TubeNet

Hello!

I am looking for some help with CC tuba mouthpieces - I am just not an equipment junkie and well - sometimes I wish I was!

Here's the problem...

I love my PT-65 which I play on my F - it just really fits my face and works for me better than any other mouthpiece I've tried.

On CC (I play a PT-6) I'm currently playing a PT-44 and while I like the cup depth, it is just too wide. I have played many a mouthpiece on this horn -

PT-88 (older version - needed more resistance)
PT-36 (not enough down low)
PT-42 (decided on the 44 for comfort)
PT-50 (dumb, dumb - just way to big for me)
Conn Helleberg (not comfortable, not enough down low)
Schilke Helleberg (really small - not for me)

I love the sound I get with the PT-44 but the switch between the two horns makes the differences in the mouthpieces really apparent, and uncomfortable. I have found that with time, I can get the results I want on most any mouthpiece - but I'd like to work a little less and enjoy the playing more! Since I really love F work (use it for solo, quintet, and quartet) but I make more money playing in the orchestra on the big horn, its time to really fix this mouthpiece issue once and for all.

I'd greatly appreciate any suggestions anyone has!

Feel free to email off list so as to no clutter the list with a relatively specific question.

Thanks!

Heather Noyes-Richter
hnoyes@uga.edu

Have you got a chance to try the smaller PT CC mouthpieces like PT-84 (comfortable, nice warm sound, moderate cup diameter), 89, 90, 32, 34 (smaller than the 44 and the 42 but still plenty of sound)? If you want still smaller, the Floyd Cooley Helleberg? Laskey 28H, 28G also comes to mind. Or Curry 128 serie. Maybe just a plain Bach 18 (or 12, you'd be surprised). Also consider JK mouthpieces, especially 4 series (4A, 4B etc) if you like Miraphone C4 kind of rim. If you want the very rounded rim, Dillon G3 is a fine bowl-shaped mothpiece with a round warm sound and not too big (for me) to play, but articulation might suffer a bit.

Edit: are you trying to use the same mouthpiece on both F and CC? I wouldn't do it (see below). The most I'd do is the keep the same rim on both my CC and F mouthpeices. Laskey 28 series, JK etc. offer that option.

Another approach may be to accept the mouthpieces which work best on both horns, realize that the shift will be more than you're comfortable with now, and work instead on making this shift more seamless. I only say that because that is exactly what I did; find the optimum 'piece for the horn, and merely make the CHANGE less of a 'change'...

OK, if you like Perantucci mouthpieces, your PT65 has a 32mm cup, an 8.5mm rounded rim and 7.8 mm throat. The closest PT in a deep cup with similar specs seems to be a PT20.

Another mouthpiece to try if you like the wide rim is a Bach 24AW. It's "spec" is for a smaller cup diameter, but Bach mouthpieces are usually wider diameter in the cup than spec. I have a Bach 18 which is actually 1.28 instead of the advertised 1.26, and a 3C trumpet mouthpiece that is at least as large as a spec 1 1/2 C, if not larger.

There are a ton of mouthpieces in the diameter range you're talking about, but most have a thinner rim.

Good luck.