4C Clone Opened to 6.5

This mouthpiece was refaced for Arturo Riojas.

It was a straight forward job. The 4C makes a good jazz mouthpiece when opened up. I like it better than a Meyer.

Brilhart Level Air

This Brilhart Level Air was repaired for flute maker Bruce Bailey. This was a tough job requiring the use of industrial diamonds instead of sand paper. The tip was damaged by a previous refacer, and it was not possible to get a reading at the fulcrum. There was also a lot of decay on the table, underneath the window.

If you look closely at the pictures, you can see a little triangle at the bottom right of the table. This is the result of several hours of work moving the table. I felt lucky to even get a reading. The MPC was very unforgiving and difficult to work with. All the way till the end, it was playing very poorly. Using the diamond stone, I put curve back into the MPC and got a good solid reading.

This MPC is very warm for a Level Air. I got that sound by using a sander going down the middle of the baffle, then finishing it off with a knife.

Bruce liked the Level Air best of all the mouthpieces I did for him:

• "I tried the mouthpieces over the weekend and all are vastly improved. The metal tenor Brilhart is the best of the bunch! Thanks so much for the great work." Bruce Bailey

Brilhart Tonalin with Chip on Tip Rail

I refaced this MPC for Evghenii Botnar of Galicia, Spain. Originally, it looked like some mice had bit out the middle of the tip rail like a piece of cheese. It started as a 4 and ended as an 8.

The process:

• Reshape the tip with a large file.
• Reshape the baffle.
• Smooth transitions in chamber.
• Put on a new tip.
• Reshape the baffle near the tip.
• Put a new tip on.
• Put on a utility facing.
• Flatten the table.
• Play the MPC.
• Move the facing back while removing curve fulcrum stations.
• Pull facing to the left.
• Flatten table again.
• Play the MPC.
• Repeat the last few steps several times.

When some curve got back into the facing, it started performing much better.

This MPC projects very well with soft reeds. I like the feel of soft, vintage reeds on this MPC. An old Vibra Standard worked much better than a Rico 3.