Anatomy of a Meyer Reface

Here are a few pictures detailing a typical reface of a modern Meyer alto piece, with the aim of making it play more like a Meyer NYUSA vintage piece (the shape of the modern Meyers is very similar to that of the later NYUSA pieces). This is one I recently did for Jamie Talbot.

This is what we started with:

There are some obvious and some less than obvious problems with the piece, (rather, a mix of problems and "design choices" that differ from the better playing vintage pieces):

• The facing is a little too long.
• The sidewalls are too straight.
• The baffle is too short and too low.
• The throat is too narrow.
• The rails are too thick (more to the point, the window is too narrow).
• The tip is crooked, the facing is curved in the middle of the tip, and the tip rail is sloppily defined.

All of these things conspire to make this a quiet piece with little volume or projection. The response is sluggish, the altissimo is all but nonexistent, and when you push it, it just doesn't go anywhere.

This is the finished product:

• The facing is corrected, still a bit on the long side but that works best for Meyers.  I put my own facing curve on this one, which responds well and has a bit of resistance like a short facing but still has the deeper voice and ease of playing the bottom of the horn of a longer facing.
• The baffle is a little longer. This give the piece good projection, volume and edge while keeping the higher end nice and fat.
• The sidewalls are a undercut some more. Rounding out the chamber warms up the piece a bit, and adds some roundness to the sound.  Only so much you can do with these before it gets too big, though.
• The throat is still a squeeze throat, but it is much less extreme now. 
• The window is wider, letting more reed vibrate, giving the piece much more volume and a broader sound. Don't let the still-thick look of the rails fool you.  What's outside the width of the reed doesn't matter.
• The tip is shaped to the reed, and a thin tip rail is defined.  The reed seals well and quickly giving quick response and the maximum amount of reed goes into making the sound.

All in all, we end up with a very good piece. It projects well, plays great at all volumes throughout the full range of the horn, plays in tune, and has a round, well-balanced sound that has enough edge to play lead and enough body to still have a huge fat sound. That said, it is still not as good as an early NYUSA piece (which has very similar dimensions, in contrast to earlier NY Meyer and Meyer Bros. pieces), mainly because the rubber used doesn't lend the piece as characterful sound as a vintage piece with the exact same dimensions will have.

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