TubeNet

I have heard some good things about the Bruno Tilz mouthpieces, and I was wondering which do you all think would be a good one for a Firebird. I play on an Alan Baer F piece right now and I don't feel like I get a good bite in the upper register, like above high F above middle C. Could be the player I suppose. What do you think? Had the bell rolled out recently too, could be contributing to the problem?.?.

Many people like the Bruno Tilz M2 mouthpiece on the Firebird. It gives a great symphonic sound and helps keep everything stable when playing. I stumbled across it by accident and use it with my JBL Classics B&S F tuba. Lee Stofer might have these on hand and can be reached at http://tubameister.com/" target="_blank" target="_blank.

Good luck to you and all the best.

Roger

I second the Tilz M9...outstanding mouthpiece for F tuba.

The Tilz M-9 has a relatively large rim and cup opening, and a relatively shallow cup, which seems to be the optimum combination for most F tuba players. This enables the player to play the lower register with minimal problems, give the right sort of F tuba sound, and by using a shallow C cup, most or all of the intonation problems associated with an F tuba are remedied.

Using a funnel- or deep bowl-shaped mouthpiece on an F or Eb tuba has the tendency, particularly on some instruments, to make them more woofy and uncentered, accentuate the intonation and response problem spots, and in particular make the upper register go flat, and make a 1st valve G in the staff almost unusable.

The M-9 provides a very good balance. This mouthpiece is available from Bruno Tilz as the B. Tilz/NEA model 310-M9, or as a Rudolf Meinl RM-9. The Rudolf Meinl mouthpiece is available with two different backbores, either 7.8mm or 8.0mm, which is marked on the shank. The 7.8mm backbore is the same as the regular Tilz M-9, and the 8.0mm version is just a little more open. I recommend the 7.8mm backbore for virtually all F-tuba applications, and find that the 8.0 version makes a fine CC mouthpiece for brass quintet/other chamber applications.