Mouthpiece compatibility

I have had a very good mouthpiece experience lately and would like to pass the details along in case they might be of benefit to another player or two. I recently purchased an older Paxman triple and found that my Schilke 31C2 mouthpiece was wobbling a bit in the mouth pipe. After trying a bit of sanding on the mouthpiece shank, which helped a bit, I did the following.

Purchased a new Paxman mouthpiece that had the closest specs to the Schilke and found that the responsiveness and evenness of the horn were dramatically better. But I really did not want to start on an embouchure adaptation process whose ultimate results would be questionable. So, after a Google search for mouthpiece alteration, I located and contacted Tom Greer at Moosewood Mouthpieces. He agreed to try my suggestion which was to re-engineer the shank of a new 31C2 so that its outer profile matched that of the new Paxman mp. I sent him both mps and he took of the work in a few days at a very reasonable cost. I have been very happy with the result.

I pass this on hoping to help players who may be struggling with issues which stem from mouthpiece/mouth pipe matching issues, not embouchure/ technique difficulties. Although you may find it fun to do, you do not HAVE to acquire a box full of mouthpieces over you career in the search for the perfect fit.