As an engineering toolmaker, Geoff was very familiar with machining metals and preferred mouthpieces made from metal bar stock, finished in gold plate and sometimes silver plate. Over time he experimented with different materials and added various alternatives to the product line, perhaps in response to customer demand.
Information from Lawton advertising material and statements attributed to Geoff Lawton in interviews are not fully consistent and clear but we have used such sources to produce the timeline below.
Timeline of Materials & Finishes used for Lawton Mouthpieces
1965: Brass alloy, plated with nickel and then gold plated with a heavy deposit [article in Crescendo Magazine]
1967: Bell metal to give resonance, power and response ….. hard gold-plated for years of use. Precision made of a special tin bronze alloy and hard gold plated [Lawton leaflet]
1977: for a brief time Geoff Lawton went over to silver-plating all his models but met too many problems in perfect finishing and went back to heavy gold plating [article in Crescendo Magazine]
1978: Made of metal to give resonance, power and response….. hard gold-plated for years of use. Precision made of a special alloy and hard gold-plated [Lawton leaflet]
1980: Lawton released mouthpieces made of stainless steel (from bar) and ebonite (hard rubber) (from rod) in addition to the existing metal models [article in Crescendo Magazine]
1983: Lawton returned to silver plated finish for standard metal models. Gold plating over silver plate was also available to special order for an extra charge [article in Crescendo Magazine] As happened in the mid 1970s, this seems to have been for a short period only.
1988: The standard metal now described as Nickel-silver metal, silver-plated then gold-plated over the top. New bell-bronze model introduced (80% copper and 20% tin), also called tin-bronze or bell-bronze
1996: Geoff said that as well as surgical stainless steel and ebonite … “I make saxophone mouthpieces in nickel silver, brass and some in pure bronze … and I also make a tenor mouthpiece in bell metal” [interview with John Robert Brown in UK Clarinet and Saxophone Society (CASS) Magazine]
2002: ICON Special Edition introduced, made of pure bell-bronze [Bill Lewington website in the early 2000s] The ICON was machined from a cast blank rather than metal bar [author's recollection of telephone conversation with Geoff in 2002]
2003 onwards: Since Geoff's death in 2003 Lawton mouthpieces seem only to have been made in gold-plated bronze, stainless steel and ebonite
Some Materials used for Sax Mouthpieces
Nickel-silver (aka German silver and nickel brass) is a copper alloy with nickel and often zinc (typically 60% copper, 20% nickel and 20% zinc). It is named due to its shiny appearance but contains no silver.
Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc in proportions that can be varied to achieved desired mechanical and electrical properties.
Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin, often with the addition of other metals such as aluminium, manganese, nickel or zinc. Typical modern bronzes have 88% copper and 12% tin, but different compositions are used to give desired properties such as corrosion-resistance, resonance, electrical conductivity, low friction etc.
Bell Metal (aka Bell-Bronze) is a form of bronze with a higher tin content (typically 78% copper and 22% tin). The higher tin content increases rigidity and resonance and makes it suitable for bells and cymbals.
Stainless Steel is a family of iron-based alloys that contain a minimum of 11% chromium and are therefore corrosion-resistant. Surgical Stainless Steel has no formal definition but means a grade used in biomedical applications such as implants.
Ebonite (aka hard rubber) is obtained by vulcanising natural rubber for prolonged periods. Ebonite may contain from 25% to 80% sulphur and linseed oil.
What Geoff Lawton said about Materials
I make saxophone mouthpieces in nickel silver, brass, some in pure bronze - basically high tin and copper. [JRB Interview 1996]
Bell Metal I also make a tenor mouthpiece in bell metal. Pure bell metal. It's extremely hard, but if you dropped it on a hard surface it would break, crack like a pot. It's similar to bronze, but contains more tin. Proper bell metal has 20% tin, 80% copper. Very similar to what Zildjian make their cymbals out of. [JRB Interview 1996]
Nickel Silver The base metal isn't brass, like most people use. I just use the best materials available. I use nickel silver, which is one of the most noble alloys you can get, 50% dearer than brass. [JRB Interview 1996]
Stainless Steel He [Geoff Lawton] is using very high quality stainless steel, and the mouthpieces are machined from the solid bar. Very tough on the cutting tools … needs a new cutter about every fifty mouthpieces. But by working from the solid bar, it does give a finer grain, far less flaws, and far less porosity, which means no pitting from acid saliva. Virtually a “for ever” mouthpiece [Crescendo 1988]
Surgical Stainless Steel Unless you were an absolute fanatic, and you'd done twenty years in a tool room, you wouldn't know how to start with stainless steel. Brass is like a boy's material. The big advantage, if you like stainless steel, is that it will last for ever. It will never need replating. It will never wear. You could drop it on the floor and you'd be very unlucky if it dents. [JRB Interview 1996]
Ebonite does give a different sound, a more woody sound. Even if you go to a high baffle, you still get a more woody sound. And it's very comfortable in your mouth; you've not got this problem of a cold mouthpiece. Although it's quite rigid, it feels quite rigid in your mouth. [JRB Interview 1996]