Kelly Lexan mouthpieces as your main mouthpiece...

[tubatooter1940]

I bought a Kelly 24Aw in gold for my Eb tuba. The gold color looks like tarnished brass.
It plays fine but lacks the edge in my tone I get from a metal mouthpiece.
I used it steady for a year after my allergies to metals became apparent.
I replaced it with a G&W Diablo because a four hour rock gig dissolved the oils
from my lips and the lexan got sticky during that fourth hour and peeled skin from my lips inside the mouthpiece area.
I still keep it for a backup because it is light and easy to stow.
toots

[The Jackson]

All the tests in the world can be conducted to compare different mouthpieces and try to prove some hypothesis, but the truth is that mouthpiece choice is a personal preference. It's an opinion. Selecting and using a certain mouthpiece says, "Given my situation at the moment, this mouthpiece is the best one for me". The key part is the "for me" part. The phrase "Your mileage may vary" comes to mind and it has to be remembered all the time not just on TubeNet, but in every discussion.

I can summarize it this way. cktuba titled this thread "Kelly Lexan mouthpieces as your main mouthpiece", not "Kelly Lexan mouthpieces as the main mouthpiece".

Also, tubainty, I have a mouthpiece that is valued by its manufacturer at over $250 and I will be a monkey's uncle if I don't sound better with a $16 (Got it on sale ) Lexan Kellyburg in my tuba.

[pgym]

I have to say I don't like them, that is not to say that they are rubbish, just that I don't like them, and I wonder why you would want to spend $8000 on the tuba but only $30 on your mouthpiece? I don't think it's like string instruments where the bow costs 10% (or more) tham the vaue of the instrument, but I would have thought that the best advice is it get the best mouthpiece you can afford rether than the cheapest available.

You thought wrong.

The best advice is: USE THE MOUTHPIECE THAT WORKS BEST FOR YOU, IRRESPECTIVE OF PRICE.

The "best mouthpiece" for an individual has no essential or necessary correlation its price relative to the other mouthpiece options. If a $20 mouthpiece, gives you the ease of response you want and matches the sound in your head better than a $300 mouthpiece, use it; if the $300 mouthpiece works better, use that.

One of Dennis AsKew's students at UNCG took a flyer on a Giardinelli Symphony 1G when WWBW was closing out Giardinellis last year for $4, shipped. After a series of blind tests over a number of weeks against offerings from Giddings and Webster, Loud, Schilke, Josef Klier, Doug Elliott, Mike Finn, Denis Wick Classic, Heritage and Steve Mead, and others--tests audited by Doc AsKew and other members of the studio--it was readily apparent both to him and to the auditors that he sounded better and played more efficiently on the $4 Giardinelli than on any of the other, significanly more expensive but still affordable, mouthpieces he tested it against. I've had the opportunity to hear him several times since then, and I'm certainly not going to argue he made the wrong choice.

[Donn]

The "best mouthpiece" for an individual has no essential or necessary correlation its price relative to the other mouthpiece options.

There could be a statistical correlation (though I agree that it isn't essential or necessary.) Here's why: any mouthpiece can be easily and accurately copied.

So the more people want a particular mouthpiece design, the more likely it is to be cheaply available. And, the cheaper a mouthpiece, the more likely it is to be of a design that many people want. QED

(Edit: note that this would be an inverse relation - the lower the price, the more likely to be best for a randomly selected player.)

[TUbajohn20J]

I've always hated those Kelly (and other plastic) mouthpieces. As someone stated earlier they lack a certain edge and tone to my sound. The only advantage I can see to them is that they wont burn or freeze your lips in extreme temperatures. But I've been using metal mouthpieces in extreme temperatures for years and have never had any problems. They sound %1000 better too!

[UNMTUBADUDE]

I have a Kelly Mellow Yellow 18... I like it but I use my PT-44.. I have used the 6 1/2 AL on my Conn Baritone. I might order a KellyBerg or the one size (25) that they are discontinuing (In Crystal Red of course.. Go LOBOS!! )

[peter birch]

I have to say I don't like them, that is not to say that they are rubbish, just that I don't like them, and I wonder why you would want to spend $8000 on the tuba but only $30 on your mouthpiece? I don't think it's like string instruments where the bow costs 10% (or more) tham the vaue of the instrument, but I would have thought that the best advice is it get the best mouthpiece you can afford rather than the cheapest available.

