I have a made by Selmer, Brilhart Special Ebolin baritone mp. the only markings on it are special , no numbers , letters or *. Does anyone know the size of chamber ,tip opening etc . on this piece and if it compares to any of the Brilharts before selmer buy out ? Thanks in advance.
Brilhart Special Ebolin
1 - 7 of 7 Posts
I found an old Brilhart facing chart that lists the bari Special at .078", but there wasn't a whole lot of consistency in Brilhart's facings, so I can only offer what it was supposed to be at the time the chart was published. Some people have said that once they had a proper facing put on the Specials they played just like Ebolins, but I've never played a Special so I can't confirm. Find a refacer you like and give it a go!
Joined
·
5,935 Posts
I have several specials, and one of them, quite old, has a serial number and plays very well without any refacing that I know about. It looks original.
All of the specials I have had narrow tips, and the advert copy from the time shows that Brilhart considered them to be designed and built for students.
The baritone ones I found on the web had tips from .072 to .075, according to the owners.
Since they are not favored in the market place and have such narrow tips, I suppose that they would make good candidates for a refacing for someone looking for a brilhart.
I have had a number of brilharts refaced, and every one turned out splendidly. Some had chamber and baffle modifications done, as well.
Consult with your refacer.
Joined
·
20,665 Posts
Yup...Phil (Phil-Tone) enlightened me on that years ago. Despite the moniker, the Specials were student mouthpieces, not elevated models.
Phil opened up one for me - no #'s or letters - to .088 (a Tenor mouthpiece) and it played really nicely.
The thing here is, he did that for me as a labor-trade, I provided some tweaks for him on some saxes.....so no $ exchanged hands.
The question becomes... is it worth having a refacer reface and open up a run-of-mill Special ? Because that is gonna run probably at least $80 ?
It might be...or might not be.
Do you like the Ebolin-sorta tonality ?
If all you (OP) wanna know is the tip opening (it WILL likely be quite closed) you could just have a tech measure it up (many techs, while not mouthpiece people, do have the gauges to measure a tip opening).
Joined
·
14,451 Posts
That is why I started making the Orion. Its more like a Tonalin, a step up from both in playability and also not the old plastic that breaks.
Specials are indeed basic eboins sans bite plate and one size only (in theory).
You certainly wont get your reface fee out of a sale but its worth it if you like Ebolins and want to keep it to play.
Specials are indeed basic eboins sans bite plate and one size only (in theory).
You certainly wont get your reface fee out of a sale but its worth it if you like Ebolins and want to keep it to play.
Joined
·
20,665 Posts
Looks like a nice 'piece !
They are! Still waiting for a bari version though :twisted:
1 - 7 of 7 Posts
