Who should I send my mouthpiece to?

[Eulipion2]

I just bought a JodyJazz 11 from a SOTW member (Thanks Jim!!! ), and I'm loving it! The only problem I have is the tip opening is just a little too close, so I want it opened up to around a 12. Who should I send the piece to? I'd say my best (and least expensive) bets would be Jody, Runyon, and Paul Coats. I've sent a piece to Paul before, to have the facing worked on, but not opened or closed, and was very pleased, but I've heard of great customer support from the other two as well. Anyone care to weigh in on this? Paul, if you read this, do you reface as well as tweak?
Thanks

[MojoBari]

As far as I know, Jody does not hand finish or reface mouthpieces. Runyon opens up pieces very inexpensively, but I do not know what they include in their scope of work.

[newking70]

Try MojoBari - he seems to get great reviews from sotw members, i'am considering having him do a mp for me.........

[Sigmund451]

Ive too have never heard anything but praise for mojo. Thats an expensive piece. I wouldnt go budget. Mojo seems to know the ins and outs of things and is very knowledgeable. I would trust him with my piece $350 piece of jewelry (those JJ's sure are finished nice). Excellent communicator who appears to have much integrity. Ive heard good things about Paul as well.

I dont think I would go to Runyon...I would question the kind of individual attention you might receive. I think it matters in critical cases like this.

[Paul Coats]

Yes, and I can duplicate the contour of the JJ facing when I open your mouthpiece, and blend the baffle into the new, larger tip opening. Contact me at my email below.

[tinpalaceroach]

yes i can speak for mojobari's work and integrity. it is A#1. MOJO ,runyon factory mpcs are good but when you ask for real custom/exact mpcs they just simply dial in the sizes/tolerences in their machine when time/schedule permits. you have a couple of examples in there amber soprano customs. mr. leroy at the factory will bend a little and do what you want but theirs is really little or no handwork/reface done at the opelousas factory. that would have to a very special request. in theory i liked the runyon mpcs but in practice they didn't supply the goods. i even sent them to the late j.v.w. to correct them. in hoorroor he didn't want to be bothered. they were really bad,too narrow a table, too long a facing, and so on. i'm not bashing runyons, but if you really want middle of the road(comfortable,safe) then by all means try them. if a real custom job will get the job done like a hand tailored suit. let someone like mojo,expand the possibilities.

[Paul Coats]

Actually, when a mouthpiece is sent to be refaced, Leroy does this by hand.

For the student models, 22's, 88's, that are made in very limited sizes, 3-5, there is no hand baffle work needed. That all is contoured correctly for those facing sizes.

But for the other models, where facing sizes would be from 4-12 (or larger), that is just too much range, and it is necessary for the baffle to be hand filed (and then polished, so you can't see the file marks) for each and every mouthpiece. This includes Customs, XL's, Quantums, etc, all of the pro models.

For all models there is a lot of hand work. When the molded plastic blank comes out of the molding machine, there is no table, no facing, no tip, and a big sprue sticking out. That sprue is cut off, and the area ground down, then polished.

The body is put in the facing machine to be faced. The tip rail is always quite wide, at this point. The tip contour must be filed to shape. The baffle must be filed to flow up from the chamber into a nicely defined tip rail.

The logo is painted in on the Customs, white enamel.

Then the mouthpiece is buffed on large buffing wheels, with rouge. This brings it to a high shine.

For clarinet mouthpieces, a groove is cut for the cork. Cork strips are cut on a die cutting machine. The grooves and corks are painted with contact cement, and the shanks are corked, and then sanded (turned on a mandrel).

Logos, sizes, model names, are branded on after laying on a piece of gold leaf. This melts the plastic, and burns the gold into the plastic. The excess leaf is buffed off.

Mouthpieces are inspected all along the process, and rejected at any point if not perfect.

The spoiler inserts are filed along the edges to fit in a precise manner, each spoiler done individually.

And at the end of the day, Leroy hand faces mouthpiece for customers that have sent them in for such work, and does other repairs as requested.

To watch how they file the baffle, then make the file marks disappear, looking like it was molded that way, is amazing.