[stitch]

I have a (very) old Selmer piece with a small nick in the tip. Can anybody please advise me on the best repair method - solder in a small fillet? Use epoxy? Leave it to the experts ...!?

 

[Seasax]

perhaps try a small blob of silver solder, and gently file it down to be flush with the rest of the mouthpiece?

 

[potiphar]

Silver solder's 13% copper - maybe not a good idea to suck on that long term.

 

[Seasax]

sorry, i didn't think of that, perhaps some sort of high brass quantity brazing rod?

 

[stitch]

Silver solder's 13% copper - maybe not a good idea to suck on that long term.

I dunno, my tap water comes through copper pipes ...

 

[dburlone]

I'm no expert by any means but why not a good two part epoxy? I think once hardened most are safe for exposure. They can be durable, and are quite workable. Once partially hardened, you can work it like putty (body filler), and once fully hardened you can scrape/sand it.

Being "no expert by any means", if this were a mouthpiece that I really enjoyed and was my main player, I wouldn't do it by myself. I'd take the "opportunity" to get the mouthpiece first get repaired, and then have it "worked on", rails and tip balanced, flatten table, etc.

 

[Carl H.]

Does it play as-is? If so, I wouldn't touch it.

 

[MojoBari]

From the view of the tip rail, it does not look like it will affect how it plays. It could be filled with epoxy. Also the tip could be opened a little, which would make the tip rail thicker. Then the end could be filed down to make the tip rail thinner again. If the tip is now too open, it would need to be refaced by lowering the table.

 

[Stan]

In my opinion that mouthpiece should be refaced in any case. To remove the small bump, the way Mojo indicated (the second one) is the best one. Finally the mouthpiece can be silverplated and it will look and play better than ever.

Stan

 

[stitch]

Thanks to all, and especially to MojoBari (I was kind of hoping you'd chime in ).

From the view of the tip rail, it does not look like it will affect how it plays.

That's good news!

It could be filled with epoxy. Also the tip could be opened a little, which would make the tip rail thicker. Then the end could be filed down to make the tip rail thinner again. If the tip is now too open, it would need to be refaced by lowering the table.

Hmmm, well I'm looking to sell rather than keep it, so perhaps I'll leave that sort of thing to the next owner.

There was some discussion of this piece as a side issue in another thread and we wondered if the lack of inscription on the table meant it had already been lowered. I'm not experienced enough to tell; but perhaps as this is a very early piece (probably 1920's, and much earlier than the supposed first metal pieces shown in the online galleries), inscribing the table wasn't yet standard practice.