refacing

[fusionjazzmadman]

I was wondering about refacing a mouthpiece. How much does it cost? Does it affect the tone? What is it you actually do when refacing? Please reply i'm very curious.

[markieg]

Refacing can include repairing a chipped mouthpiece or modifying the tip opening, shelf, baffle, chamber, or anything else about the mouthpiece, but usually the front of it. For a more classical tone go with a more closed tip and jazz go with a more open tip. If you don't want to change the tone of the mpc, leave it as it is. Opening up the mouthpiece involves shaving off some of the tip and closing it involves putting more material on it. Usually you just want to buy a mpc that works well as is.

[MojoBari]

It also can be just a hand finishing for a mass produced mouthpiece. Irregularities in the facing curve and the rest of the piece are corrected so the piece responds better.

[Johannes Gerber]

Mojobari is right, JVW once said 'EVERY' mass produced piece out there needs to be fixed. This came up when I asked him why he don't think about his own line mpc's. This includes all the big brands.

[David Spiegelthal]

Not only does nearly every mass-produced mouthpiece need to be individually worked on by a refacer, I've also been sent a few "custom" mouthpieces, supposedly hand-made by a very well-known maker (who shall remain nameless here), which were rather poorly finished and played about the way they looked --- and these were not cheap mouthpieces by any means....