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I just picked up a young tuba mouthpiece that was made about 6 years ago. I bought it more out of curiosity from a friend as they seem very interesting. First off, this is the deepest mpc i have ever seen, a truely funnel shaped cup from beginning to end and a huge back bore. Has anyone played one of these with any success? Currently don’t have a big horn to experiment on but an anxious to try it. Looks to be a copy of a French horn mpc made for tuba.

Reportedly, Sam Pilaffian performed the RVW Concerto using one some years ago

I had one when they first came out in about 64. IMO it isn't worth having unless you want to concentrate on loud, low register playing only.

I have one that I played for a few months. I finally put it back on the shelf in favor of my MF-3. It's true that the cup is VERY deep but I find the actual cup diameter to be a little smaller than the MF-3. Also... the inner rim of the Dr. Young is a bit sharper than I like... more 'Heleberg-ish'.

The Dr. Young seemed to handle well. I just didn't like the 'fit'. One of these days... I plan to turn a MP that has a similar cup but with a larger diameter and 'softer' inner rim.

About 35 years ago I was a visitor at a rehearsal of a high school band in Brownsville, TX (far South Texas). I was astonished to find that the entire Sousaphone section (8) was playing Dr Young mouthpieces. They couldn't play anything higher than C in the staff, but below the staff, their sound was powerful!




SK

bloke wrote:

skeath wrote:About 35 years ago I was a visitor at a rehearsal of a high school band in Brownsville, TX (far South Texas). I was astonished to find that the entire Sousaphone section (8) was playing Dr Young mouthpieces. They couldn't play anything higher than C in the staff, but below the staff, their sound was powerful!




SK

Looking at it from another pov...

How often, 35 years ago (or now, for that matter), do high school tuba players really need to be able to play above C in the staff?

That depends -- which staff?

... and which high school.