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I have the opportunity to get a mouthpiece with a wooden cup, other than looking 'cool'/different are there any benefits in the sound a playing in general or is it throwing money down the drain?

Well, of course, it depends on the wood! Birch produces a clear, sort of Nordic tone; cocobolo a rich luscious but focused tone of enormous power; olive wood is dark and mercurial. Etc. ha ha. If you get a gas out of playing a wood mouthpiece, it might be worth it. If other peoples' opinion of whether it's worth it is going to continue to be an issue, it isn't worth it, because in any practical objective sense wood is an inferior material for mouthpieces, fragile and far too subject to cracking and dimensional changes in a moist situation. That's my opinion, speaking as your internet advisor who has never seen one in person.

You would likely do better posting to an alphorn list since those folks use wooden mouthpieces all the time, although some use metal ones and there are adapters for that purpose. My guess is that a bunch of alphorn players have experimented with mouthpieces of different materials and could tell you what the differences are.

ghmerrill wrote:You would likely do better posting to an alphorn list since those folks use wooden mouthpieces all the time, although some use metal ones and there are adapters for that purpose. My guess is that a bunch of alphorn players have experimented with mouthpieces of different materials and could tell you what the differences are.

I use a bass trombone (brass) mouthpiece on my Alphorn. It works well for me but has not been well received in Alphorn circles.

Terry cravens used his Bach 1 1/2g bass bone Mpc when he played the alphorn part for the Solti recording of the ring with Vienna.

I bought a wooden tuba mpc at *bay, from grotjahn2006, made similar to my 'Paul Sidey SSH'.
The tone is warm, the rim is smooth, but not very slippery and I service it with walnut oil.
But- I use it rarely and just for fun.
Comment from my conductor: Do you play now a wood wind tuba?

Ulli

I have turned several wooden mouthpieces. The type of wood makes a difference in sound. I like walnut and maple, although birch isn't bad. They work as a cold weather mouthpiece. The sound is a bit more mellow or soft as compared to metal. I think it similar to a plastic mouthpiece. I've used them as a back-up mouthpiece, for buzzing or as a novelty. They are not as durable as metal or plastic. I finish mine with several layers of polyurethane sanding between coats. The final finishing step is rubbing out like fine furniture and is very smooth. So the things you should look for is the wood used to make the mouthpiece, the shape, and the finish.

I've given 2 of them to Lee Stofer.

opus37 wrote:I have turned several wooden mouthpieces.

Me too. When I first did it I made a thread about it, and then later it apparently seemed good to me to delete much of the text, not sure why. But the pictures are still here: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=44600

I once bought one. I can't remember what manufacturer it was and meanwhile I can't read the writing on it, because it's worn out.
I haven't played it for years but i remember, it did play quite well.
I bought it to play during swiss carnival, which normally takes place in february and it can be quite cold over here in these times. (Two years ago my valves froze several times during carnival parades and I didn't have any chance to unfreeze them!)

Butch

butch wrote:I once bought one. I can't remember what manufacturer it was and meanwhile I can't read the writing on it, because it's worn out.

I have one that is very similar. They are Maurice Bentarfa mouthpieces. He is a European trumpet player. I do not believe those mouthpieces are manufactured and available any longer. Mine even came in a wooden canister to store it in. I am thinking that I bought mine years ago either here on on Ebay...not sure.