The Tony Dagradi Signature Model (Model 20TD)

Thank you so much for your interest in Tony's Signature Piece! Your inquiries and orders are humbling, and we are truly elated--and quite humbled--to be a small part of your musical journey. We recently visited Tony in his studio, and his tenor voice is so exceptional. The more different model pieces we heard him play, the more we enjoyed him on his piece!  

We had the distinct honor and privilege of directly working with Tony towards achieving this mouthpiece concept during the summer of 2013, and we are still in awe at Tony's capacity to detect the most subtle mouthpiece changes. While many people can detect a slight baffle change, Tony could detect the slightest chamber alteration and could describe with great precision the impact of each change. 

Then he could musically express the change and its impact on the mouthpiece's responsiveness, harmonic complexity, brilliance, and overall sound quality. In short, the education he provided is unsurpassable--quite literally second to none. 

Beyond Tony's musical and technical virtuosity, Tony knows mouthpieces and has one of the most comprehensive mouthpiece and ligature collections around, which consists of a fraction of the mouthpieces he has tried. This mouthpiece was not only compared to the pieces in his collection, it was compared to the totality of his experience. We have altered tip rails, side rails, baffle and floor heights, chamber size and shape, and beak profile changes. We have varied the facing curve aspect ratios. We have changed the facing length, and we have moved up and down on the tip opening. Amazingly, Tony instantly detects almost every change, but sometimes we have to wait about 10 seconds for him to notice others. But while Tony is the perfect saxophonist for picking things apart, he keeps going back to the piece we initially developed together seven months ago. 

So what is this piece, and what makes it great? Tony's input sure as heck is foundational, but so is his expansive and dynamic repertoire. The mouthpiece has been thoroughly tested in every imaginable venue and gig New Orleans can provide, and this mouthpiece works perfectly in every single venue. Tony knows what players need and want, and it's our very humble pleasure to provide a skill set to "engineer" a piece that satisfies his demands. 

The Mouthpiece: 

• The standard tip opening is 2.60mm, which is ~.10236" for those who prefer U.S. style measurements.
• The chamber size is "ML/L."
• The facing length is ML.
• Each mouthpiece is handmade and hand adjusted to ensure each piece approaches playing perfection.
• All steps are completed in the United States.
• Each mouthpiece is made of American hard rubber--there is no plastic in our pieces.

Also, please visit Tony's website to learn more about one of the planet's finest saxophonists (and an incredible human being).  If you are interested in ordering this mouthpiece or have other related questions, please email your inquiry to info@allenmouthpieces.com.