User Manual

Yamaha Mouthpieces

Why Yamaha?

Since every player and instrument is different, there can be no single “perfect”

mouthpiece. This makes the task of creating top-quality mouthpieces all the more

difﬁcult. Advanced manufacturing technology is essential, but so is experience.

The Yamaha approach to creating superior mouthpieces is to bring experience

and technology together in perfect balance: experience in the form of continuous

consultation with some of the world’s leading artists — Yamaha has been producing

special custom mouthpieces for top artists for decades — and technology in the

form of precision computer-controlled machining equipment.

In contrast to some other areas of musical-instrument manufacture, mouthpieces

are not best crafted by hand. The tolerances that can have a big effect on

performance are far too small. Yamaha employs an advanced computer-aided design

and manufacturing system that ensures exact dimensions and contours in every

single mouthpiece. Shaped cutters are not used because wear and re-sharpening

rapidly alter the original shape. Instead, a computer-controlled lathe sculpts the

spinning mouthpiece blank precisely to the speciﬁed size and shape. Continuous

monitoring and a special cutter design guarantee that prescribed tolerances are

always maintained. Another advantage of computer control is that a constant cutter-

to-workpiece speed can be maintained relative to the position of the cutter. This

ensures a perfect ﬁnish, eliminating the need for ﬁnal hand-polishing which could

result in distortion and inconsistencies from mouthpiece to mouthpiece.