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Just out of curiosity, do such things as titanium or ceramic (like is used in knives or body armor) mouthpieces exist? If so, can someone tell me a little bit about them. If not, is it possible, useful, or just plain worthless to make any. In the words of Jeff Goldblum in that horrible movie "Just because we can, doesn't mean we should."

Thanks in advance. I am interested to see where this goes.

Captain Sousie

Hey,
G&W can make their MPC's out of titanium, but I haven't tried one of those yet. Their stainless steel ones are pretty cool.
Ceramic? hmm...... never heard of it.
But, I've seen some cool looking wood ones, but I have no idea how they are.
Bill Pritchard

Tom Webb wrote:As has been discused recently titanium mouthpieces are indeed availible...

Sorry, I must have missed that one. Thanks.

Sousie

Considering that the titanium mpcs have no set price but rather are subject to market price, it can be QUITE costly. Not having tried it, I can't give a fair opinion as to whether it's worth it.

I've heard of old mouthpieces with porcelain rims, but I'd hate to drop one of those.

Why not pot metal (zinc)? It's cheap, easily formed and doesn't have to be strong. We might see the birth of the $5 mouthpiece...

schlepporello wrote:Didn't the Canadian Brass at one time use mouthpieces with ceramic rims?

I don't know about that, but I remember seeing Chuck on a PBS broadcast with what looked like a nylon rim on a Schilke Helleberg of some breed.

Makes sense to have a plastic rim, I think. It really does help to avoid the temperature shock of a cold metal mouthpiece, although Lexan has a much nicer feel than nylon.

Chuck(G) wrote:I've heard of old mouthpieces with porcelain rims, but I'd hate to drop one of those.

Why not pot metal (zinc)? It's cheap, easily formed and doesn't have to be strong. We might see the birth of the $5 mouthpiece...

I don't know about porcelain, but I have an old cornet mouthpiece with a mother of pearl rim. Not particularly practical, but very cool looking.

Chuck(G) wrote:I've heard of old mouthpieces with porcelain rims, but I'd hate to drop one of those.

Why not pot metal (zinc)? It's cheap, easily formed and doesn't have to be strong. We might see the birth of the $5 mouthpiece...

Chuck... I've often wondered why mouthpieces couldn't be made by investment casting. Heck, they make just about anything from jet engine turbine blades and gold wedding bands that way! You might have to clean up the inside taper a smidge but that's an easy task for a taper reamer.

Thanks for your help. I had not thought of using the softer ceramics, like the potting stuff, or porcelain. THey moght be fun to try or to have made. I was wondering if the super-hard ceramics, like those used in police body armor, mught be possible of useful. If so, I thought about seeing what it would take to get one made.

And yes, I do want a kellyburg.

Thanks again,
Sousie

Leland wrote:

schlepporello wrote:Didn't the Canadian Brass at one time use mouthpieces with ceramic rims?

I don't know about that, but I remember seeing Chuck on a PBS broadcast with what looked like a nylon rim on a Schilke Helleberg of some breed.

Makes sense to have a plastic rim, I think. It really does help to avoid the temperature shock of a cold metal mouthpiece, although Lexan has a much nicer feel than nylon.

Many many years back (late 1970s) some of the Canadian Brass were playing mps that had Delrin rims. This includes their tubist.

(Pretty sure they have not used ceramic, BTW.)

From my experience, delrin rims feel like crap. But, I suppose if you're good enough, you can make anything sound good.

Sousie

I kind of like the idea of a ceramic mouthpiece but kind of wonder how you could get a shank to work on one of those. Would it be an all ceramic piece or like a ceramic bowl or rim with a metal shank. I would like to hear about what it does with the sound of your instrument if anyone gets to try this out. And what about glass mouthpieces, is that a possibility?

Ben

Rocky Bivens wrote:However, it would certainly make it easier to create experimental mouthpieces because it would be difficult to get the shank thin enough to be effective without loosing the requisite strength.

Not necessarily, with some of the modern ceramic materials and methods, you can get an extremely thin and strong product. Just look at some of the ceramic blades and their sharper than steel edges. The real problem would be that it would be brittle.

Sousie

Rocky Bivens wrote:

bigboom wrote:Would it be an all ceramic piece or like a ceramic bowl or rim with a metal shank.

The only problem with a mixed media approach (i.e., ceramic and metal) is that some kind of glue would have to be used to secure the desparate materials together.

However, it would certainly make it easier to create experimental mouthpieces because it would be difficult to get the shank thin enough to be effective without loosing the requisite strength.

The two-material stuff is standard practice in other areas:

http://www.surplussales.com/Antennas/Ceramic_stof.html

Ceramic can also be injection-molded.