Recently a dear customer and saxophone player of more than twenty years wrote to me that he was experiencing chirps from a new mouthpiece he purchased from another maker. 

Chirping is a rare occurrence. Over the years I've met very few players who had issues with “chirps/squeaks”

However I've decided to write a brief note to help clairfy why chirps may or may not occur..

First:

When your playing at a low volume you’ll probably never experience any squeaks or chirps.

Generally speaking I have found that if the table (facing) is not even or it is irregular the piece will not respond. Thus more “ throat pressure” is required to push air through the chamber to enable the mouthpiece to respond.

If you bear down and use a firmer embouchure you’ll end up closing off the tip thus experiencing that annoying chirp.

This will defiantly will occur if the tip is not even and the baffle is exceptionally high. The physics are that the reed needs to vibrate at a high frequency. Thus the reed on a high baffle mouthpiece needs a steady stream of air to flow consistently and to resonate.

My first suggestion is to have the player take in more mouthpiece in the mouth. Think of forming a roundish oral cavity as if you are saying the word “AHHH”.

NOTE :

The material that your mouthpieces is made from has no bearing or reason to cause squeaks.     
Yes, our gold / silver coated metal mouthpieces have a machined computer generated raised baffles but  that will not cause the mouthpiece to chirp.

Most players will agree that a metal mouthpiece is louder, projects more and can generate squeaks.  However this in no way shape or form a cause  for a chirp nor can be blamed on the material.

 

NOTE:

Players who like to play on the very tip or edge of a mouthpiece are more prone to chirps. While players who take more mouthpiece in there mouth will most definitely have less chirps.

As I mentioned if you take in less mouthpiece, you will tend to close off the tip with your embouchure, shutting down the space between the reed and the opening.

If you use a tight embouchure this will also have the same effect.

I recommend that you try a stronger (harder) reed.  Little by little your embouchure will start to adjust and work for you.    

NOTE: I would also like to point out that using reeds that are thin tipped with a long facing mouthpiece tend to cause squeaking  

                          We recommend to use Rigotti Gold reeds to compliment your sound.

You may find that finding the correct strength reed that works for you is a bit of a learning curve of trial and error.

Some sytnthetic reeds such as Legere/Fiberreed are cut in such a manner that make them less likely to squeak.

If you do not want to use a synthetic reed we suggest taking in a little more mouthpiece into the mouth.  Stop and think about where your embouchure is at when you create a squeak and try adjusting accordingly.