Saxophone mouthpiece services...

You may ask yourself: "Why is it necessary to reface my saxophone mouthpiece? Wasn't it finished properly in the factory?"

This may seem a bit over the edge, but experience has shown me that most saxophone mouthpieces need to be hand finished by a master to obtain a balanced, working mouthpiece. Even some of the 'custom' made mouthpieces sometimes have serious flaws. Just go to your local music store and test a few mouthpieces of the same model... and you'll experience the inconsistency... or some would hardly be playable at all.

Common flaws include: flat spots in the facing curve, unbalanced rails, a tip rail that doesn't match the contour of the reed, tables that won't keep a seal with a reed... to mention but a few.

Typical problem : Coarse machine marks on the table and rails of a famous make mouthpiece

These flaws cause many problems and might frustrate you, and influence your playing negatively. A few common causes are squeaking, a stuffy feeling with a weak sound, no power or volume, too much resistance, a tone that breaks up when pushed, reeds that start leaking after a few minutes, intonation problems, an uneven tone through the registers and hard to achieve altissimo. These are just the basic problems.

The one reason for these flaws are that mass production doesn't allow the craftsman to spend enough time finishing one mouthpiece properly. The other reason is that most of today's craftsmen simply don't have the knowledge and skills required.

Besides a badly finished mouthpiece, (like most pieces we see), a mouthpiece can also wear out over time. Because of the constant pounding of the reed, the rails and especially tip rail wears down after time, losing its accuracy, and losing its original good sound.

Another reason for refacing a mouthpiece is to adjust it to suit an individual's playing style and physics. We all are very different and one man's bread might be another's poison.

A worn out tip rail on a Broadus alto mouthpiece - before and after refacing

"What is refacing and how is it done?"

Refacing is the term used for removing small amounts of material at very specific areas in the mouthpiece. This comes down to fine-tuning the facing and table, the window, baffle and rails - balancing them for optimum performance characteristics (even response and reed friendliness) and sound (even, balanced sound in all registers)

After achieving the goals of some top players, I'm confident to say that I can help you reach your goals too.

I've learned how different players are and how some use a lot of air and others a lot less.

For most of my clients I use a standard set of rules, which gives a balanced sound, with very consistent and even response.

In the event that you are a pro player looking for something specific, whether it be an experiment or your personal style, I can achieve that too.

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Full reface...

Reconstructing of the table

Reconstructing the facing curve + tip opening (extra fee for changing tip opening)

Reshaping the window

Reshaping the inner and outer side rails

Cutting the baffle to achieve the best overall sound and a full and easy high register.

Cutting the tip rail and shaping tip area to match most reeds perfectly. ( 'most' because some reeds are not cut symmetrically (skew) )

 

Great Neck NY Brilhart mouthpiece that came to me after someone tried to modify it...before and after my work.

 

Full Restoration...

Full Reface + Reshaping and finishing of the beak, shank and body. Optional requests welcome...

24K hard gold plating for brass/bronze mouthpieces. I control the whole plating process and I've learnt to evenly plate a mouthpiece by the correct placement of the anodes. This ensures no changes in accuracy after plating. This service is only available with the full restoration.

Full restoration - Florida STM Link, incl. refacing, new green biteplate, 24K gold plating

Prices...

Full Reface...

 

 

Copyright © 2007 Johannes Gerber.......Visitor

All photos, text and graphical material are the property of Johannes Gerber, the photographer and creator of this website.