Introduction to Modern

Mouthpiece Refacing
Techniques

Keith W. Bradbury
Mojo Mouthpiece Work LLC
January 23, 2009
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 Skills Needed to Hand Finish a
Mouthpiece
• Be analytical
– Having an engineering/ technical degree helps.
– Listen to sound and what people say.
– Take measurements and keep notes.
– Learn/develop theories why stuff works.
– Try stuff, evaluate the results.
• Be a craftsman
– Acquire proper gauges and tools.
– Be good with your hands, tools and methods.
– Take pride in your work.

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 Skills Needed to Hand Finish a
Mouthpiece [cont]
• Be a player
– Do not need to know classical/jazz theory or
be a reader. Just have command of the horn.
– Have a developed embouchure.
– Play a variety of styles.
– Be a doubler, own all the horns.
• Have experience
– Have a great teacher/mentor.
– Be able to learn on your own.

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 Available Literature
• Band Instrument Repairing Manual
by Erick D. Brand (1939, 1942, 1945, 1946)
– Available from Ferrees Tool
– Contains 21 pages on mouthpiece work
• The Saxophone is my voice by Ernest
Ferron (1997)
– Contains 13 pgs on mouthpiece acoustics
– Has lots of easy-to-understand sax science
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 Available Literature [cont]
• Woodwind Mouthpiece Selection
by Robert Scarff (2002)
– A good book for those who are not web
surfers
• Clarinet and Saxophone Mouthpieces
by Professor Anton Weinberg (2008)
– Comes off as detailed mouthpiece catalog
descriptions

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 Available Literature [cont]
• Ph.D. Thesis: An Acoustical Study of Alto
Saxophone Mouthpiece Chamber Design
by Frederick Sterns “Larry” Wyman (1972)
– Available for download on the web
– 180 pages of empirical studies documentation
• Fundamentals of Musical Acoustics
by Arthur H. Benade (1990)
– 596 page college text

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 Noteworthy Web Sites
• MojoMouthpieceWork.com – has Link to:
• Yahoo Mouthpiece Work Group - see the
Links, Files, Photos, Posts on tools,
spreadsheets and methods
• TheoWanne.com
• Mouthpieceworks.com
• forum.saxontheweb.net

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 Basic Tools
• Glass Gage – Unique to facing work
• Feeler Gages – Large sizes too
• Tip Gage – Calipers are a good start
• Work Surface – 3/8” x 9” x 11” glass plate
• Sandpaper – 220-600 grit
• Half Round Tapered Needle File
• PC with spreadsheet program

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 What to start on?
• Measure, Measure, Measure
• Plot curves - Look and correlate good playing
mouthpieces with curve shapes.
• Also consider design features
– Baffle shape, sides shape, throat size
• Experiment with temporary putty in a
mouthpiece to try different baffle shapes
• Reverse Engineering!
• Read posts on Yahoo Mouthpiece Work Site
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 Flattening a Mouthpiece Table
• Benefits: air tight seal, less
reed picky
• Problem: facing gets short
• Check the table flatness
– Straight edge

– Light sandpaper scuff

– Optional concavity to
account for reed swell

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 Flattening a Mouthpiece Table [cont]

• Why flattening and closing a tip is tricky

– Free body diagram forces
– Push/pull technique not a good idea

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 Flattening a Mouthpiece Table [cont]

• Flattening concave
tables – common in
Babbit Links and Meyers

– Straight edge

– 3-point contact…
scuff pattern growth

– Bias force to table

heel unless closing
tip
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 Flattening a Mouthpiece Table [cont]

• Flattening convex tables –

usually from bad hand finishing
– Straight edge

– Light sandpaper scuff

– Can try to make concave first

– Bias your hand forces and

watch scuffs

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 Flattening a Mouthpiece Table [cont]

• Angling a table to open a tip

– ~3:1 heel to tip ratio
– Need to remove a lot of heel material
– Need to trim the table width
– Ligature will get loose

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 Facing Curve Analysis
• Measurements

Using a glass gage and

a set of feeler gages.

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 Facing Curve Analysis [cont]
• Plots

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 Facing Curve Analysis [cont]
• Radial curve
formulation
– Diagram
– Formula
– Compare to
measurements

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 Facing Curve Analysis [cont]
• Theo Wanne’s “The Ring”
– Polynomial formulation
– Requires extensive data set

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 Facing Curve Analysis [cont]
• Elliptical curve
formulation
– Diagram
– Formula
– Compare to
measurements
– Becomes radial when
A=B=R
– Good resistance when
A/B > 1
– See family of curves
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 Tenor Elliptical Facing Curves

50.0
Series1
Series2
Series3
40.0 Series4
Series5
Series6
Glass Gage [mm*2]

Series7
30.0
Series8

20.0

10.0

0.0
0.0000 0.0200 0.0400 0.0600 0.0800 0.1000 0.1200
Feeler [inch]

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 Facing Curve Analysis [cont]
• Power of using a spreadsheet:
• Graphical picture
– Shows large measurement errors
– Shows facing defects vs ideal curves
– Helps create a plan
– Shows refacing progress
– Useful like an X-ray, MRI, Cat scan…
• Plug in any feeler gage set and glass gage
• Can change plan as you go
• Overlay other curves that a client likes
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 Spreadsheet Example

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 Spreadsheet Example [cont]

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 Spreadsheet Example [cont]

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