Mouthpiece Size comparison Chart

[AndyCat]

Great chart. Here's Bruno Tilz's website with all of his mouthpieces:

The chart now includes these.

[ai698]

Hey! They only make 'pieces for F and BBb tubas!

You'll have to transpose them for CC and Eb tubas

[Rick Denney]

The only thing needed for a standardized application on tuba mouthpieces would be consensus on which coin size to use when measuring cup depth.

I don't think this would work for tuba mouthpieces. Trombone mouthpieces are typically cup-shaped, with a relatively flat-bottomed bowl. Many tuba mouthpieces are funnel-shaped, and the taper of the funnel can affect how deep a coin could be inserted with greater variation than estimating the depth by eye. I often put my thumb into a mouthpiece to measure depth, and even though my "coin" is covered with nerve endings, often cannot tell much by what I feel.

Most all tuba mouthpieces have a throat between 7 and 9 mm (the Dr. Young mouthpiece might be bigger). If you measured the depth to a 9mm ball bearing you would get closer than using a coin. But I think real accuracy would come from measuring the depth from a plane that just touches the rim to the narrowest point in the throat's venturi (or to a ball bearing that is larger than the throat by a standard amount).

I would also like relatively precise measures of the radius of curvature in the mouthpiece rim and the diameter of the rim at the inside surface of this radius (as opposed to wherever the manufacturer wants to measure it).

I would also want the cup volume, which could be accurately measured but only by someone with good lab skills.

But we still would not get at the measurements that matter, which include the curvature of the inside of the cup, the curvature through the throat, and the taper of the backbore. And then we would not understand how those work together.

First, though, it makes sense to write down our purpose for having mouthpiece comparison chart. A couple of reasons occur to me. The first is that if there is one thing we would like to change in our mouthpiece, who might make a mouthpiece that is similar to our current one but that is different in that one way? The other reason is to find the mouthpiece in another line that is most similar to the one we have experience with. So, for example, if all the buzz about Laskey or Mike Finn mouthpieces has tempted me to try one, which one has a rim most like the Perantucci that I currently find comfortable?

What we won't achieve is any ability to predict by looking at the chart how a mouthpiece will perform on a given instrument, or what of our strengths and weakness it will enhance or diminish.

Rick "who has chosen all his mouthpieces based on recommendations from those he trusts, tested by direct trial" Denney

[AndyCat]

The chart now includes the sizes from the Giddings and Webster site, as well as the Tilz published sizes.

http://www.andycattanach.co.uk

Keep them coming!

[JayW]

just wanted to say thanks for such a great thing. It makes it so much easier now to find comparable mouthpieces without doing all the web surfing. definitely two thumbs up

[AndyCat]

Thanks for the comments guys!

Christian Klein has done some more work on this, so there is yet another update to the chart!

http://www.andycattanach.co.uk

Cheers Christian!