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Breaking the code of a mpc facing

Author: Bill
Date: 2016-06-23 02:19

I don't reface mpcs, despite an attempt to teach myself. But I play on mpcs with facings by various people, and I can 'feel' how they are and what sort of reed they require. I have many mpcs (too many), refaced by a handful of different specialists.

Some mpcs that I own I have difficulty warming to. What I enjoy are mpcs with nice resistance and a curve that somehow compresses or frees the reed in ways that produce color and what I like to call a good "ring." Those that find difficult to love seem to have in common a lack of resistance, like a show jumping course with no fences. The reed is never challenged or compressed, and the tone is straightforward and colorless with the reeds that work well on my favorite mpcs.

Today I spent some time trying to break the code of these facings, trying to find the sort of reed that will make them play to my satisfaction, or close enough. I discovered what was needed was a reed with lots of guts up near the tip, where the facing seems to just flare away toward the tip without a good set of barriers. My favorite reed strength is 3.25 (Gonzalez regular cut), but I need Gonzalez FOF 3.75 or 4 for these mpcs. Even regular Vandoren #4 sound too free-blowing and lackluster on them.

Just thought it was interesting. Everyone has their own idea of what sounds good. I dislike too thin or straightforward a sound.

Bill Fogle
Ellsworth, Maine
(formerly Washington, DC)

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