FrancoisLouis

Francois Louis

Francois Louis is a Belgian musical instrument maker, born in Brussels in 1954. He used his experience as a motorbike competition mechanic to modify existing and develop an own line of saxophone mouthpieces and reeds in 1980. While Francois Louis mouthpieces were only available for selected customers for most of his career (among them famous saxophone players like Joe Lovano, David Liebman, Michael Brecker, Chris Potter), he released a more commercial line of mouthpieces in 2008. Arguably, his biggest accomplishment is the realization of the ‘Aulochrome’, an instrument based on a soprano saxophone design with multi-phonic capability, with designer/engineer Francois Decorte in 2003.

Francois Louis

Model: Spectruoso

Sax: alto, tenor

Material: composite material

Chamber: medium/large

Baffle: medium

Description: The Spectruoso is a mouthpiece made of a composite material, called ‘The Grounds’ which is similar to wood in tonal quality. Each mouthpiece is finished by hand. A novel chamber design features a series of inner curves at the junction between the beak and the body, and at the junction between the shank and the body. The Spectruoso is available in two chamber designs, the ‘sphere chamber’, a replica of original Francois Louis mouthpieces, and the ‘ML’ (medium large) chamber which offers a wider dynamical range. Note the inscription ‘FL’ on the table.

Model:

Sax: tenor

Material: rosewood

Chamber: medium/large

Baffle: medium

Description: The pictures show an early Francois Louis mouthpiece for tenor saxophone, hand-made of rosewood for tenor saxophonist Billy Mitchel (below, 1926-2001). The original ivory bite plate was replaced. The ‘To Billy’ inscription is an inlay made of soft solder.