Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2000-10-30 17:17
I've never seen the work "table" actually written on the table of a Selmer mouthpiece. The "table" models, which date from the 50s, 60s and maybe early 70s, had the model name engraved on the table in an oval outline, as you say. I would think anything with the word "table" written on it might be one someone is trying to pass off as old. The newer models have the designation engraved on the back near the bottom, with gold filling.
The table models were pretty good. However, beware models with a shiny lay. As Ralph Morgan will tell you, all table model Selmer mouthpieces were faced by a machine with a tiny diamond that scratched across the rubber at microscopic intervals, producing a lay that was perfect but dull. New Selmer clarinets were shipped in the 50s with an HS* table model mouthpiece that started out excellent, but the American distributor had the lay polished on Croton cloth by unskilled workers, which made it shiny but ruined the mouthpiece.
The earlier Selmers, preceding the table model in I guess the 40s, had a round, gold colored Selmer escutcheon set into the rubber in the back, just above the tenon. If you find one of these in good condition, it's fairly valuable and can often be refaced into an great player.
Good luck.
Ken Shaw
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