You thought wrong.

The best advice is: USE THE MOUTHPIECE THAT WORKS BEST FOR YOU, IRRESPECTIVE OF PRICE.

The "best mouthpiece" for an individual has no essential or necessary correlation its price relative to the other mouthpiece options. If a $20 mouthpiece, gives you the ease of response you want and matches the sound in your head better than a $300 mouthpiece, use it; if the $300 mouthpiece works better, use that.

One of Dennis AsKew's students at UNCG took a flyer on a Giardinelli Symphony 1G when WWBW was closing out Giardinellis last year for $4, shipped. After a series of blind tests over a number of weeks against offerings from Giddings and Webster, Loud, Schilke, Josef Klier, Doug Elliott, Mike Finn, Denis Wick Classic, Heritage and Steve Mead, and others--tests audited by Doc AsKew and other members of the studio--it was readily apparent both to him and to the auditors that he sounded better and played more efficiently on the $4 Giardinelli than on any of the other, significanly more expensive but still affordable, mouthpieces he tested it against. I've had the opportunity to hear him several times since then, and I'm certainly not going to argue he made the wrong choice.

I'm not sure that I did think wrong. Of course I know a higher price does not necessarily make a commodity better. 2 things strike me though (1) the law of diminishing returns applies, up to a certain point the extra expense is worth it, and beyond that price it isn't. that price point is, of course, a subjective judgement, for one player it might be a Kelly, for another Monette, for me it is Perantucci, (2) If you spend $300 on a mouthpiece, you are probably paying $150 for the brand (you probably pay the same ratio for the Kelly name as well).
I remember when I got my first Hi Fi, I said to the man in the shop "here's what I have to spend, what are the best options?" and I haven't bought equipment form anywhere else since. Maybe that is a good approach to buying a mouthpiece

[iiipopes]

Boy, it got polarized quickly. Here's the deal: even if it isn't going to be a "main" mouthpiece, every tuba player should have one because they are cheap, light, don't break, dent or scuff when you drop them; it can stand being knocked around in a satchel, case, the car, etc.; and if something untowards happens to a player's #1 mouthpiece, at least it will get a player through a gig or two until the #1 can be repaired or replaced, and get a player through outdoor weather extremes without freezing or burning the embouchure, or worrying about the mouthpiece sticking in the receiver in the extremes. It's the cheapest "gig insurance" I know about.

[Rev Rob]

I purchased both a Kelly 24 AW and a Kellyburg - both crystal orange. I have been using the Kellyburg as of late. It does deliver an edgier, louder tone. I mainly used it to see if it want to get a stainless steel Kellyburg, and I do. The lexan Kellyburg is a nice backup to always have in my case, if I every space out packing a metal favorite mouthpiece - Perantucci #84.

[Donn]

I'm not sure that I did think wrong. Of course I know a higher price does not necessarily make a commodity better. 2 things strike me though (1) the law of diminishing returns applies, up to a certain point the extra expense is worth it, and beyond that price it isn't.

I think the reason you're taking some criticism here is that you're talking out of both sides of your mouth. You're willing to say a higher price does not necessarily make a mouthpiece better, but on the other hand you say things like `up to a certain point the extra expense is worth it', and `get the best mouthpiece you can afford', that seem to imply that isn't what you think at all.

The nominal topic here is pretty simple. Either a Kelly mouthpiece works for you, just as well or better than the alternatives, or you prefer some alternative. That's for people who prefer to live (and play tuba) in the real world. We're getting into a couple of theoretical tangents here,

• Kelly mouthpieces can't be best, because they're cheap
  • cheap mouthpieces don't incorporate the advances in design that we find only in expensive mouthpieces
  • cheap mouthpieces aren't manufactured consistently
  • cheap stuff just isn't as good, that's why it's cheap
• Kelly mouthpieces can't be best, because they're plastic
  • plastic sticks to your lip
  • plastic doesn't resonate the same way as brass (or if you really want a powerful mouthpiece, steel.)

Some of these notions are specious, others may make some sense. You don't have to enter into that debate, but if you do, you may expect to be suspected of specious reasoning, unless you make yourself really clear.

