Find Ralph Morgan's article "A Meyer is a Meyer is a Meyer". It should be available as a .pdf on Sax Journal's website.
Its been a while since I read it, but IIRC Morgan compared a Meyer Bros. piece from the 40's to a NYUSA piece from the 70's. The article includes tip opening specs, along with detailed measurements (with diagrams) of the chamber configuration of each. The upshot is that the two are quite different from a structural standpoint. For example (again from memory) a Meyer Bros. 5 for Alto had a tip opening that is the equivalent of a Meyer NYUSA 7. According to the facing charts in this article, modern Meyer USA pieces from Babbitt have the same specs as the later Meyer NYUSA pieces.
From what I would gather, the current Meyer USA pieces produced by Babbitt are generally more like the NYUSA pieces, than the older Meyer Bros pieces. It is noted that in addition to Cannonball, Phil Woods and Greg Abate (and I'm sure many others) play Meyer Bros pieces. IMHO, the difference in how these pieces are configured has a more significant impact on sound than does the rubber itself. That seemed to be Ralph's conclusion as well.
Hope that helps.
Its been a while since I read it, but IIRC Morgan compared a Meyer Bros. piece from the 40's to a NYUSA piece from the 70's. The article includes tip opening specs, along with detailed measurements (with diagrams) of the chamber configuration of each. The upshot is that the two are quite different from a structural standpoint. For example (again from memory) a Meyer Bros. 5 for Alto had a tip opening that is the equivalent of a Meyer NYUSA 7. According to the facing charts in this article, modern Meyer USA pieces from Babbitt have the same specs as the later Meyer NYUSA pieces.
From what I would gather, the current Meyer USA pieces produced by Babbitt are generally more like the NYUSA pieces, than the older Meyer Bros pieces. It is noted that in addition to Cannonball, Phil Woods and Greg Abate (and I'm sure many others) play Meyer Bros pieces. IMHO, the difference in how these pieces are configured has a more significant impact on sound than does the rubber itself. That seemed to be Ralph's conclusion as well.
Hope that helps.
