My current tenor mouthpiece is an old Selmer metal mouthpiece, and I would like to know more about model and age. I would be very grateful if someone could provide information about which Selmer metal model this is and production year (roughly).
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Identify Selmer Metal Mouthpiece
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Thank you! Is my mouthpiece similar to the "Selmer Airflow" ebonite models in terms of chamber size and sound concept?
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I'm not sure, other than to say I've always preferred the metal of that era much more than the HR for what that is worth. The HR Airflows have an enormous shank, probably the loosest fitting of any mouthpieces I've ever come across. Funny but the HR pieces seemed to improve with later models but the metal pieces seemed to hit their sweet spot in that era and the later ones have more limited appeal.
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find lots of info here
Selmer Mouthpieces - Theo Wanne
1885 - Selmer Paris company started manufacturing mouthpieces and reeds. 1898 – Mouthpieces started to be made at 4, place Dancourt, Paris. 1926 - Airflow mouthpiece released. The new logo "Henri Selmer Paris" is used. It has a laurel wreath instead of lyre. 1935 - Jimmy Dorsey mouthpiece...
theowanne.com
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The great Art Themen used to play a Selmer metal on tenor, but I think it was lost or stolen.
Here is Art playing with Stan Tracey in a sextet with Don Weller and John Surman also on tenor. Art is in the centre and his solo starts at about 4:00 and there are good views of his mouthpiece around 6:24.
I would guess that this clip dates from about 1983 which is when I sax the quartet (this group less Weller and Surman).
Rhys
Here is Art playing with Stan Tracey in a sextet with Don Weller and John Surman also on tenor. Art is in the centre and his solo starts at about 4:00 and there are good views of his mouthpiece around 6:24.
I would guess that this clip dates from about 1983 which is when I sax the quartet (this group less Weller and Surman).
Rhys
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1950's diamond logo/short shank 'classic' metal...I think these were actually intended for playing classical/legit repertoire (as opposed to the 'jazz' labeled metal piece). Marcel Mule used a metal Selmer mouthpiece, and I think it was of this same variety.
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Marcel Mule used this mp but in a C* facing, as did his famous student Jean Marie Londeix. Fred Hemke (I read) had this mp made for him in a D facing with a square chamber. In
a biography of Mule it said although he loved the mp he was irritated by the "sizzle", hot air (breath) meets cold metal. He even tried coating the chamber with Vaseline to move the air through faster. I saw Hemke perform a concert with his Selmer D and whenever he wasn't playing he covered the mp with his hand to keep the metal warm.
a biography of Mule it said although he loved the mp he was irritated by the "sizzle", hot air (breath) meets cold metal. He even tried coating the chamber with Vaseline to move the air through faster. I saw Hemke perform a concert with his Selmer D and whenever he wasn't playing he covered the mp with his hand to keep the metal warm.
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John LaPorta played one of these for many years.
Thanks everyone! It is interesting to read your comments about the Selmer metal mouthpieces and players who used them. In addition to Bennie Maupin, James Moody, Art Themen and John LaPorta, I have somewhere that the great Scottish saxophonist Bobby Wellins and also Stan Getz used the Selmer metal mouthpieces at some point in their careers.
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I think that Bobby Wellins used the metal Selmer England FF mouthpiece which was quite different. Charlie Parker used the alto version for a while.
See this thread for more information: Selmer FF video- Bird with Strings
Rhys
See this thread for more information: Selmer FF video- Bird with Strings
Rhys
I had no idea that Hemke played with a Selmer "D", and that his metal mouthpiece had a square chamber. I believe Arno Bornkamp at one time played on a Selmer S80 "D" ebonite mouthpiece, but have always thought that playing classical alto saxophone on such an open mouthpiece was uncommon?
I can understand Marcel Mule’s irritation with the "sizzle", it is quite prominent when playing softly on the Selmer metal. I wonder how Mule prevented the Vaseline from reaching the pads of his horn?
I stand corrected. I recognise the Selmer FF from photos of Bobby Wellins.
That "sizzle" doesn't have anything to do with air speed. It's spit and condensation getting caught. Keeping one's hand on the MP keeps it warmer so less condensation.
More evidence that even great virtuosi may not understand the physics behind what they're doing.
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Or that Marcel Mule understood it but the story has become scrambled before being reported here.
Rhys
A photo of the table and chamber would help, your piece looks like a 50s Selmer metal 'classic', the first series of these had a small oval with the tip opening stamped in the middle on the table, then the tip stamp was shifted to under the diamond on the top of the piece, but they are the same piece with a round throat.
I have one of these with a D in an oval on the table, the response was much improved after I had the facing cleaned up, it's a very nice piece with a tight focussed core, I can't shape the tone like I can on a Link, but the tone quality is right there when you blow .
I got into these because Pharaoh Sanders played one on and off, he had a remarkable tone and expressive range on his classic Selmer. A friend played Pharaoh's Selmer metal piece after a gig and said he couldn't get anything out of it, Pharaoh's Selmer classic had such a tiny tip opening–smaller than .080 he thought, and the reed was soft.
Pharaoh made the piece roar with a full range of harmonics, polyphonics and a gorgeous Trane like core, but it wasn't the piece, it was Pharaoh!
I have one of these with a D in an oval on the table, the response was much improved after I had the facing cleaned up, it's a very nice piece with a tight focussed core, I can't shape the tone like I can on a Link, but the tone quality is right there when you blow .
I got into these because Pharaoh Sanders played one on and off, he had a remarkable tone and expressive range on his classic Selmer. A friend played Pharaoh's Selmer metal piece after a gig and said he couldn't get anything out of it, Pharaoh's Selmer classic had such a tiny tip opening–smaller than .080 he thought, and the reed was soft.
Pharaoh made the piece roar with a full range of harmonics, polyphonics and a gorgeous Trane like core, but it wasn't the piece, it was Pharaoh!
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