Today I refaced a metal Selmer soprano mpc to make myself a backup of 
my favorite mpc (.90/16mm, with a little rollover baffle and a wider 
window at the tip). I thought I would make it a little darker, 
without throwing away the possibility of making it brighter. So I 
left it with a 'thick' tip rail that I can turn into some more 
rollover baffle. In play testing it I really liked the darker, fuller 
sound. I was almost going to thin the tip rail 'from the outside', 
when it occured to me that the thick tip rail is actually quite 
usefull, as it allows for different reed positions on the mpc. Lining 
the reed up with the tip of the mpc gives an darker sound (as the tip 
of the reed doesn't take part in sound production), pushing it back 
(which effectively makes the tip rail thinner) brightens it up. I may 
just leave it like this, as I really like this flexibility. Anyone 
know a reason why this could not be a good idea?

Henk

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I must be stupid. I just cant make out what is happening in the scan 
attached to message 156 . It would help if I could get the scale 
right. 
1. What is the MM lenght of this drawing if we assume the     
    mouthpiece is a alto mouthpiece ?  
2. Which of the 3 horizontal lines makes up the facing ?  
3. If ( Y:A) is the sharp point is ( Y:C ) standard (blunt) ? 



--- In MouthpieceWork@y..., Keith Bradbury <kwbradbury@y...> wrote:
> If it make you feel good, and it doesn't hurt anyone else, its OK.  
I like
> my reed 1 hair away from the tip all the time.  Anything else just 
feels
> wrong to me.
> 
> Today I was reading some of the 1972 paper by Fred Wyman (Link in 
the
> Bookmarks).  His testing of various alto mouthpieces is very good.  
One of
> the tests he did was to have a MP tip that was blunt (like most 
MPs) and
> another was to have the end come to a sharp point.  I'll try to 
attach a
> scan of what was tested.
> 
> The sharp point (Y:A) does not look like an extension of the facing 
curve. 
> It comes up at a slightly steeper angle.  He did not say what 
motivated him
> to try this, but he did like it.  Wide dynamic range, smooth and 
mellow,
> good articulation, good C#-D break.  Y:B had a weakened high 
register, was
> brighter and had more air noise., Y:C was less resistant, thin in 
the high
> register, buzzy.
> 
> I thought this would give some other things to think about.
> 
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Good questions.  I'm sure this figure has confused a few others too.  
If you had the entire paper you would be use to seeing these types of 
illustrations since Wyman uses them several times.

> Re: message 156. It would help if I could get the scale right. 
> 1. What is the MM length of this drawing if we assume the     
>     mouthpiece is a alto mouthpiece ?  
> 2. Which of the 3 horizontal lines makes up the facing ?  
> 3. If ( Y:A) is the sharp point is ( Y:C ) standard (blunt) ? 

1. Tip rails are about .030" = .75mm long.  This drawing appears to 
be about 12 tip rails long = 9mm.

2. The lowest line is the facing curve, the middle line is the inside 
baffle zone (no baffle in this case), and the top line is the beak.  
The entire drawing is roughly the portion of the mouthpiece that is 
in your mouth while playing.

3. I think Y:B would be a standard blunt tip and Y:C has a thinned 
beak to make a less blunt tip.  The Y:C tip is also fairly common on 
some mouthpieces (like a Link STM).

ciao a tutti
I have a tenor mpc (new Otto Link tone edge 6) with a tip rail not well defined: it has not the some thickness  and it is not flat( it have some humps (sorry for my english...)). What is the best way to make a flat and well defined rip rail for this mpc ?
thanks in advance for your help.
Filippo

On softer materials, I use a small, curved pocket knife blade to scrape
away some material next to the tip rail to define its shape.  You can then
use very fine sandpaper (600 grit) to complete the job (for looks), but it
is not really needed.  Just stay away from the tip rail surface or you will
need to sand it down some to remove any marks you make on it.

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what type reference books are out there for mouthpiece repairs and 
building....Thanks John

--- In MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com, johnjdpowell@a... wrote:
> what type reference books are out there for mouthpiece repairs and 
> building....Thanks John

There is very little.  No books, just a chapter or 2 within a few 
books.  See the early messages archived on this forum.  
Subject "Printed Instructions, Books, etc." is message # 11.

All the early messages discuss what you need to get started.   You 
can also download them from the Files area for off-line viewing.

See also the Files and Links area on the MP Works site.  There is a 
lot of good info there.

My favorite refs have been the Eric Brand Repairs Book, the 
Ferron "Sax Is My Voice" Book and the Wyman Paper.

All the theoretical stuff is too difficult or too simplistic to 
apply.  But in my opinion, some of the best mouthpiece designs are 
based on mis-applied physics!