History of Morgan Mouthpiece Company

Ralph Morgan started playing clarinet and saxophone professionally at the age of 12. His Father was Chief Woodwind Designer at the Conn Company. Ralph served in WWII as a bomber pilot and when the War was over, went to work for The Selmer Company. Ralph retired from Selmer in 1980 as the Chief Woodwind Designer. He designed the Selmer 10G clarinet and many of the intermediate and student woodwind instruments for Selmer. Ralph has also had a hand in design work for many other musical instrument and accessory manufacturers.

In the early 1980s, Ralph started his own mouthpiece manufacturing company. His goal was to bring back the "Chart Designed" and handcrafted mouthpieces which were popular in the 1930s - 1960s. With strong attention to detail, Ralph designed and produced some of the best hand-crafted hard rubber mouthpieces in the world.

Sadly, Ralph Morgan passed away on August 23, 2007. His legacy, company and products are being continued by Ralph's long-time employees alongside David and Teresa Hoskins, who are the current company owners.

Erik Greiffenhagen, Master Crafter, has been with the company for over 30 years and has been lead designer for several of the mouthpieces the company produces, including the very popular C Melody Tenor Mouthpiece . John MacQueen began his crafting career in the guitar industry until Ralph brought him into the world of making mouthpieces. That was over 25 years ago! Brian Powell had over 15 years invested in making Morgan Mouthpieces before he ventured into his own mouthpiece refacing business. We are proud to announce that he has recently rejoined the Morgan team and we couldn't be happier to have him working with us again. All aspects of the production operation will remain just as Ralph implemented them back in the early 1980s. We are proud to carry on his legacy!

What makes the Morgan Mouthpieces unique?

The rubber formula is unique to the Morgan Company. The rubber is made from the finest grade European Ebonite similar to the same rubber formula that was used by the best manufacturers during the 1920s-1950s.In 1990, Ralph designed the molds that create the blanks for his clarinet, alto and tenor mouthpieces. No other mouthpiece company uses the same molds or blanks. Ralph insisted on old Steam Transfer Presses to produce the blanks rather than modern methods, which can leave soft spots in the rubber.

After the rubber blanks come out of the molds, they are very soft rubber castings. To cure the rubber, the mouthpieces go through several cycles of heating and cooling to create a cured, hard rubber casting that is ready for facing.

The castings are then faced and finished by some of the most skilled mouthpiece makers in the industry. Erik, John and Brian have spent their entire careers working full-time on producing Morgan products as well as working on their own mouthpiece making and refacing ventures. All of the Morgan mouthpieces are hand-faced and finished to precision.