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What current/new hellebergs are replicas of the old, pre-war conn hellebergs? I tried out an old helleberg and really liked it but I know they are very hard to come by. Thanks all!!

Check with Lee Stofer. He has a very old-style medium sized Helleberg out, and I tried one that belongs to a friend. For me, it has a dark tone and is easy to control.

tubaribonephone wrote:What current/new hellebergs are replicas of the old, pre-war conn hellebergs? I tried out an old helleberg and really liked it but I know they are very hard to come by. Thanks all!!

That's not exactly a firm target. Helleberg apparently developed a custom mouthpiece for each instrument, and therefore there are lots of "Hellebergs" that vary quite a bit. The one similarity is the characteristic funnel shape.

The Conn Helleberg 7B is apparently more like an old one than most. But they are all reasonably close. I have a PT-1, PT-2, Conn Helleberg, Laskey 30H, Miraphone Rose Orchestra, and one or two others of that type, and they all have a very similar inner shape. They probably vary about as much as the real Helleberg designs did. Some of the old Helleberg designs used by Jacobs have been reproduced, including the Canadian Brass Jacobs model.

So the next time you play an old one that you like, see if you can borrow it long enough to have it duplicated. You might be just as likely to find an old one that you don't like.

Rick "who hasn't run out of new mouthpieces to try" Denney

The Wick 1L is also a very deep Helleberg funnel style with great tone and intonation, big and broad without being too dark, but with a rim closer to a Bach 18. It does take a little work to keep from cracking notes occasionally, but very well worth it, with consistent color all the way up and down.

Mike Finn makes a funnel cup in his MF3, and also makes a variant MF3H, which has the flat sharp rim as well as the funnel cup.

iiipopes wrote:The Wick 1L is also a very deep Helleberg funnel style with great tone and intonation, big and broad without being too dark, but with a rim closer to a Bach 18. It does take a little work to keep from cracking notes occasionally, but very well worth it, with consistent color all the way up and down.

That's the big difference between all of these mouthpieces is the rim. The Hellebergs are known for the flat rim.

You want a good copy, the SSH is a nice one, the Arnold Jacobs original has been told to me that it's the closest to an original Helleberg.

The newer Hellebergs from Conn have a completely different, cushiony rim.

Hope thie helps.

ASTuba wrote:

iiipopes wrote:The Wick 1L is also a very deep Helleberg funnel style with great tone and intonation, big and broad without being too dark, but with a rim closer to a Bach 18. It does take a little work to keep from cracking notes occasionally, but very well worth it, with consistent color all the way up and down.

That's the big difference between all of these mouthpieces is the rim. The Hellebergs are known for the flat rim.

You want a good copy, the SSH is a nice one, the Arnold Jacobs original has been told to me that it's the closest to an original Helleberg.

The newer Hellebergs from Conn have a completely different, cushiony rim.

Hope thie helps.

I use a SSH and like it alot. It has a very flat rim with a sharp inner edge. I just got a Chuck Daellenbach but I have not used it much yet. It has rounder contour to the rim, but is definitely a "Helleberg-style" mouthpiece. It seems to be in between the Conn 7B and the regular Conn Helleberg. I have not really worked with it too much yet however.

If anyone reading this has had any experience with the Chuck Daelenbach piece i would be interested in your impressions.
ken k