Mouthpieces Broken! The story of a fallen mouthpiece.

[SEAsax]

Getting ready to practice I fumbled with my neck strap sending my mouthpiece to the tile floor. The corner of the rail is now broken. While it feels like I'm the only person to ever experience this ignominious feat, I know that isn't the case.

Questions:
Can this be fixed?
Will it sound the same if it can?

Related to this subject, the mouthpiece in question is a vintage Selmer Soloist C**. It now occurs to me that I need a backup mouthpiece for just such circumstances. I can find both C* and C** mouthpieces on eBay. Can anyone explain the difference? Also, my C** looks different than the ones I'm spotting online, in particular the "C**" on mine is located on the table, while the others seems to have it imprinted on the body.

Any other advice regarding this is greatly appreciated, as is your sympathy because right now I feel like hurling something at a wall.

 

[Jeanette]

So sorry to hear that, it is so annoying, I know how upset I was when I put a dent in my sax.

Jx

 

[Ads]

I accidently dropped my Custom Prototype LAW (Lawrie Waldren) Large Chamber alto 7 into the sink when cleaning it doing £115`s worth of damage (thankfully being metal it was repairable, but then a HR one wouldn`t have bent) , I was fortunate that Morgan fry was able to not only knock it back into shape but even improve the response as well , this mouthpiece is both irreplaceable (it was a Prototype & Lawrie doesn`t make MPcs anymore) and has kicked the snot out of anything I`ve compared it to ..

I hope you manage to find another Soloist, at least its possible as it was an off the shelf production piece and still is if they can be setup to perform the same as the old ones .

 

[kevgermany]

The early soloists are well into collector territory and can fetch silly prices.

C** is slightly wider than C*.

The size is on the table on earlier models. Not sure if anything changed when the markings moved off the table.

Check the throat, there were round and horseshoe shaped, with different sounds. If you've got a round throat, there was a later model that reintroduced it, at the request of one of the big names, can't remember which, but they had his initials on them.

Can probably be fixed and still sound the same. Try Ed Pillinger or Morgan Fry. Ed also offers an exact replica service, so you can always have an identical spare available. Not sure if Morgan does.

 

[kevgermany]

Was Larry Teal who got the round throat re-introduced. So LT stamped.

 

[SEAsax]

The early soloists are well into collector territory and can fetch silly prices.

Define silly.

 

[RichardF]

150 pounds inc vat but it sounds excellent on a yts61

 

[SEAsax]

Okay, I can live with that considering I live in a country where mouthpieces in general are harder to come by, good ones even more so. I saw a vintage Soloist F for $1500 and was starting to sweat.

 

[kevgermany]

Try looking at eBay USA to see what I mean. There are some 'dealers' there who see vintage and think big bucks. A lot more than the 150 mentioned already. But approaching what you've seen.

 

[kevgermany]

As a stopgap, the new D'Addario is very good. Haven't tried the new PPT alto yet. I think you'll find the modern soloists quite different.

 

[jazzdoh]

I accidently dropped my Custom Prototype LAW (Lawrie Waldren) Large Chamber alto 7 into the sink

They must be slippery mouthpieces because i dropped one of mine in the sink too,fortunately Lawrie lives near me and he was able to put it right.

 

[Ads]

I couldn`t find anyway of contacting him - thankfully Morgan Fry did a sterling job on it .

 

[Justin Chune]

Here you go. http://cafesaxophone.com/threads/selmer-soloist-c-tenor-mouthpiece.12926/

Jim.

 

[SEAsax]

Here you go. http://cafesaxophone.com/threads/selmer-soloist-c-tenor-mouthpiece.12926/

Jim.

Thanks, but that's a tenor, I need an alto.

 

[Colin the Bear]

£95 new, so expensive but not the end of the world
http://www.woodbrass.com/en/bec-sax...bfnCRQgCaRaSBwTjIZaSuc8fndF7gSLhMoaAtvU8P8HAQ

Alto comparison chart
http://www.saxophon-service.de/homep/mundverg/vergl-as.html

My vintage lelandais split on me. Right down the middle of the beak.
I managed to repair it with waterweld. It was delicate work and painstakingly intricate to level the table and reface the lay. It plays a little differently now so I must have altered something.

 

[Justin Chune]

I once did the same with my Selmer clarinet mouthpiece and since then I work with mouthpieces over a carpet. Selmer alto mouthpieces open up in increments of 4 thous of an inch.

Good luck with your search.

Jim.

 

[SEAsax]

My guy here in Saigon says the mouthpiece is unfixable. I'm devastated.

If anyone knows where I might find a replacement, I would be grateful. I've been cautioned about eBay and other sites like that because of the uncertainty of finding one that's undamaged or authentic.

 

[SEAsax]

£95 new, so expensive but not the end of the world
http://www.woodbrass.com/en/bec-sax...bfnCRQgCaRaSBwTjIZaSuc8fndF7gSLhMoaAtvU8P8HAQ

Alto comparison chart
http://www.saxophon-service.de/homep/mundverg/vergl-as.html

Thanks, but I'm looking for a vintage one first if I can track one down. The money isn't my priority. Not really sure what I'm looking at with the chart.

 

[ProfJames]

I have bought many mpcs from eBay and never had any problems. Will keep an eye out for you for your vintage Selmer Soloist C**

 

[ProfJames]

Here is one http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Sol...430?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4634863d26