So in the never ending quest for mouthpiece perfection I was rummaging through my collection drawer and found a Bilger alto piece. I sort of remember buying it around 1994 and the only marking on it is a star. Anyone have an idea as to the tip opening?
I've got an old Woodwind & Brasswind catalogue from Spring 1997 that has a facing chart for mouthpieces. For Bilger alto pieces it has:
G = 58 thou' (i.e. 0.058")
G* = 63
S = 74
S* = 80
S** = 86
There is also an advert for Bilger mouthpieces that mentions the following models:
Bilger Gold Line
Bilger Silver Line
Bilger Stream-Line
Bilger Band Line
Bilger Crystal Line
nO IDEA. The only markings on it are BILGER and *. I sort of remember getting it to play in a community band and I know I got it from WWBW. I bought it to replace the Sumner Acousticut that got crunched.
I reckon that the tip openings in the list I gave may mean G = Gold Line and S = Silver Line. The descriptions in the WWBW catalogue say:
Gold Line - Classical
Silver Line - Jazz/Rock
Silver Line -= Streamline (available stream, stream*, stream**)
Band Line - student model
Crystal line - student model in clear lucite
If you could say whether your piece is more like a classical or a jazz/rock piece, then I guess that the * marking would tell you the tip opening (classical = 63 or jazz/rock = 80).
Alternatively put it on a flat surface alongside another mouthpiece that you do know the tip opening for and that should give you a pretty good idea by eye.
When I got my soprano years ago, it came with a Bilger that the previous owner had bought. It has no markings on it besides the name pressed on the top with gold lettering. I still no next to nothing about the mouthpiece, but I ended up playing it quite a lot. Decent piece!
Maybe if the lettering is in gold it would be a Gold Line model and if it is silver it would be Silver Line. Just an idea, as I've never seen one of these.
That's the assumption I'm going with too. It is gold lettering etc.
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