how (selmer) mpcs are manufacture?

[saxophonedaniel]

hi

I am interested to know how a mpc is manufactured (especially Selmer)?
Are they all handmade?
Why they could be so different for the same model?

thanks

[Birdman]

On here:

http://www.selmer.fr/

You can see how the mouthpieces under the manufacturing section. You can switch the language in the upper right hand corner. Hope this helps!

-Birdman

[Stan]

On here:

http://www.selmer.fr/

You can see how the mouthpieces under the manufacturing section. You can switch the language in the upper right hand corner. Hope this helps!

-Birdman

45 minutes of craftsmanship? I need more than 5 hours to work and finish a mouthpiece to my specifications :D. Anyway it is quite impressive to see how they optimized the entire process. I like the way they cut the upper external part with a circular saw... it saves lot of time.
In any case there are no mouthpieces in the market completely made by hand, they at least need a lathe or a drilling machine or a polishing machine etc. etc to be manifactured. The question is: when can we consider a mouthpiece really Hand Made?

Stan

[Michael Ward]

I think 5 mins went into my S80 sop piece

[saxophonedaniel]

so what is the reason why mpc varies so much? I can see the rail uneven, I can see one side of the rail thicker than the other........etc....... and I guess there are lots of variation inside the chamber that we do not see easily.

Does other mpcs makers (say, Vandoren) doing the same? any info about other mpcs makers manufacturing process?

[Michael Ward]

There is some good information about mouthpiece manufacture on Clark Fobes website on his blog. Vandorens I believe are more consistant than Selmers but Selmer use much better rubber.

[Stan]

Thank you for the interesting link to the Fobes's blog. I also belive the most important part of a mouthpiece is its design and the quality of the craftsmanship. Concerning techniques if you need mass production, probably injection molding is the best way to make consistant mouthpieces.
Someone need a 3D project for injection molding or cnc machining? :D
All the best,

Stan

[J.Max]

There is some good information about mouthpiece manufacture on Clark Fobes website on his blog. Vandorens I believe are more consistant than Selmers but Selmer use much better rubber.

Define "better". Selmer mouthpieces are not consistent at all when it comes to the rubber they use. I've seen some that are hard as a rock, some that are very similar to Vandoren, and some that are so soft that on a new mouthpiece, my teeth scratch the top. I don't know if it's a problem with their vulcanization process or if they are using stock from different sources (more likely the latter) but there are definitely variations. The LTs are especially bad. (And that's the one Selmer piece that I really like.)

This problem is one of the reasons that I almost always recommend Vandoren over Selmer. At least Vandoren pieces seem to always be made from the same rubber. (Well, except for the blue and red ones...)