Author: Simon Aldrich
Date: 2018-01-05 05:19
When I was a student at Yale in the late 90s, I would take mpcs to the renowned mpc-refacer Everett Matson in NJ. I would spend all day at Matson's house and he would patiently reface the mpcs I brought. He explained everything he did and seemed to keep no secrets. He would pass the hours while he refaced, recounting refacing tales and one of the stories he told is relevant to what we are discussing.
Harold Wright (former Boston principal) took the plunge and took Matson his #1 mpc (a Chedeville) to be refaced as it had become overly stuffy. Matson could not believe his eyes when he looked closely at the mpc.
At the time, Wright used reeds that were narrower than the mpc window (outside of rail to outside of rail). Matson recounted that over the years, the wear of the reed had created a depression in the window. It had gotten to the point where the reed actually fit into a "bed" that the narrow-reed wear had caused. The outside of the mpc rails were higher than the inside of the mpc rails. Supposedly, the reed fit into a sort of slot, created by the fact that the outside mpc rails were like a curb to a road. They sat higher than the inside of the rails. The reed itself still sat higher than the curb-like outside rails, but not by much.
Matson warned Wright that the change would be substantial, since he would have to take down so much of the rails to flatten them out, to remove the reed-shape depression. When Matson was finished flattening the rails, and redoing the tip opening, curve, etc, the mpc played so differently that Wright supposedly had kittens. Matson said they sat there for hours, Matson making adjustments and Wright play-testing the results, until it played to Wright's liking.
Simon
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The Clarinet BBoard
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