I've been trying to figure out how to band a tenor Great Neck NY Brilhart.  The Great Neck engraving is on the shank and all of the banding jobs that I've seen would cover this up.  A lot of the banding jojobs that I've seen also look cheezy.

Part of the value of the piece is in the fact that it's a Great Neck, so I wanted to leave this engraving visible.  In my drawer of oddball mouthpieces was blank that I'm sure was a Conn Eagle C Melody.  Not common, but not too rare.  As a piece, it was a dud, but it did tune okay on a CMel.  What I noticed was the the shank ring looked just the right size for the Brilhart.

I've posted pictures in the photo section of the procedure.  First, I knocked the ring off of the Conn.  No harm done (in fact, I opened up the CMel mouthpiece and sold it on Ebay minus the ring).  Next, I used a diamond needle file to cut a groove in the Brilhart shank.  The Brilhart has lines molded in the shank, so it was easy to put in the groove.  Then I sat the ring on the shank and tapped it into place with a resin mallet.  I think I'll put a drop of super glue on it just to make sure, but the ring snapped into place.  No more worries when I put this one on the neck.

Mark

Nice job!



On Jan 22, 2013, at 3:49 PM, "Mark" <marklfleming@...> wrote:

> I've been trying to figure out how to band a tenor Great Neck NY Brilhart. The Great Neck engraving is on the shank and all of the banding jobs that I've seen would cover this up. A lot of the banding jojobs that I've seen also look cheezy.
> 
> Part of the value of the piece is in the fact that it's a Great Neck, so I wanted to leave this engraving visible. In my drawer of oddball mouthpieces was blank that I'm sure was a Conn Eagle C Melody. Not common, but not too rare. As a piece, it was a dud, but it did tune okay on a CMel. What I noticed was the the shank ring looked just the right size for the Brilhart.
> 
> I've posted pictures in the photo section of the procedure. First, I knocked the ring off of the Conn. No harm done (in fact, I opened up the CMel mouthpiece and sold it on Ebay minus the ring). Next, I used a diamond needle file to cut a groove in the Brilhart shank. The Brilhart has lines molded in the shank, so it was easy to put in the groove. Then I sat the ring on the shank and tapped it into place with a resin mallet. I think I'll put a drop of super glue on it just to make sure, but the ring snapped into place. No more worries when I put this one on the neck.
> 
> Mark
> 
> 

I just did the same banding on an alto Brilhart Tonalin Great Neck, leaving all of the shank printing visible.  As with the tenor, I used the band off of a Conn Eagle, this time an alto piece.  Unfortunately, the old Conn shank shattered when removing the band.  The band was then heated on a ceramic top stove to expand it.  I picked it up with wet leather gloves (so that I didn't put in on the mouthpiece when it was "sizzling" hot) and tapped using a resin mallet into the groove I had made on the shank.  Again I used a drop of superglue, although the fit was tight enough that I don't think it was necessary.  I added a photo in the banded Brilhart file.

I'm putting an Otto Link 7* TENOR facing on the old Conn alto piece just for jollies.  I have no idea what that will be like. 

Mark