Hi all,

First a word about Jon. I've never had the pleasure of meeting him personally, but judging from the continual outpouring of praise for his work he seems to have a rare gift. He has also shown himself to be a man of rare wisdom and maturity in the post announcing his illness. I can only wish him the best and hope that when my time comes I can face it with as much grace and selflessness as he. God bless you Jon.

Here's a little tip and a question. Recently I picked up a diamond needle file (round). I'd been unhappy with one thing on two stainless mpcs that I refaced for myself--the fact that I found it very difficult to cut down the upper baffle area just behind the tip rail. I guess you all know that when you open up the tip by taking material away from there you raise the baffle, sometimes until it is almost at the same level as the tip rail. I could deal with this on hard rubber pieces, but the hardness of the stainless steel made work on these two mpcs extremely slow and tricky.

Well that diamond file really does the trick. It eats right into the metal. I was able to create a beautifully thin tip rail very accurately and take off a fair amount of metal right behind it quite quickly and easily. I recommend you give this a try if you have the same problem. I picked up this particular file for less than a dollar (we have great 100 yen stores in Japan) and it has cut through quite a bit of metal now without showing any signs of wear.

It's a bit hard to judge since I can't do a direct comparison, but the work really seems to have made both these pieces much more free-blowing. My guess is that the extra space behind the tip rail allows the tip of the reed to vibrate with less resistance, or to communicate the pressure wave more efficiently down the baffle. And it seems to have done this without materially affecting the edge and projection that these pieces have. I wonder if you guys who do this kind of work regularly have any thoughts on this.

I'm also thinking that we hear a lot about baffles and chambers, but no one ever mentions the very highest part of the baffle where it meets the tip. This seems to be a critical area in terms of mpc response. Has there been any experimentation in this area? Any literature?

Thanks,

Toby

           Toby
 
            I perfectly agree with you regarding the area where the baffle meets the tip.  Just a slight adjustment makes a 
            huge difference in response and sound.   Personally I cant play on MPC's with huge rollover baffles .
             For me the area just behind the tip should not deviate much from a straight line , small rollover or slight 
            hollow depending on the rest of the baffle ,
            chamber size and intended response/sound characteristics.  Somehow I struggle with altissimo if I have to much rollover,
             I also tend to be bright sounding  , so a flat or slight hollow in the  tip area helps me to achieve fuller sounding high 
            notes  and easy altissimo.
 
            Might not work as well for everybody.
            
            Those diamond files sounds like a bargain , you can open a web shop and win customers like me .
            Here in South Africa you will really battle to find a file like that , the last price I saw was $10.
 
           
 

-----Original Message-----
From: Toby [mailto:kymarto@...]
Sent: 14 March 2003 03:33
To: MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [MouthpieceWork] Jon Van Wie, tip rail and upper baffle


Hi all,
 
First a word about Jon. I've never had the pleasure of meeting him personally, but judging from the continual outpouring of praise for his work he seems to have a rare gift. He has also shown himself to be a man of rare wisdom and maturity in the post announcing his illness. I can only wish him the best and hope that when my time comes I can face it with as much grace and selflessness as he. God bless you Jon.
 
Here's a little tip and a question. Recently I picked up a diamond needle file (round). I'd been unhappy with one thing on two stainless mpcs that I refaced for myself--the fact that I found it very difficult to cut down the upper baffle area just behind the tip rail. I guess you all know that when you open up the tip by taking material away from there you raise the baffle, sometimes until it is almost at the same level as the tip rail. I could deal with this on hard rubber pieces, but the hardness of the stainless steel made work on these two mpcs extremely slow and tricky.
 
Well that diamond file really does the trick. It eats right into the metal. I was able to create a beautifully thin tip rail very accurately and take off a fair amount of metal right behind it quite quickly and easily. I recommend you give this a try if you have the same problem. I picked up this particular file for less than a dollar (we have great 100 yen stores in Japan) and it has cut through quite a bit of metal now without showing any signs of wear.
 
It's a bit hard to judge since I can't do a direct comparison, but the work really seems to have made both these pieces much more free-blowing. My guess is that the extra space behind the tip rail allows the tip of the reed to vibrate with less resistance, or to communicate the pressure wave more efficiently down the baffle. And it seems to have done this without materially affecting the edge and projection that these pieces have. I wonder if you guys who do this kind of work regularly have any thoughts on this.
 
I'm also thinking that we hear a lot about baffles and chambers, but no one ever mentions the very highest part of the baffle where it meets the tip. This seems to be a critical area in terms of mpc response. Has there been any experimentation in this area? Any literature?
 
Thanks,
 
Toby
 
 

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>>>I'm also thinking that we hear a lot about baffles and chambers, 
but no one ever mentions the very highest part of the baffle where it 
meets the tip. This seems to be a critical area in terms of mpc 
response. Has there been any experimentation in this area? Any 
literature?<<<

This area has been mentioned a few times here, but is burried under 
other topics.  I did a message search on "tip rail" but I did not 
wade through all the hits.  #239 talks about altissimo vs the tip but 
is more about the facing curve into the rail than the baffle next to 
it.

I like to relieve the baffles near the tip rail with a pocket knife 
blade scrape.  I use files and sandpaper too.  But the knife is 
easier to control to a specific spot.  I use it on HR, plastic, brass 
and Dukoff Silverlite, but not hard steels.

Relieveing the baffle here reduces some of the high frequencies in 
the tone.  It helps reduce the chirpies and makes for a fatter 
sounding altissimo.  The palm keys are not so shrill either.