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A friend in our community band is having problems with his Helleburg mouthpiece leaving him brused after a long weekend of Honor band. I suspect he is brusing from the sharp rim that those pieces have. What mouthpieces have the helleburg shape with a softer rim bite?

Gilligan wrote:A friend in our community band is having problems with his Helleburg mouthpiece leaving him brused after a long weekend of Honor band. Isuspect he is brusing from the sharp rim that those pieces have. What mouthpieces have the helleburg shape with a softer rim bite?

The Schilke Helleberg II and the similar Laskey Hellebergs (28H or 30H) have a more comfortable rim with the Helleberg cup that you're looking for. I've never played a Mike Finn before, but the MF3 is described having a comfortable, slightly rounded rim with a deep, funnel cup.

The PeranTucci line offers the opposite rim/inner-edge concepts compared to the Conn Helleberg. The ## up to PT-50 are said to have American style funnel cups. My experience is with the PT-50, which I find having somewhat of a bowl shaped bottom of the cup. I didn’t like the round rim, but the sound was full and buttery. The PT-50 may be on the large side but there are smaller variants also:

http://www.hornboerse.de/lshop,showrub, ... ba,,,,.htm

The link goes to Bob Tucci’s store in Germany, but the series is available in the US also.

Klaus

I also had similar experience-- I still use the Helleberg for some things but not as an overall "go to"-- I found the Schilke 67 to provide a very close match to the sound characteristics of the Helleberg but much more comfortable-- The 67 has a slightly more rounded inner edge--

Buy my measurements:

Helleberg rim width- .290 in rim diameter- 1.860 cup- 1.270

Schilke 67 " " .320 in " " 1.888 " - 1.265

Both the throat and backbore are similar--

Here's a radical idea for your friend: buy a plastic Kelly mouthpiece for around $30, and re-shape the rim by hand until it is comfortable. Start with medium-grit sandpaper to get it roughly the shape you want, then use fine sandpaper to smooth it down, then steel wool, then fine steel wool, and finally polish it with denim. (Just rub it briskly on your leg while wearing jeans.) It's not difficult, although it does require some patience and elbow grease.

Or you could go the expensive route and get in touch with Doug Elliott. He has many different rims to choose from.