[diggerboy]

like everyone else finding the right mouthpiece is not easy. My friend came by a vintage Selmer soloist B* for his alto. I tried this on my yani and it did sound nice and was easy to blow, you can play for a long time witout lips becoming shot. there is a view that this piece has been re-worked but we cant prove that. Anyway through ebay I managed to get a vintage Selmer soloist (new) but there the plot thickens. It is only marked with a star and no letter. I have measured the tip opening as best I can and it is 0.045" I cant find that on any facing chart. What have I got? and can I get it re-worked to match my friends?:

 

[Carl H.]

If you can borrow your friends piece, any competent refacer should be able to duplicate the facing.

 

[Dave Dolson]

Diggerboy: Welcome to SOTW.

I agree with Carl.

Beyond that, Selmer only uses the * marking down to the C-facings. After that, they use D-E-F, etc. I'm guessing that Soloist piece you have is a C*, which is VERY popular (or maybe a B*, but I've never seen one of those). Maybe your friend's has already been opened beyond the standard B* opening. DAVE

 

[king koeller]

Something's not right here.
You say that you got a vintage Selmer soloist new.
New old stock?
or a new recreation of the vintage mouthpiece.
I believe that the smallest facing they made was the b*
so i 've never heard of a * alone facing.

Then you measured it as a .045"?
That's smaller then alot of clarinet mouthpieces.
Are you sure it's a .045" ??

 

[diggerboy]

Hi Guys
thankyou for your help. let me clarify a few points. this is a genuine vintage selmer piece. It looks as if it has not been used. at the end which fits onto the crook it has gold ring which is quite tarnished. there is definitely only a star marking and no sign of anything else. I measured the opening by placing the mouthpiece facing down on an inspection table and checked with a gauge the gap, so I confident that that figure 0.045 is true. I have tried playing the piece and it sounds sweet but chokes up very easy. Hope this helps

 

[CountSpatula]

Sounds like you just need a slightly harder reed...if I'm understanding what you mean by "chokes" correctly.

 

[diggerboy]

tried up to 31/2 but is still apt to close up. My main query was what have I got? the mouthpiece dimensions and notation does not seem to match with any charts, having no letter on it only a star. maybe I will just try to get it re-worked to match my friends piece.:?