Mouthpiece Works
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About
Mouthpiece
Works
Mouthpiece Works
P.O. Box 1111
Bedford, Texas 76095-1111
Mouthpiece Works, formerly Cross Mouthpieces, was founded in 1987 by Joe Smallwood. Cross Mouthpieces specialized in custom mouthpiece refacing, vintage mouthpieces, and high quality student clarinet and saxophone mouthpieces. After spending years creating new techniques to overcome the deficiencies of the traditional facing methods he was taught as well as developing some new products for the saxophone, Joe has decided to launch a new business, Mouthpiece Works.
Refacing Experience
Although Joe began his musical career as a performer, he was quickly introduced to mouthpiece refacing by one of the masters, Claude Humber. During his years at North Texas State University (now the University of North Texas), Joe spent many Saturday afternoons at Claude’s place in Dallas watching him work. Joe was amazed at how inconsistent even the best professional mouthpieces were. In 1982, he decided to learn refacing with Claude’s help. The next 4 years were spent gaining experience and knowledge as he did many hundreds of facings. By 1987, Joe was ready to go into the mouthpiece business.
Over the next 3 years, though, Joe became disenchanted with some of the limitations of the refacing methods he had been taught. Facings with too much curve cut out and other mouthpieces which required extensive baffle work didn’t always turn out exactly as he hoped. He could always get the sound right, just the feel wasn’t always what he was trying to achieve. Even though there were several pros and many students playing on mouthpieces he had worked, Joe decided to limit himself to work for his friends and students.
Over the years, though, Joe developed new techniques for measuring and reworking the baffle, including a method for taking approximately 50 measurements of the baffle. This has resulted in refacings that not only achieve the desired sound but also feel. Even though mouthpiece prices have gone up, mouthpiece quality and consistency generally haven’t. These facts, along with the success of his removable wedges and throat inserts among his friends and students, have inspired Joe to make these services and products available to the public.
Professional Overview
Joe has over 30 years experience as a professional musician on saxophone, clarinet, and flute. He has played back up for famous vocalists such as Linda Ronstadt, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Andy Williams, and Twila Paris. He has performed with such prestigious and diverse groups as the Nelson Riddle Orchestra, the Ted Weems Jr. Orchestra, Bob Crosby and the Bobcats, the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, and the Barnum and Bailey Circus. He spent 4 years with the US Army Band in Washington, D.C., where he performed with the Army Blues, the official US Army jazz band. Before that, he was a member for 2 years of the Jazz Knights, the official Army jazz band of the US Military Academy, West Point, N.Y. Joe has played with such noted professional musicians as Frank Foster, Doug Lawrence, Bobby Shue, Jim Snidero, Randy Lee, Charlie Young, Tim Ries, Chip McNeil, Dan Jordan, Mike Tomaro, Jim Riggs, Mike Smith, Conrad Herwig, Phil Driscoll, and even Van Cliburn. As a private instructor, he has had well over 100 students make all region bands and over a dozen all-state students in Texas.
Joe has a Bachelors of Music degree from the University of North Texas as well as a Masters of Divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He currently lives in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and performs with the four sax and rhythm group Sax and Company.
Here are links to some of our favorite woodwind sites:
Sax on the Web - Lots of good articles
Sax on the Web Discussion Forum - Great sax discussions covering every topic
Selmer Message Board - Good discusion board on saxophones
Clarinet.org - A good site about clarinets with lots of links
Woodwind.org - Excellent resource for clarinet with an active discussion board
Saxophone.org - Plenty of resources for the saxophonist from Jason DuMars
Saxpics.com - Great pictures of all the common makes and models
Mouthpiece Heaven - I know it's generally not good business to refer people to the competition's site, but Theo Wanne has a ton of great mouthpiece info that we currently don't have the resources to post