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When will these be available? I was on the Kelly site last week looking for them to no avail.

Also when will Lee be setting up shop in Iowa?

I use the Kelly 18, and I'm familiar with the Kellyburg. Can you describe the new KT-50 by comparison? Something tells me it will be a bit larger all the way around, like the PT-50 is, but I'd like to hear your thoughts and impressions.

Yeah... I received an email from Kelly this afternoon offering to sell me a KT-50 'prototype' for $65 plus $4 postage. No comment.

I do have to say that I am unreserved in my liking of my Kelly 18, especially for my sousaphone and outdoor gigs. The cup is a little deeper than it's namesake, which is fine for me, as I have no problems with upper register, and the deeper cup does help the lower register. The only thing I have done is to wrap a 1 inch wide strip of golfer's lead around the shank at the bowl to help centering and to prevent tone cracking at high volume. It doesn't break, it doesn't dent, it doesn't dent your horn if it falls out of the receiver or case, it doesn't freeze or burn your lips outside in temperature extremes, the rim feels great, and you can get it in your school/community band/lodge/etc colors. The clear ones are great teaching aids, and beat the old rim soldered on a stick all to dickens.

Since they are only @$30, and I suspect the KT-50 will be also as it gets into full production, and even if you don't really like it, you WILL have a gig outdoors somewhere, sometime with temperature extremes, and it's a small investment to keep from hurting yourself on a mouthpiece outdoors and/or have an economical spare to your main mouthpiece.

FWIW, the rim, throat and cup of my 18 have turned out to be IDENTICAL (well, maybe the cup is about 1/10 of an inch shallower but all else is) to a Wick 1, which I use on my Besson. So changing between the two horns and mouthpieces is a non-issue.

iiipopes wrote:The cup is a little deeper than it's namesake

I believe they're supposed to be Mt. Vernon Bach Copies... Bach has changed sizes and shapes constanly without changing it's system, hence why people say a Modern 7C tbone mpc is closer to a Bach 11c (Mount Vernon) than the new ones are.

The general consensus amongst trombone players is that the older mouthpieces aree better and the new ones have often become inconsistant where you can have 4 6.5AL's and only one might be worthwile.
Thus Faxx's copies of Mt. Vernon Bach Mouthpieces have become very popular for those who don't shell out for a Doug Elliot, Griego, Monette, other high end high price mouthpieces.

prototypedenNIS -

Thanks. I've never had the pleasure of a Mt Vernon Bach 18. As they are also relatively inexpensive, I just might have to get one of the Faxx to compare. And I agree with the inconsistency. I have a 3C trumpet mouthpiece from the mid-70's, which may have even been old stock then, and it is noticeably larger than a current 3C. Much larger tone, as well! I also have a late-70's cornet 3C, which is in between the two. So go figure!

Jon Meyer wrote:Tinker: Does this mean that he is likely NOT going to produce them to sell?

Dunno. Maybe they are having trouble with their new production mold. Prototypes are usually done in a single cavity mold that is not intended to be a production tool. Parts off a prototype mold often require some hand finishing. I begged for a prototype several months ago and I thought production was supposed to have been going well before December. They must be having problems.

I think Jim Kelly is a TubeNet sponsor. I surprised he's not entered this thread. Try giving him a shout at mail@mouthpiecewizard.com

Just to be doing, when I typed in:
http://www.mouthpiecewizard.com
it took me to the Kelly website.

Does anybody know what the current status on the KT-50 is?

I don't see it on the Kelly site and I have not heard back on an email I sent to them.

I will check with Jim Kelly about the KT-50 mouthpiece. I had about a dozen of them at the Capitol tuba Conference in Washington, DC., in January, and if there is enough interest, I'll get some more.

A few people have balked at the price, twice what the other Kelly tuba mouthpieces cost, but remember that it is still one-third of the cost of a metal likeness of it. Jim told me that this mouthpiece was by far the most costly one to produce yet, but I think that the results are well worth it. This one is intended to be more of a concert hall mouthpiece than a marching band mouthpiece.

I like the KT-50 better than the mouthpiece it was generally modeled after, and found it to be quite comfortable with a good sound. On Iowa winter days, don't expect to find me playing a metal mouthpiece! ;^)