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I just aquired an old Eb that appears to be a Conn 14J. Serial number dates it to 1956. It has a small shank receiver. Two questions:

1. What is a good small shank mouthpiece for this horn?. It's a very small tuba, and sounds bad when I try it with any of my existing mouthpieces from my larger BBb. Helleberg was the best of any, but not good. I tried it with a Shilke 51D large shank euph. mouthpiece, which had the best intonation, but no low end and it sounded like a very large euphonium. (not that that's bad - but I want it to sound more like a tuba!)

2. The leadpipe has been repaired too many times, and is in nasty shape. Doesn't appear to leak, but very "puckered/wrinkled". I'm thinking of having it replaced. Does it make sense to replace it with one that supports a std. American shank mouthpiece? Or is that going to be too much for this horn, even with a mouthpiece designed for an Eb/F? I don't have a lot of experience with small tubas, so I'm looking for some insights from the experienced techs. out there.

Looking for opinions concerning either option and which one you think is best.

Thanks!

With the small shank, your options are limited. I've had a small shank horn for a number of years. The two best off the shelf options are the Houser/Sellsmanberger Imperial and Denis Wick line (without the L). The other option is to have someone like Lee Stofer adjust the mouthpiece shank for you. I found the Houser/Sellsmanberger option the best bet, you can get the rim you like best. I found the 1A and 2A to work best for me, so far. People change the shank so they have more options. This makes sense to do if you are having the horn restored for other reasons. The catch is that you have to be careful not to change the tuning if you are changing the mouth pipe at the same time. To get the best results, I suggest consulting an experienced restorer.

We talked about this back here:

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=14567" target="_blank

My solution was an ebay chinese copy of a denis wick mouthpiece.
I no longer have the horn or the mouthpiece. Does anyone know if these are still sold on ebay?

The Wick 3 (no letter) is the most common mouthpiece that will fit the horn and sound good. If you can find one on eBay, there are good copies.

If a bass trombone shank fits the receiver, you have several other options in the 28-32 mm ID range:

• • Bach 1G
  • Schilke 60
  • Marcinkiewicz 105, 106, or 107
  • Yamaha Bobo TT

The usual "this fits/is made for the horn" is so horribly bland. If anything will work, it'll be one of these extremes- average bass trombone, contrabass trombone mouthpiece, shallow-ish bass tuba mp. I'd start with two or three.

Sorry, but could you clarify that last comment?

caa62 wrote:2. The leadpipe has been repaired too many times, and is in nasty shape. Doesn't appear to leak, but very "puckered/wrinkled". I'm thinking of having it replaced. Does it make sense to replace it with one that supports a std. American shank mouthpiece?

Yes, I believe it does. Though it could be kind of expensive to replace the leadpipe, as you probably surmise it could be a big improvement. But even if you decide you can live with the leadpipe, it might not be such a big deal to get a standard receiver on the old leadpipe.

I like my Denis Wick 5, but that's me and my tuba, maybe worth much for your purposes. I'd sure look for a mouthpiece designed for the tuba, as opposed to bass or contrabass trombone.

I've always been of the opinion that you should use the largest mouthpiece you can handle. With that said, the Denis Wick 3 is very common for the Eb. Eb/F advertised mouthpieces are commonly around a 32 mm inside diameter. I tried the Denis Wick 5 and found it way too small. I would worry about any of the bass trombone mouthpieces. If you are a trombone /euphonium player then you might like the mouthpiece smaller, but this horn should respond better to a larger mouthpiece.

I'm primarily a tuba player, and use a 33.5mm in my BBb. I'd like to stick with a tuba mp. I'm a little wary of a 32mm as this tuba is such a small one!

Well, in the end you can probably make a wide range of mouthpieces work, as long as they'll fit properly. Note that size here is at least partly about volume, so you're looking at depth as well as diameter. You're going to have to try some and decide for yourself. On my standard shank Pan American Eb Giant Bass, I have used a Conn 7B, but I think it sounds best with a Schilke 62 or 66 (they're about the same diameter, but the 66 is deeper, 62 is a pure bass tuba mouthpiece.) Opus37 will tell you that your smaller tuba can handle a bigger mouthpiece. You have to decide for yourself.