Phil Barone, who makes mouthpieces for saxophones, is describing his clients.  "You got two kinds of people, right:  you got guys who know the equipment is only gonna take them so far, and you got guys who are in constant search."  The 40-year old craftsman, who also plays sax, knows the route ---  he started out in the latter category and advanced to the former.  Upon observing that his music teacher experimented with mouthpieces, Barone followed suit and "it became an obsession, I put a lot of focus on my equipment as opposed to my practicing."

Although he has rearranged his priorities (he now practices for two hours each morning), his obsession inadvertently yielded a career.  "I didn't mean for it to be a business, I just wanted to make a great piece," claims the dark-haired, dark-eyed Barone, who likes to embellish his declamations with philosophical musings, to wit:  "Every business that fails … they start out with the wrong intent.  You put the money before the product, it can't go right."

In his home workshop in Manhattan, Barone painstakingly turns out the product at the rate of six or seven a month.  There are brass mouthpieces, the most commonly used; and Barone has made a few in bronze and silver as well.  They sit, polished and imposing in velvet trays, each having been hand-engraved ('Made with pride', in script) and play-tested by Barone with four different kinds of reeds.  Barone does all the work himself, except for casting the mold.  Until recently, when he ordered (with great trepidation) a $20,000 metal-cutting machine, he had been cutting the metal by hand ---  "it's murder, it's ridiculous," he notes.

Barone also makes modifications on stock store-bought mouthpieces, most of which he deems "mass-produced junk."  There are infinite variables involved in sound quality, so a musician might come to Barone and complain that his mouthpiece sounds "stuffy.  Which is darkness that's gone too far," Barone explains.
"What you play in the store isn't going to sound the same at home or in another room;  different reeds make a difference, different mikes.  It plays such a game with you."

And even though a mouthpiece can last a lifetime, the quest for better sound can be endless.  "I know guys who have drawers full of mouthpieces," Barone says (with a brief commentary on neurosis and compulsion).  It all adds up to a potentially lucrative business.  Barone's brass mouthpieces start at $350; bronze at $400 and silver at $500.

Clients include Ernie Watts, Jackie McLean, Pharaoh Sanders, Lou Marini, Ravi Coltrane and Frank Wess, all of whom took the 'word of mouth' route to Barone's door.  He doesn't advertise, nor does he trumpet his skills.  "On a scale of one to 100," he says, "now I know about a six.  Next year I might know a seven, but the number to know will go up to 125."  So, how would he describe a great mouthpiece?  "One that blows free and clear and allows the artist to express himself."

- Karen Bennett