Berg 130/1 soprano mpc!

[aanz]

I saw it with my own eyes today, a vintage HR Berg soprano mpc with an original 130/1 facing. Any body out there have the chops for it?

[dolphyo]

:lol: yeah man, i probably can :!: without too much trouble. i played on a berg soprano 105/0 for 12 years so i guess that counts. that is the biggest i heard of though? i know runyon once made a custom at a whopping .130 for a new orleans player. i once went in that direction for a time experimenting. then i found out with softer reeds, short lay, loose emboucher. i got what i needed.

[Henk]

I used to play a 110/2 for a few years. When I measured it eventually, it turned out to be more like a .95. That's what I still play, only now on a modified metal Selmer with a short facing and a soft reed. I didn't think there would be more of us that have discovered this approach to the soprano ;-)

[dolphyo]

hey henk, yes there can't be many at all with short,loose,soft,large setup. i use too read your old posts and wondered about it? of course we both like steve lacy! so that explains it. i first saw him in 76 at environ loft in manhatten and then at the old soundscape loft. great times and really schooled me on improvisation in the modern vein. now 30 years later when i hear soprano,its still lacy. very weird because everyone else on soprano sounds wrong! i have a few other favorites but, nothing compares especially steve's compositions.

[Henk]

Hi dolphyo, yes, steve lacy is the reason. His sound on the album with gil evans on piano and electric piano (paris blues, or two cats) is the standard to which i always used to compare. I got spoiled i guess, there's not many other soprano saxofonists that i like. I actually went to take a lesson with steve lacy a few years back. that's when i noticed his mpc had a short facing (to the eye, i didn't have stuff with me to measure it. And that's when i started experimenting with modifying mpcs in that direction. A short facing helps the high notes and pitch stability, but normally makes the low notes harder to get. On a straight soprano these are very easy anyway, especially with a large tip and soft reed, so that's not really something to worry about.
You know what? Over the last year i tried the same thing on tenor: short facing, large tip (.120), rails widened to take a baritone reed(!) to make the low notes easier and the sound fatter. I sold my Florida Link.
So what mpc do you currently play on soprano?

[dolphyo]

yo henk. well i have a otto link slant signature originally a 6* but opened to a .90 short lay, a otto link babbitt was a 9* now a .90 short shank,short lay, large chamber. a ponzol trad rubber mpc that was a .65 now a .90 short lay,short shank,large chamber. all customized by mojobari and yet tonally sound close but different. my two links are sweet. the slant sig seems harder? :idea:

[dolphyo]

by the way. my soprano is a selmer super action 80 series2 400,000 range from 1987. very sweet. had jason dumars do custom engravings on it. its on his website,the one with the angel blowing a horn.

[Henk]

yo dolphyo, these sound like nice pieces. I never opened up the slant sig links i had, but i didn't like them as they were. Very stuffy and a little off pitchwise in the high register. I don't know whether you already knew: steve lacy's mpc is a custom link 12 (.90) that is not a slant sig, but not a modern link either. It has a rectangular chamber, like a Selmer s80, a large bore, short shank, and the roof if rather steep (almost like an old buescher). It has a rollover baffle. So between your two Links you should find that sound somewhere :-) I'd be curious to know what blank was used for this piece. I have never seen another link like it. I do have a link with a rectangular chamber, but it is quite different in all other respects.

My soprano is a first series SA80, serial 373xxx. I also have a series 3 with both an old and a new neck (solid silver with booster), but i hardly use it.
BTW Ripamonti (Italian company) makes a nice thumbrest! Very comfortable to play once you get used to it, which is important to me, because after a few hours the straight sop does become a little heavy on my thump. You can order them online.

[dolphyo]

thanks for the info henk. you and i could talk for hours. i'll on the ripamonti thumb rest. right now i use the brass sax alley t.r. very good and important cause the hand does go numb when you play that much soprano. ole!

[dolphyo]

its nice too see and know someone on the same journey! you say you do your own reface work,henk? how good are you if i may ask. i have an old french riffault soprano mpc that i use for classical noodling.sounds very rich and big. it could really be a great blank to open up the way we like. maybe a selmer s80 if the reface job was really precise. thats why i use mojobari. he really puts everything into it. i know dave liebman uses a s80 now with cane reeds. i went to a few of his clinics. the man is intense in a good way. :idea:

[Henk]

I am enjoying the company as well :D I have done a lot of refacing, primarily for my own use, as you can't usually buy large tip soprano pieces off the shelf. And here in Holland there aren't any refacers that I know of. I did some work for other saxophone players here in the Netherlands as well. Since becoming a father a few months ago I gave up on refacing. I don't have the time, and I am trying to concentrate on playing and bringing in some money with a day job for a few days a week.
I am more than satisfied with the mpcs on all my horns (sop, tenor, bass), so I don't have a need to continue either. I have come to the point that I have made mpcs that FOR ME play better than some pieces that Theo Wanne refaced for me, or a Florida Link I had. So I sold those (except some Berg soprano pieces that Theo made for me, although I don't play them anymore).
I think Mojobari has developed into a real professional. I learned quite a lot from the refacing forum he has set up, and that he puts a lot of effort into, and I am impressed by the quality of his work (judging from a series of pictures he has set up on his site). Anything I could do, he could do I am sure. I don't think it's necessary, but I could send him (or you) the measurements and details of my favorite mpc, if you'd be interested. I may also have some pieces lying around that I don't use anymore. Not all of them are cosmetically perfect, but they do play. Riffaults are nice blanks. I once opened up a S80, drilled out the rectangular chamber, and added a small, straight rollover baffle. It played very nicely, especially with Lavoz reeds.

Liebman's mpc was in a friend's shop some time ago, so i had the opportunity to measure it. It's an S80 opened to .90 (!), original chamber, with a small chip in the tiprail and uneven siderails(!). It had a straight rollover baffle. He sounded just fine though in the concert! Oh, he had a box of Alexander DC 2,5s in his case. Now that I think of it, Liebman, Shorter and Lacy all play very large tip openings on soprano! Well, it would be a little pretentious to say that we are in good company (but I just did :? ).

[Dr G]

I once opened up a S80, drilled out the rectangular chamber, and added a small, straight rollover baffle.

Hah! I had an old Soloist that Dave Guardala modified - he squared the chamber and shortened the shank. I understood the shortened shank - it worked just right on my TrueTone. Squaring the chamber remains a mystery - it was modified for someone other than me and I never got the story behind it. :lol:

[MojoBari]

Quark, anti-quark, ying and yang.... :D

[Henk]

antimatter constructions ....

[dolphyo]

hello henk, please tell me more about your soprano measurements and also the mpcs you don't use anymore,but please email me privately at;dolphytone@hotmail.com congratulations on the new baby. i know what you mean about no time. between that,the house,day job,and playing gigs in n.y.c. with friends. there is no time. good luck friend

[Henk]

And I have two days of recording sessions in addition to all that :shock: . I'll contact you after that.