[Barnyard]

Hey I have stumbled across a tenor piece marked:

"Airflow, Selmer, New York" on the back.
"France" in small on the side.
"C" marked on the table.
"43162" marked on the other side.

It has a narrow metal ring around the bottom but it is flush to the shank (not round). Large circular bore, very scooped sidewalls, no baffle.

The things I have found but cannot verify:
Johnston New York - but does not say Johnston
"43162" - is a 43L 162mm opening Brand refacing. If this is true the opening is about right (161) but the length is 38left and 42 right so maybe not much of a "refacing".

A nice HR vintage large chamber small opening piece but I cannot seem to place it in the "normal" Selmer Airflow model progression.

Would appreciate it if anyone can help place it.
Thanks,

 

[EZ]

Very interesting! I collect these old stuffy dogs and have five different tenor versions, but have never seen one like you have. Cool!

As far as it not matching the facing indicators precisely, that's fairly typical. These old Selmer pieces were never faced particularly well. Kind of dead sounding, most are. The bore on yours looks to be more the medium-large bore than the very large bore on some of the older ones, so I am guessing this one was from the later period.

 

[Barnyard]

Thanks EZ.

I am starting to doubt that the 43162 is a refacing number.
This piece looks original and on the Saxquest Ebay piece that had the same number marking it was also noted that it did not look like a reface.

The small "France" marking is also interesting to me as I assumed that the Selmer New York pieces were made over here.

My Handcrafts respond well to the larger chamber but my mouth not so much to a number 4+ reed.

Have you had any success reducing the stuffiness by simply increasing the tip openings or is a baffle required?
i.e can they be "easily" converted towards a slant sig link or NY meyer.

 

[EZ]

That number is very likely the Brand facing number. The numbers were put on at the factory - not on account of a reface.

Opening up the pieces and getting a proper facing on them really helps a lot. The beaks are pretty tall, so it would be more Linkish than Meyerish when finished.

I have kept my Airflows "mostly" original, but have reworked some - including reducing the height of the beak so it's slightly more focused. WAY less stuffy!

 

[gwindplayer]

The early Selmer USA mouthpieces were marked Johnston-Selmer, New York and were serialized. It is most likely that the number 43162 that you are curious about is a serial number, especially since the facing indication of C already appears on the table. Too much technical info would not be intelligent marketing and just serve to confuse the average consumer. The Johnston maker indication was later dropped and Selmer USA mouthpieces were either Selmer, New York or Selmer, Elkhart.