Hello,
I'm Italian. I play Tenor Saxophone.
I'm very interested in Mouthpiece Refacing.
I read the E.D.Brand Manual and I own a good (I hope) Refacing Kit; 
I need only a Taper Gauge to mesaure the Tip Opening.
I would like to make duplicates of some old Saxhophone's Mouthpieces 
(Meyer - Brilhart - Berg Larsen - Link - etc..) On the Internet I can 
only find information about the tip opening, but not about their 
Facing Length and their Curve Increments Reading.
I would be happy to receive information about that, but not about all 
Vintage Mouthpieces, maybe about some of those, so that I could try 
to begin.
I would be grateful if you could help me!
Thank you so much. Best Wishes, Giuseppe Formisano.

Hi Giuseppe,

There are a lot of people who know much more about working with 
mouthpieces than myself so I can't offer much information other than 
about current taper gauges.

The old fashioned, long ones, pictured in the Brand manual, among 
other places, have been replaced by two smaller ones, with red 
handles.  One taper gauge measures .035-.080 and the other 
measures .080-.125.  These can be purchased as a red handle tip gauge 
set for $US 30 plus shipping.  The major advantage is these gauges 
are readily available from J.J. Babbitt and are what they currently 
use for their own mouthpiece work.  I suspect the Winslow gauge is 
much more precise but I'm still waiting for the one I have 
backordered from the Woodwind & Brasswind.

Contact Jim Green, at J.J. Babbitt, for more information about 
obtaining a set of tape gauges.

J.J. Babbitt Co. Inc.
P.O. Box 1264
Elkhart, IN 46516
574-293-0805
574-293-6514	

Best wishes with this, Jim

Ralph Morgan published some lay schedules in Sax Journal V17, #5 
(March/April 1993).  Included are some numbers for Bb clarinet,  
Alto, Tenor, Bari Sax and Bass clarinet.  Mostly close facings, since 
they are from the 1950s.  Makes: Woodwind, Kaspar, Selmer, Rico, Kay-
O'Brien, Bundy, Otto Link, Goldbeck, Dick Stabile, Gregory.

A few web sites have facing lengths, but no intermediate points.  
I've seen Selmer, Yamaha, Vandoren, and Lawton.  Check the Bookmarks 
on our MP Work site.  Be aware that some makers define facing length 
as the distance to a 0.0015" feeler and some seem to give the 
distance to where the flat table starts (like using a 0.0000" 
feeler).  I think Vandoren gives the longer length.

The best way to try to duplicate a mouthpiece is to have one as a 
model.  You can measure it yourself and play test your version 
against it.  

I have a notebook of pieces I have measured using my system of 
feelers, which are not "standard" as I have reported in earlier 
posts.  They can be converted to other feeler gage increments using a 
curve fit spreadsheet like the one I posted in the Files area.  If 
there is a particular one you are interested in, I can post my 
readings if I have it.  But this would not be a "spec" just my 
readings.  They would contain manufacturing variation and any errors 
I might have made.  That is why I like to curve fit my readings to 
smooth out the bumps.  I think most of the time these bumps are 
errors in manufacturing and measurement, not features.  If you get 
the opportunity to measure several mouthpieces from the same maker 
marked the same, you will get a good feel for this variation.

Jon Van Wie once posted his spec for a Link 7 Tenor (.100" tip):
.0015/48, .010/38, .024/28, .034/22, .050/16.   From a curve fit, I 
think .034/23 would be a smoother curve, but you can be the judge.

JVW's Meyer 5 Alto (.073" tip) was:
.0015/40, .010/30, .024/20, .034/15, .050/8

Giuseppe:  In your version of the EDBrand manual, in the back of the
mouthpiece chapter, do you have the facing schedules of various old
mouthpieces?  Perhaps that is just in the mouthpiece book?

