Vintage Hard Rubber Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece MADE IN ITALY

Description

Vintage Hard Rubber Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece MADE IN ITALY
Has some light bite marks on the beak
the table is decent.
tip and rails are in good shape
MADE IN ITALY indicated to the right of the table
Good Condition - May have minor imperfections. Scratches, discoloring, oxidation, minor gouges. All which should have little to no effect on the playability unless specifically noted in the listing
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The Riffault company, like many other mouthpiece makers, has an infamous and misunderstood history. Over the years, We have been able to gather bits of information on the company and the pieces which they made. There are many key points which would be helpful to note when describing pieces made by Riffault, or made with blanks by the company.
Riffault is known best for their Hard Rubber pieces and blanks which they produced for many other makers. Often these pieces can be mistaken for Chedeville blanks, and Chedeville blanks can be mistaken for Riffaults. They can play similarly to each other, and there is a reason why some of the best makers and players have used Riffault pieces for years.
Riffault blanks often have some tell-tale signs which can be used to help distinguish them between the other blanks. These blanks will often have the word “France” along the left of the table or at the bottom left corner to the table. There were many different fonts used as well as different orientations of the word. The Vast majority of Riffault pieces have their facing mark to the right of the table, usually not accompanied by anything other than the facing itself.
Many of these blanks were pre-faced from the factory and sent out to the other makers for their own facing and voicing.  Notable facings used by Riffault were X1, X2, X3, X4, X5, N2, N4, 2RV, 2V, 3V, R2, R3, R4, and many more.
Other Notable markings which can giveaway whether a blank is Riffault or not is the ‘Steelite Ebonite” stamp. These are usually on the front of the mouthpiece, however they aren't always. This is not a stamp used on all pieces, and often they do not have it, but when it does, this is usually a good sign the piece is a Riffault. (Not all Riffault are Steelite Ebonite, but all Steelite Ebonite are Riffault)
Popular companies who used Riffault blanks were Noblet, G. Leblanc, Leblanc, G. Langenus, Coast, Vito, NEMC, D&H Trulay, Melodia (Vito Melodia)
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Throughout the history of woodwind instruments, the various Selmer branded companies have been at the forefront of advancement for these instruments. Henri Selmer was a maker of fine musical instruments and accessories.
There are many variations of mouthpieces made by Selmer throughout the years. The various eras of pieces have models. To my understanding, eras of pieces went as follows.
Standard - 1910-1936
Selmer Clarion (Crystal) - 1927-1932
Series II/ Series 2 - 1943-1944
Series III/ Series 3 - 1946-1959
Gold Medal  - 1928-1942
Master metal - 1929-1947
Air-flow - 1939-1947
Short Shank Soloist - 1952-1964
Long Shank Soloist - 1964-1974
S80 - 1974 - recent
S90 - recent
Each of the eras is considered desirable on different levels, all for different reasons. Different chambers, windows, facings, hard rubber quality, etc.
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All information is given to the best of our knowledge, We cannot possibly guarantee all information given is fact, especially with the rare and unusual items with a lot of unknown history. Lots of information given is based on widely accepted beliefs on the matters, like with the history of mouthpieces.
CONDITION DISCLAIMER
Due to the inherent complexity of evaluating used items. Especially used musical instruments and all their various components. There is the chance that we don't point out some scratches, gouges, dents, and/or any other imperfections in the product. With just how complex these items can be, sometimes it is just not possible to capture all imperfections in the pictures. We will always try our very best to get the most important imperfections pictures and described in the listing.
It is the responsibility of the buyer to evaluate the visible condition of the item through the photos before purchase.