Saturday, October 10, 2009

Selmer S-80 Opened to .090 for Jazz


This is an interesting project I did for Nick Marcum.
Nick is interested in sounding like Travis Rainey who when asked, told him he was playing on a Selmer C* that was opened up. Here I will show you the steps I used to open Nicks S-80 from .060 mm to .090 mm.

This is the plain S-80 at .060 tip opening:

First the baffle is reduced and the tip is completely removed. The tip is also reduced and shaped to a reed.

The rails are reduced and the body is sanded:

Clean with steel wool and water. Smooth the new baffle.



Take out the tip again. Shape the baffle. At this point the mouthpiece is starting to show it's personality. The tip gets bigger on the right but the facing needs to get longer on the right. Not to mention the baffle seems a little low on the right. There are a lot of forces working against each other in this mouthpiece. Dealing with these conflicting forces has an impact on how far I decide to open the MPC. I need to keep fighting the forces till the MPC starts doing what I want it to do.




This is the finished mouthpiece.



Tuesday, October 6, 2009

This is a Berg Larsen I purchased at the local music store. It had a big chip in the right rail. The baffle was too low on the right side and the facing was too long on the left side. It was also very open and the facing did not give a reading at the fulcrum station. It has taken a lot of work on the diamond stone. Now it is an 8 with a solid reading at the fulcrum. I see this problem a lot on metal mouthpieces. The Level Air a few posts down had the same problem. I have not play tested this one yet, but I think it will be interesting. It may be a little too bright for blending with the sax section.



Beechler Alto MPC

This is a Beechler Alto MPC. It has quite a history. It was originally a 7, but was sent back to the factory to be reduced to a 6. It looks like they just took it down by flattening the table, but did not lengthen the facing. The client wanted it opened back up to a 7. The rails were pretty far out of whack; therefore, I had to take it to an 8. It plays great. Low notes speak well and it is not too bright. Because it had so much prior work, I had to remove quite a bit of baffle work. If you look closely, you can see where I put a ridge down the middle of the baffle. This was done with a Dremil tool. I have found the technique to work quite well on stainless steel mouthpieces. For metal mouthpieces, I like to keep the baffle scratched and rough. (like you see on Dave Guardala's refacing work. I know Dave is in trouble now. Despite the problems, I am influenced by his work. You can be sure that I will do the work you request and return your mouthpiece promptly.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Vintage Meyer Alto



This is a beautiful MPC from Evghenii Botnar. Although it doesn't say NewYork on the body, everything about this is a NewYork Meyer. It plays very well with a med hard, Vandoren Blue Box reed. For me, this is one of the best there is. Middle D speaks with no problem and the sound is very rich in partials. It plays a little different from typical Meyers. To me, this is nothing like the other kind of Meyer. You don't have to work so hard on this piece. Just like it is
tough to beat a Mark VI, it is tough to beat a NY Meyer. It was a lot of fun getting this one to play.

If you are wondering if it is worth $400 + , From my experience refacing this NY Meyer, it might be worth spending the money. It has a very rich partial content, and feels very comfortable to play.

Ponzol 7 Reface
















This job was for Gary Pedersen. The piece had a very concave table. By the time the table was flat it was more of a 6 than a 7. The chamber was modified extensively by removing material. The facing was opened back to a 7. Now it is much brighter and free blowing.

Sunday, August 30, 2009

4C Clone Opened to 6.5

This mouthpiece was refaced for Arturo Riojas.

It was a straight forward job. The 4C makes a good jazz mouthpiece when opened up. I like it better than a Meyer.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Brilhart Level Air


This Brilhart Level Air was repaired for flute maker Bruce Bailey. This was a tough job requiring the use of industrial diamonds instead of sand paper. The tip was damaged by a previous refacer, and it was not possible to get a reading at the fulcrum. There was also a lot of decay on the table, underneath the window.

If you look closely at the pictures, you can see a little triangle at the bottom right of the table. This is the result of several hours of work moving the table. I felt lucky to even get a reading. The MPC was very unforgiving and difficult to work with. All the way till the end, it was playing very poorly. Using the diamond stone, I put curve back into the MPC and got a good solid reading.

This MPC is very warm for a Level Air. I got that sound by using a sander going down the middle of the baffle, then finishing it off with a knife.

Bruce liked the Level Air best of all the mouthpieces I did for him:

  • "I tried the mouthpieces over the weekend and all are vastly improved. The metal tenor Brilhart is the best of the bunch! Thanks so much for the great work." Bruce Bailey