Paul


genoasax wrote:

>  Hello,
> I'm Italian. I play Tenor Saxophone.
> I'm very interested in Mouthpiece Refacing.
> I read the E.D.Brand Manual and I own a good (I hope) Refacing Kit;
> I need only a Taper Gauge to mesaure the Tip Opening.
> I would like to make duplicates of some old Saxhophone's Mouthpieces
> (Meyer - Brilhart - Berg Larsen - Link - etc..) On the Internet I can
> only find information about the tip opening, but not about their
> Facing Length and their Curve Increments Reading.
> I would be happy to receive information about that, but not about all
> Vintage Mouthpieces, maybe about some of those, so that I could try
> to begin.
> I would be grateful if you could help me!
> Thank you so much. Best Wishes, Giuseppe Formisano.
>
>
>                    Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
                        ADVERTISEMENT
                            [Image]
>
> Got a Mouthpiece Work question?  Send it to
> MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com
>
> Visit the site at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MouthpieceWork to see
> the Files, Photos and Bookmarks relating to Mouthpiece Work.
>
> To see and modify your groups, go to http://groups.yahoo.com/mygroups
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.

--
Link to Paul's articles from Home page of "Sax on the Web":

  http://www.saxontheweb.net

or directly to Paul's articles at:

  http://www.saxontheweb.net/Coats/

Listen to Paul's MP3's at:

                http://briefcase.yahoo.com/tenorman1952

and view photos.

Keith:  I have these, separately from an old Eric Brand book, and also
from the Sax Journal article.  I believe they are the same facing
schedules.

It standard way to measure and specify facing length has always been
with the use of the .0015� feeler.


kwbradbury wrote:

>  Ralph Morgan published some lay schedules in Sax Journal V17, #5
> (March/April 1993).  Included are some numbers for Bb clarinet,
> Alto, Tenor, Bari Sax and Bass clarinet.  Mostly close facings, since
> they are from the 1950s.  Makes: Woodwind, Kaspar, Selmer, Rico, Kay-
> O'Brien, Bundy, Otto Link, Goldbeck, Dick Stabile, Gregory.
>
> A few web sites have facing lengths, but no intermediate points.
> I've seen Selmer, Yamaha, Vandoren, and Lawton.  Check the Bookmarks
> on our MP Work site.  Be aware that some makers define facing length
> as the distance to a 0.0015" feeler and some seem to give the
> distance to where the flat table starts (like using a 0.0000"
> feeler).  I think Vandoren gives the longer length.
>
> The best way to try to duplicate a mouthpiece is to have one as a
> model.  You can measure it yourself and play test your version
> against it.
>
> I have a notebook of pieces I have measured using my system of
> feelers, which are not "standard" as I have reported in earlier
> posts.  They can be converted to other feeler gage increments using a
> curve fit spreadsheet like the one I posted in the Files area.  If
> there is a particular one you are interested in, I can post my
> readings if I have it.  But this would not be a "spec" just my
> readings.  They would contain manufacturing variation and any errors
> I might have made.  That is why I like to curve fit my readings to
> smooth out the bumps.  I think most of the time these bumps are
> errors in manufacturing and measurement, not features.  If you get
> the opportunity to measure several mouthpieces from the same maker
> marked the same, you will get a good feel for this variation.
>
> Jon Van Wie once posted his spec for a Link 7 Tenor (.100" tip):
> .0015/48, .010/38, .024/28, .034/22, .050/16.   From a curve fit, I
> think .034/23 would be a smoother curve, but you can be the judge.
>
> JVW's Meyer 5 Alto (.073" tip) was:
> .0015/40, .010/30, .024/20, .034/15, .050/8
>
>
>
>                    Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
                        ADVERTISEMENT
                            [Image]
>
> Got a Mouthpiece Work question?  Send it to
> MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com
>
> Visit the site at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MouthpieceWork to see
> the Files, Photos and Bookmarks relating to Mouthpiece Work.
>
> To see and modify your groups, go to http://groups.yahoo.com/mygroups
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.

--
Link to Paul's articles from Home page of "Sax on the Web":

  http://www.saxontheweb.net

or directly to Paul's articles at:

  http://www.saxontheweb.net/Coats/

Listen to Paul's MP3's at:

                http://briefcase.yahoo.com/tenorman1952

and view photos.

Seems like a lot of the figures and tables in Ralph's SJ columns were 
from the E.Brand book.