Hello all, just crashed this party and I appreciate the opportunity to ask some advice. I've been playing a long time on and off over the years. I've never had anything other than hard rubber and plastic mouthpieces. I think I'm finally in the mood to spring for a good metal one. I know nothing about them. I know the kind of raspy sound I'd like to have but don't know where to start in choosing one. Do any of you have a favorite, and why? Best brands? Any info would be appreciated. I'd like to keep this under $200 if I could. Thanks in advance!

I have two. One is a Yanigasawa I bought a few years ago, that cost me about £100. I liked it (still do) because it's good and edgy and 'speaks' very readily. It's also very controllable, although over the years since I've been playing metal I've come to the conclusion that a lot of metal mouthpieces have a capacity to control the player if the player's not careful.

Since buying this mouthpiece I've discovered Lawton mouthpieces - the ones with the built in ligature. They're a UK-made mouthpiece although the owner of the company died and they stopped making them. You can only get them secondhand now (I paid around £90 for mine but they're through the roof right now) through places like ebay and via word of mouth. I think you can get something similar in the US but I'm not sure what the brand name is. However it's fair to say I now play my Lawtons all the time (I use one on tenor too) and keep the Yani as a spare.

I use an old Yamaha C7 graphonite
only $25 off yamaha site, and itll get you as loud as you want and with that slight raspy sound on the lower register.