Ralph Morgan History and Company Information.

The Morgan Mouthpieces are designed and created by some of the most experienced and skilled mouthpiece technicians in the World. Ralph Morgan started playing 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 Selmer. 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 the best hand-crafted hard rubber mouthpieces in the world. Sadly, Ralph Morgan passed away on August 23, 2007.
His legacy, company and products will be continued by Ralph's long-time employees and his widow Georgia Morgan. Georgia will continue to serve as the owner and CEO of the company. Erik Grieffenhagen has been with the company for over 23 years and has designed several of the mouthpieces the company produces. John MacQueen has been with the company for over 17 years. Mark Delozier has been with the company for one year.
These three represent a combined half-century of experience producing some of the best mouthpieces ever made. They are all craftsmen and musicians and are committed to continuing the production of the Morgan Mouthpieces using the same materials and processes they have always used.

What makes the Morgan Mouthpieces unique?

Ralph's dedication to detail was truly astonishing. Nothing about the design of these mouthpieces is trivial and all aspects of production are under the full control of the Company. The rubber formula is unique to the Morgan Company. No other company in the world uses the same rubber formulation. The rubber is made from the finest grade European Ebonite and is a pure rubber formula with no synthetic additives. It is the same rubber formula that was used by the best manufacturers during the 1920s - 1950s.

In 1984, Ralph designed the molds that create the blanks for his clarinet, alto and tenor mouthpieces. These molds produce blanks that are unique to the Morgan Company. No other mouthpiece company uses the same molds or blanks. Ralph's molding process is unique in that the rubber is pressure injected into the molds to make the mouthpiece blanks.
Ralph insisted on old Steam Transfer Presses to produce the blanks rather than modern Electronic Presses 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 10-13 cycles of heating and cooling to create a 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 with Ralph producing these mouthpieces. All of the Morgan mouthpieces are hand-faced and finished. These are truly fantastic mouthpieces and have been carefully designed and hand-crafted by the most experienced craftsmen in the world. Truly a masterpiece.