Mouthpieces Vintage "Designed By Arnold Brilhart"....very very special indeed.

zannad · Aug 29, 2012

These sound really special...very warm and rich - difficult to explain really, one has to try (or maybe I've just found a real gem?).
Commonly black and unassumingly banal in it's appearances, it was inside the case of my newly bought Alto Conn Naked Lady. Initially I didn't make much of it and put aside thinking it was maybe another Ebolin-like without the white patch? (w-r-o-n-g)..."Designed By Arnold Brilhart? What? one day I'll check" I thought (totally unaware of the history of these Hard Rubber thing).
Then I played it...and no, it wasn't one of those stuffy vintage large chamber - this one really stands out from the crowd (and I've crowded 50 odds Alto mouthpieces by now) - the Metalite (another gem from the same master) got me because it's aggressiveness and versatility but this "Designed by.." is exactly the opposite with it's subliminal sweetness - of course there are many sweet sounding mouthpieces out there but still this DAB (short for Designed by...Arnold Brilhart - sorry) sounds preponderantly the sweetier and the most alluring of them all....how can something so similar to others sounds so different? Now I understand why some people are prepared to pay ££££ for a "piece of hard rubber!"
On close inspection, I can see that this very DAB must have been refaced and opened by some skilled professional - apart from the tell tale marks the rim of the tip is very thin (near sharp) - must be because it has been opened to the very limit...then there is the serial number - this one has only 3 digits!! (lucky me).

zannad · Aug 29, 2012

Which bear the question....
Is it worth keep buying lots of mouthpieces and hoping to find the occasional gem (in my case it took about 50 Mps to find a really good one)...or it is better perhaps to buy only a few of them and having a professional technician to adjust them to turn them into real winners?!
After the recent DAB experience described in my previous message I'm starting to shift my views for the latter option...
(sorry for replying to my own message).

kevgermany · Aug 30, 2012

If the trial ones are cheap and you can move them on at small cost, your first option is still good. There's also option 3 - talk to a good mouthpiece guy and get one custom made.

zannad · Aug 30, 2012

kevgermany said:
If the trial ones are cheap and you can move them on at small cost, your first option is still good. There's also option 3 - talk to a good mouthpiece guy and get one custom made.

That option 3 is very similar to option 2...
About option 1: the problem with "trials ones" is that the testing has no real ending...there are so many variants out there (and the player himself) - some MPs sounds cxxp one day and more than acceptable the next...surely I'm making some progress and some of these mouthpieces are going to be sold soon but it's a slow process...
Ideally, one should find 4-6 mouthpieces to cover different styles. The selected MPs should already meet some basic criteria (most of the subjective of course); then we'd have to spend several afternoons with a technician while modifying and testing on the go...in terms of costs and time this might be the better solution - but then one has to find a good technician...

Steve Marshall · Oct 18, 2022

Pictures would be nice.
It does sound like a refaced piece - in which case there is some uncertainty over whether it was a professional job or not. If you buy 100 more they will likely be different to a refaced piece - unless the refacer opted to copy a facing from a previous chart they have.
Brilharts can be nice, bit they are usually plastic and can wear in odd ways and chip or crack. The better playing ones I've seen have probably been ones that had the facing touched up a bit.
I would try and get a mouthpiece that suits you - as near as. Reface if/ when it's worn or if its uneven. Unless it's vintage, you can get most of the sizes which may cost less than mouthpiece + a reface.

I don't think having 4-6 mouthpieces for different styles is an ideal. There's a masterclass with Bill Evans playing his Guardala producing different sounds just by altering his embouchure a bit. The usual thing is to get a decent mouthpiece and stick with it.

We do tend to have more than one piece. It can be handy to have a bright piece and something warmer so you can cover small groups and maybe big band scenarios. But if you have a decent sound one should do. Look at players like Bob Reynolds. Still playing on the same Link he got years ago - sounds great.

rhysonsax · Oct 18, 2022

Steve Marshall said:
Pictures would be nice.
It does sound like a refaced piece - in which case there is some uncertainty over whether it was a professional job or not. If you buy 100 more they will likely be different to a refaced piece - unless the refacer opted to copy a facing from a previous chart they have.
Brilharts can be nice, bit they are usually plastic and can wear in odd ways and chip or crack. The better playing ones I've seen have probably been ones that had the facing touched up a bit.
I would try and get a mouthpiece that suits you - as near as. Reface if/ when it's worn or if its uneven. Unless it's vintage, you can get most of the sizes which may cost less than mouthpiece + a reface.

I don't think having 4-6 mouthpieces for different styles is an ideal. There's a masterclass with Bill Evans playing his Guardala producing different sounds just by altering his embouchure a bit. The usual thing is to get a decent mouthpiece and stick with it.

We do tend to have more than one piece. It can be handy to have a bright piece and something warmer so you can cover small groups and maybe big band scenarios. But if you have a decent sound one should do. Look at players like Bob Reynolds. Still playing on the same Link he got years ago - sounds great.