[arpthark]

Late last December in the Music City Bowl in Nashville, UK played Clemson (and lost). I was in the marching band, and it was frigid. The valves in my sousie froze, so I was carrying around a bunch of cold metal, and it took a few days before my lips weren't screaming whenever I put anything to my face. Since then, I've been toying around with the idea of a lexan mouthpiece, and now I think I'll purchase one after reading this thread. It definitely seems like a good investment!

[Donn]

By the way, simple experiment that I think factors out plastic mouthpiece issues - you can make a "plastic rim" with some nail polish. I do that anyway, with mouthpieces that have suffered rim damage or plating wear. I'm still working on the technique. Think the best might be to build up a circular bead of the stuff on a plate, lay the mouthpiece rim in it and twirl it around, then hang it up to dry. I make more of a mess when I try to apply directly from the bottle to the rim.

That gives you a brass mouthpiece with similar lip grip to a plastic mouthpiece. I think lip traction might turn out to explain about 100% of the difference between mouthpiece materials, so I think it could be an interesting experiment. The stuff washes off with acetone, get a can of it cheap at the hardware store.

[tubainty]

Kelly mouthpieces can't be best, because they're cheap
cheap mouthpieces don't incorporate the advances in design that we find only in expensive mouthpieces
cheap mouthpieces aren't manufactured consistently
cheap stuff just isn't as good, that's why it's cheap
Kelly mouthpieces can't be best, because they're plastic
plastic sticks to your lip
plastic doesn't resonate the same way as brass (or if you really want a powerful mouthpiece, steel.)

Makes sense to me

[Tubacube]

I fly a lot to gigs and frequently have to double or triple between trumpet trombone and tuba. The tuba gets ground shipped or else I can borrow a tuba or sousaphone when arrive. I use the Kellyberg because it passes TSA without any hassle, for me it matches the most tubas in sound and response - very consistent .
Most of my other metal mouthpieces are very inconsistent, playing great on some instruments, but lousy on others. I like the idea that it warms up rapidly so when I switch from a bone to a tuba in a flash, it is a lot more secure. I can also throw the Kellyberg at the drummer when he drags with out ill effect to the mouthpiece or the drummer.

[bort]

I fly a lot to gigs and frequently have to double or triple between trumpet trombone and tuba. The tuba gets ground shipped or else I can borrow a tuba or sousaphone when arrive. I use the Kellyberg because it passes TSA without any hassle, for me it matches the most tubas in sound and response - very consistent .
Most of my other metal mouthpieces are very inconsistent, playing great on some instruments, but lousy on others. I like the idea that it warms up rapidly so when I switch from a bone to a tuba in a flash, it is a lot more secure. I can also throw the Kellyberg at the drummer when he drags with out ill effect to the mouthpiece or the drummer.

I don't fly with a mouthpiece often, but the 2 or 3 times I have, the TSA person scanning my bag has looked at me and said "Is that a tuba mouthpiece?" No lie, it's happened each time. Must be good training.

[Kevin Hendrick]

I don't fly with a mouthpiece often, but the 2 or 3 times I have, the TSA person scanning my bag has looked at me and said "Is that a tuba mouthpiece?" No lie, it's happened each time. Must be good training.

Sounds like a "Don Martin moment" to me! ("No, it's a shot glass for teetotalers ...")

[Kevin Hendrick]

I don't fly with a mouthpiece often, but the 2 or 3 times I have, the TSA person scanning my bag has looked at me and said "Is that a tuba mouthpiece?" No lie, it's happened each time. Must be good training.

Sounds like a "Don Martin moment" to me! ("No, it's a shot glass for teetotalers ...")

You have inspired me to change my avatar (I finally found this gem on the 'net). Hey Schlep, can I change my handle to "Eric Von Schteric?" Pretty please....

That works! Of course, I got the magazine right, but the cartoonist wrong -- was thinking of Al Jaffee:

http://www.leedberg.com/mad/satsq/satsq.html" target="_blank

[Tubaryan12]

There are only 2 mouthpieces I carry as backups: Kelly 24AW and Kellyberg. I had a consistantly high part today at quintet practice and I didn't play this week. I pulled out the 24AW and all went well. I still have to get myself a Kelly 25.

[sloan]

I don't fly with a mouthpiece often... ...Must be good training.

I may have heard that Donn flies with a broom...??

Time flies with a stopwatch.

[TexTuba]

I own a Kellyberg. I have ZERO hesitation on pulling out for a gig. Hell, I HAVE used one on a gig because I forgot my main 'piece.