probably have felt perfect on an 8* tip opening but for the 8 tip opening, the  Rigotti Gold 3 Light reeds were definitely the best choice for me.

Retro Revival Modern Line Cutting Edge 8 Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

My first impression of the Cutting Edge tenor sax mouthpiece was that this mouthpiece had loads of power.  It is definitely a brighter mouthpiece that can have a good amount of edge as well when you push it.  The tone was solid, full sounding and substantial from the very first notes on the sound clips.

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