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So for the purposes of pretending that my compensating euphonium is a tuba or a bass trombone I have settled on the Wick 2AL as providing the best of low range access/response without sacrificing any needed high range. (This is the result of a decent amount of experimentation.)

But I'd prefer a narrower rim than on the 2AL and so recently acquired a 2NAL (N=narrower). Cool, except ...

The bore of the 2AL is 7.24mm while the bore of the 2NAL is 7.40.

And you know what? These seem to respond differently (in a way not attributable to the rim width).

So ...

The DW description of the difference refers to only the difference in rim width. Why -- if that's all you want to vary -- would you make the bore different?

I haven't done a huge amount of experimentation yet, but it seems to me that the narrower bore of the 2AL is giving me better response than the somewhat wider bore of the 2NAL. So why screw up a 2AL in just changing the rim width?

(I know .. I know ... Doug is going to say "That's why I make my mouthpieces the way I do." And I grant the reasonableness of that. But I found the 2AL to be really good and thought "Gee, I'd just like a narrower rim on that.")

Poor quality control, most likely. Hate to say it about DW, I hope it isn't the case.

"That's why I make my mouthpieces the way I do."

No, it's not manufacturing tolerance. That's the specs according to the Wick chart. If you want the smaller rim, do what I did: contact Vladimir at Dillon Music and have him turn it down for you. I did that with my Curry 128D to get it from a too-wide rim to my preferred Mt Vernon Bach 18 profile.

My concern wasn't with what I should do, but rather WHY -- if the only goal seemed to be a narrower rim -- they would also change the bore. I know this requires speculation (unless the mouthpiece designer might respond himself), but I'm really curious. (By "The DW description" I meant their little text description which says "Narrower rim with excellent flexibility, easy high & low registers" -- rather than the precise specs, which are explicit concerning the bore size difference.) It seems as though the thinking went something like "Hey, this 2AL is a good mouthpiece, but people want a narrower rim. And let's change the bore while we're at it." ?????

I'll try it a bit more. I believe that I can probably return it if I'm not happy with it. Rather than keep it and then have it modified, I'd be more inclined to try some combos from Doug since my guess is that I'd need just a bowl and rim (which could be lexan!) and could use my current shank.