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Which mouthpiece has a deeper cup? I been reading up a little and they supposedly have the same cup diameter. The 48 is said to have a deep cup and the 88 is said to have a deep cup but not as deep as the 50, but what i want to know is if it is deeper than the 48 as well. Basically I'm trying to see what is the major differences between the two.

well how does the cup shape affect playing when dealing with funnel shaped and bowl shaped?

miketank09 wrote:well how does the cup shape affect playing when dealing with funnel shaped and bowl shaped?

IMO, funnel mouthpieces tend to have a darker & narrower sound compared to the more lively & rounder sound of the bowl mouthpieces. There are always exceptions though.

ok i see, thanks guys i really appreciate it

Back in my studio for a while, either of those mouthpieces played on a PT-6 were both popular choices. The 88 is a HUGE mouthpiece. So much so that I never really liked it on any of the tubas I played in my time there (I'm primarily a euphonium player so I switched tubas around). One of our tubists played on an 88 for quite some time but was having articulation clarity issues. He switched to the 48 to help those issues. In terms of sound (and he has a great sound), no one noticed he had switched mouthpieces for about a month.

So basically mileage will vary. Depends on the player and the horn. The only for-sure thing is that the 88 is pretty huge.

Try starting from a little different perspective.

What sound do you want coming out of your horn?

What model of horn are you playing?

What mouthpieces have you played so far?

What was wrong about these different mouthpieces?

Answer these questions and we can better direct you.

Gill