Kelly Plastic Mouthpieces-Any Opinions?

[Kevin Hendrick]

Seemingly always the contrarian, I like the Kelly mouthpieces. The 18 and Kellyburg cuts are excellent, and I used a Kelly 18 with a tone ring as my main mouthpiece on my Conn 52J. They don't always perform well on their own at extreme professional dynamics, but they are very comfortable and sound wonderful. At a tone intensifier ring like I did and they are even more useful, since you gain back much of the mass.

YMMV. I keep a Kelly 18 in my car for emergencies, buzzing, and trying out instruments.

Agreed -- my main mouthpiece is a Kellyberg. As with Groucho Marx's principles, "I have others" (for extreme dynamics and range), but more than 90% of my playing is on the Kelly. Works well for me!

But there are better mouthpieces out there when controlled precise playing is required.

And, exactly when would this NOT be true?

The third set at an Oktoberfest?

(as our announcer has been known to say, "Drink up, folks! The more you drink, the better we sound ...")

[toobagrowl]

I use a Kelly 18 as a practice & outdoor mouthpiece and have another Kelly 18 that I sometimes use for indoor concerts/gigs. Very light and responsive mouthpieces.

[tubatooter1940]

I used a Kelly 24AW in my Eb tuba. The plastic caused me to lose some edge from my sound but I don't think anybody noticed but me.
I'm old and have a problem with the Kelly plastic late in a four hour gig.
At the end of the evening, the natural oils get leached out of my lips by saliva, water and beer so the plastic starts sticking to my lips - pulling the skin off.
I replaced the Kelly with a G&W Diablo in stainless steel. I really like it.
I carry my Kelly 24AW with me in case I need a backup piece.
toots

[Jacob_R]

Thanks again for all the useful and informative feedback and advice. I am happy to say that I "won" a Helleberg mouthpiece on eBay last night for $18, which I regard as money well spent. I will compare my Besson 18, my teacher's 24AW Bach, and the Helleberg, and see what works best.

Please send me more suggestions. I'm still interested and open to more ideas and comments. Only today it occurred to me to start scouring pawn shops and musical instrument shops for mouthpieces to experiment with...


Thanks , folks!

[J.c. Sherman]

As the merits of Helleberg mouthpieces are being posited, I have to put in a vote for the Yamaha Canadian Brass mouthpiece (Signature replica, in my case). Hot d---! Nice mouthpiece, and very like generation 1 Hellebergs. Works great on everything I've tried it on; oddly, including my cimbasso!