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I've been playing a Dillon G5 B mouthpiece that was recommended by Matt Walters of Dillon Music fame. It is a great mouthpiece for my Hirsbrunner and I've been using that mouthpiece for the past 2 years.

Tonight, I was given a PT50 to try and all of a sudden, notes popped out with relative ease, intonation was better and it was much more fun to play. I noticed that the shank on the PT50 caused it to sit in the lead pipe about 1/4 inch further out than the G5.

So, I am wondering if the change in MP is the reason behind my new found joy, or is it the placement of the MP in the receiver, or is it the placebo effective or some combination?

I any case, I now can play etudes that I couldn't before and notes that were outside my range are now playable.

Any logical explanation or am I just losing my mind????

Answer: Don't think about it so much and just enjoy it!

Don't let your brain get between you and a good thing! Don't take my word for it, listen to some Arnold Jacobs lectures.

Just remember; "song and wind, song and wind."

The PT-50 has a European shank. And... yes, that will change where the end of the mouthpiece sits in the receiver. That's not to say that the 'gap' is the cause or your new found notes. There are a lot of things that come into play.... including the 'new' effect.

Matt Walters is the guy who can explain mouthpiece dynamics better than anyone I know. Ask him.

What makes you think that the two possibilities you identified are mutually exclusive?

All terminology is relative, yet it is beyond me how somebody can allocate ‘much sharper’ to the inner edge of a PT-50. It has next to no edge on it its very round rim.

I played the PT-50 on my Eb and BBb basses with great joy, as I liked the sound and the very controllable intonation. Only the attacks in low dynamics needed a whole lot of attention. Eventually that problem became too much of a problem with my aging lips.

Klaus