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I use two mouthpieces right now. The first is my Conn Helleberg and the other is a Giddings and Webster Taku. I love both of these mouthpieces. I am having mixed emotions between the two though. The Taku is a much more comfortable mouthpiece that has clearer articulations but it has this sort of stuffy and empty sound to it compared to my Helleberg. That being said my Helleberg has a more "open" sound but it is not as comfortable to me as the rounded rim and stainless steel of my Taku. I am having a major dilemna on which is better and I don't know which to pick. Could someone help?

A Bach 18 is a professional mouthpiece as well. It is not a "beginner" mouthpiece. Now, that out of the way:

Send your Helleberg mouthpiece to Vladimir at Dillon Music and ask him to recontour the rim to Taku spec. That's what I did. Stock, my Curry 128D had a really wide rim, and he took it down to Mt. Vernon 18 rim spec for me.

or

Purchase a Sidey Helleberg if you prefer stainless, and have Vladimir recontour that rim.

dsfinley wrote:I use two mouthpieces right now. The first is my Conn Helleberg and the other is a Giddings and Webster Taku. I love both of these mouthpieces.

Great minds think alike!

I use these two as well (though I've recently subbed out the Conn for a Kellyberg because I prefer stainless, which is a possible solution for your situation).

dsfinley wrote:The Taku is a much more comfortable mouthpiece that has clearer articulations but it has this sort of stuffy and empty sound to it compared to my Helleberg. That being said my Helleberg has a more "open" sound but it is not as comfortable to me as the rounded rim and stainless steel of my Taku.

I find your descriptions interesting, agreeing and disagreeing with you at the same time.

Yes, the Taku is more comfortable, but I find the Helleberg easier to play overall and to have better articulation and intonation when using it. I find I use the Taku more frequently because I simply love the power of the sound I get with it: more rich and resonant, much bigger low end, easier to play at louder volume (more open for me).

Let me know what you end up doing.

As others have said, using two mouthpieces for different applications ain't a bad thing, though I really can't understand anyone having more than three for one tuba.