Hi all. I recently aquired a tenor Conn Steelay mpc with a 3 facing. I've always preferred big tips and am curious, what determines how much a piece can be opened? In a perfect world, I could get this opened to a .140 or so. Thanks in advance for the all the help!
Limits on opening a piece?!
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1,399 Posts
There is a limit.
If you want a gigantic tip opening piece, buy it that way,
don't ruin a perfectly great classical mouthpiece.
If you keep trying to open up a piece, the tip thickness will become so thin, and the side rails will become so wide, forget about it!
There are too many butchers out there who wreck great vintage mouthpieces!
It makes me sick.
Get on the phone to Mouthpiece professionals, and let them make you what you need. Don't ruin another piece.You can always cut away material, but you can't put it back.
If you want a gigantic tip opening piece, buy it that way,
don't ruin a perfectly great classical mouthpiece.
If you keep trying to open up a piece, the tip thickness will become so thin, and the side rails will become so wide, forget about it!
There are too many butchers out there who wreck great vintage mouthpieces!
It makes me sick.
Get on the phone to Mouthpiece professionals, and let them make you what you need. Don't ruin another piece.You can always cut away material, but you can't put it back.
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14,440 Posts
It is going to cost you. To open something that big...if its possible, will require releveling the table at a new angle. There just isnt enough in the tip of any mouthpiece to go that far...it will become thin and at that extreme start to shorten the piece which then effects tuning. That specific mouthpiece has pretty much a zero resale value. You better like what your after...I dont think you would come close to recovering your cash if you tried.
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9,436 Posts
The biggest limiting factor I come up against is the amount the sidewalls are curved. If they are scooped a lot and come up curved to the window opening, you are usually limited to opening it .005- .010" via tip cutting. If you do more than that, you start cutting into the cirved sidewalls and the window gets wider and wider until a proper reed will not cover it.
One can angle the table to get more tip opening, but there needs to be enough material under the table to do this. To get .010" at the tip, you need to lower the butt end of the table on the order of .030". So to open a lot of tip, you need to take a 3X a lot of material off the table. Often you end up cutting into the shank end of the mouthpiece. Also ligature fits get a lot looser.
With straight sidewalls you can do a lot more tip cutting. But opening a tip a lot will distort its shape. If the tip comes to a point during cutting, you need to file it back to get a more blunt edge. Then the piece and window gets shorter.
So if you want a wide tip vintage-style piece, I would say start with a modern HR Link as large as you can find.
One can angle the table to get more tip opening, but there needs to be enough material under the table to do this. To get .010" at the tip, you need to lower the butt end of the table on the order of .030". So to open a lot of tip, you need to take a 3X a lot of material off the table. Often you end up cutting into the shank end of the mouthpiece. Also ligature fits get a lot looser.
With straight sidewalls you can do a lot more tip cutting. But opening a tip a lot will distort its shape. If the tip comes to a point during cutting, you need to file it back to get a more blunt edge. Then the piece and window gets shorter.
So if you want a wide tip vintage-style piece, I would say start with a modern HR Link as large as you can find.
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1,399 Posts
Listen to MoJo and Sigmund....
If you want a piece that big...
.140" for a tenor is a bit absurd, that's bigger than my Baritone saxophone mouthpiece, (Otto Link Hard Rubber 8, .120")
Buy it that way, if you can, I don't know if Babbitt's Otto Link even go's up that far...you would need to play on reeds that were strength 1,1 1/2, 2...for a piece that big ...and the sound would not have focus or center...
For the Tenor, most Rock, Jazz and Blues cats play on tips that are between .095" and .115, with the 2 most popular openings being
.105"(Link 7*) or .110" (Link 8)
I met Johnny Griffin who got his Metal Link 10 from Eddie "Lock-jaw" Davis,
down at the Village Vanguard, and he will play nothing else,
so every ones different...
Keep the Conn original and play some Classical on it.
Get a HR link in the facing of your choice and go from there.
If you want a piece that big...
.140" for a tenor is a bit absurd, that's bigger than my Baritone saxophone mouthpiece, (Otto Link Hard Rubber 8, .120")
Buy it that way, if you can, I don't know if Babbitt's Otto Link even go's up that far...you would need to play on reeds that were strength 1,1 1/2, 2...for a piece that big ...and the sound would not have focus or center...
For the Tenor, most Rock, Jazz and Blues cats play on tips that are between .095" and .115, with the 2 most popular openings being
.105"(Link 7*) or .110" (Link 8)
I met Johnny Griffin who got his Metal Link 10 from Eddie "Lock-jaw" Davis,
down at the Village Vanguard, and he will play nothing else,
so every ones different...
Keep the Conn original and play some Classical on it.
Get a HR link in the facing of your choice and go from there.
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