The maker is Francois-Louis, who makes some very serious claims for the engineering behind his handiwork. In fact I have one of his tenor mouthpieces, and I like it. However, I tried the bari MP and right away saw that it didn't play as well as the one I'm using. So, with a heavy heart, I'm returning it.
That's too bad, in way. Wind players are always hoping that one bit of new gear - a new kind of reed, a new kind of ligature, a new MP, a new flute head-joint, a new trumpet mouthpiece - will make the crucial difference between the way we are actually playing and the way we would like to play.
If you search for mouthpieces on the Internet, you'll find tons of them, for all the sizes of saxophones and clarinets, for brass, etc. Why are there so many people putting masses of effort into designing and manufacturing what are at best niche products? How many mouthpieces can Francois Louis sell in a year? His company will never make the Fortune Five Hundred.
The mouthpiece manufacturers are fanatics, as are the flute makers and lutanists.
I am immensely grateful to these people who are more interested in making a fine instrument (or accessory) than in making a lot of money. When I was in Boston a couple of years ago, I went to Flutistry to see whether a new head joint would improve my playing. I spent a few hours in a room by myself, trying one head joint after another, until I finally bought one made by Emanuel, and I'm still pleased with it. The head joint I bought was used, so it just cost an arm and not an arm and a leg, but it's very hard to make a head joint, and I'm sure Emanuel makes a lot less than people with less skill and devotion to their profession. Though, for that matter, if he (or Francois Louis) has gotten as rich as Croesus doing what he does, I wouldn't resent it.
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