![\"metal](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bassic-sax.info\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Selmer-Logo-Printing.jpg?ssl=1\" "\\"Selmer-Logo-&-Printing\\""){kind=logo}
<\/a><\/p>\nBecause of its small bore, it didn’t work for the Toneking, but David suggested I take it home anyway, and try it on some of my other altos. I knew immediately that I wanted to try it on my 1930s Pierret.<\/p>\n
When I got home, I did a bit of Internet research, and landed on Google Patents, which was most helpful. There I found US Patent 1,789,639<\/a>, issued to Henri Selmer, on January 20, 1931. That patent was for a mouthpiece and ligature. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n This is how Henri Selmer described the pieces in his patent application:<\/p>\n This invention relates to improvements in wind instruments, and more particularly to mouthpieces for saxophones or the like.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It has been the usual practice in constructing such mouthpieces, to merge the tone chamber into a relatively smaller bore, and to insert the neck of the saxophone or the like, into such bore. Such a construction provides pockets or recesses which interfere with the passage of the sound from the tone chamber into the body of the instrument. The primary object of the present invention is to furnish a mouthpiece having an internal tubular extension, the bore of which forms a clear unobstructed passageway that extends into the ordinary nipple which projects from the discharge end of the mouthpiece. As such tubular extension is spaced from the inner surface of the nipple, an annular recess is provided within the mouthpiece to receive the neck of the instrument, without forming cavities or pockets which will interfere with the tone of the instrument.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A further object is to provide a mouthpiece with an improved reed holder or ligature, which maintains an even pressure on the reed without marring the latter.<\/p>\n Source: Google Patents<\/a><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n This smaller bore is really well illustrated in the following shot. Below is a comparison of the Selmer fluted mouthpiece and my Runyon Custom. No calipers required to see the difference in bore sizes.<\/p>\n Unfortunately the patented ligature is no longer with this piece. When it got broken or lost, it was replaced with a Selmer ligature.<\/p>\n As the Mouthpiece Museum stated, this Selmer alto mouthpiece does appear to be silver-plated brass. Quite a bit of the silver plating has come off and the brass is now showing through.<\/p>\n Compare the photo above to the diagram in Henri Selmer’s original patent application. Do you see a difference? I don’t see a difference. (The missing lig notwithstanding of course.)<\/p>\n Source: Google Patents<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n When I actually dug out my Pierret, I was surprised to see that I had put painter’s tape around the cork. Apparently when Layne Francis<\/a> restored the horn for me in Halifax, he put a very thin cork on the neck. I was excited to see this, because it meant that I might actually get to try this mouthpiece out.<\/p>\n After taking off the painter’s tape, the mouthpiece slid onto the neck cork of my Pierret perfectly. It was as if this horn had been waiting the last 10 years for this piece to arrive. When I blew the first few notes, I realized that the horn was sounding much different than it ever did before.<\/p>\n I had always played the Pierret with my Runyon, and while it always sounded like a 1930s saxophone, I didn’t realize it could sound even more vintage than it already did. With this Selmer alto mouthpiece on it, my Pierret sounds like a dark, classical saxophone from the 1930s.<\/p>\n Overtones? What overtones? Any few that the Pierret might have had, seem to have vanished with the use of this piece.<\/p>\n Here are the rest of the photos I took of this vintage, fluted, Selmer alto mouthpiece:<\/p>\nngg_shortcode_0_placeholder\n I will need to spend some time with the piece and see what it will and will not do. Sadly, because I play my Pierret so infrequently, I didn’t realize that it had a serious leak at the low D key. Therefore any notes below that are almost impossible to play. A quick stop at David’s will fix that no problem. I’m just afraid of what I’ll bring home next… I must resist temptation… In the next few days I’ll write about the Pierret tenor I brought home from David’s the other day as well. Also on trial. See what I mean about temptation? David Gsponer is not only my repair tech, he is also one of the nicest and most honest people who I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. David has owned and operated Matterhorn Music<\/a> in its current location since 2006, and I’ve been taking my horns to him almost since he opened shop. David maintains my vintage babies for me, and makes them play at their best. I wouldn’t think of taking my horns anywhere else.<\/p>\n Update June 2024<\/strong>: Theo Wanne has completely redone his Mouthpiece Museum. While many of the former MP brands are no longer represented, Selmer is, and he now has this model in HR and metal showing, complete with original price list from 1921<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On Friday I went to pick up a couple of my saxophones from my repair tech, David. Because I’m still not quite satisfied with the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36631,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[94],"tags":[625,646,683,644,75,629,343],"class_list":["post-36627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-accessories-saxophone","tag-alto-saxophone","tag-on-line-resources","tag-patents","tag-photos","tag-saxophone-mouthpieces","tag-selmer","tag-vintage-accessories"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\tAre you bored yet, of all this talk about bores?<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\nInteresting, but how does this Selmer alto mouthpiece play, and what does it sound like?<\/h2>\n
More Selmer alto mouthpiece pics<\/h2>\n
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