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I was in my machine shop class and saw a piece of aluminum that was spun very similarly to a tuba mouthpiece. so i was wondering ,why don't people make mouthpieces out of aluminum?

goodgigs wrote:

Jose the tuba player wrote:I was in my machine shop class and saw a piece of aluminum that was spun very similarly to a tuba mouthpiece. so i was wondering ,why don't people make mouthpieces out of aluminum?

I don't know - why don't you?

i guess ill report back with my findings

bloke wrote:http://www.finishing.com/384/92.shtml

????
did i miss something?

Rubato mouthpieces are anodized aluminum.

Donn wrote:Rubato mouthpieces are anodized aluminum.

thanks
do you know if they play well?

When I was about 16 and taking a Metalwork shop course in high school (over 40 years ago!) ... I made a Tuba mouthpiece from cast aluminum that I lathed down to dimensions on a metal lathe.

It actually "worked" ... sort of ... but I made the mistake of playing it on my Tuba in my high school band for a couple of weeks ... I ended up with a skin reaction where the aluminum mouthpiece contacted the skin around the mouth ... it left a black circle for a few days, which really impressed the 16 yr old girls in my classes, lol ...

Lesson learned ... the aluminum needed to be plated with something that would not cause a skin reaction (ie. silver ?)

The other issue that would require a durable protective coating for aluminum is the potential to form a voltaic cell.

Copper/Aluminium cells have a have Eo~ 1.3 V. That is significant.

Electrifying! I believe anodization would serve as some degree of insulation, but just like silver, whose mouthpieces don't lose some finish right at the insertion point?

Jose the tuba player wrote: do you know if they play well?

You have as much specific information about them as I do, but I'm reasonably positive they play fine. Bach 18 copy, looks like an ordinary rim, what could go wrong? The important thing, I'd guess, is the anodization, which mitigates the chemistry issues.

Nice to see that you are taking a shop class. Most of those classes in my area were phased out in favor of 'technology' classes. Shame...

bighonkintuba wrote:Nice to see that you are taking a shop class. Most of those classes in my area were phased out in favor of 'technology' classes. Shame...

wow that sucks here we have mixed it together, for robotics (1 class) we have 4 professors one for electronics, one for welding/metalworking, one for 3d modeling in solid works, and one for machine shop. plus the other machine shop that is not part of this course, here they expect us to learn many skill sets.

Donn wrote:Rubato mouthpieces are anodized aluminum.

Hmmm.....I may think about getting one of their mpcs in the future....maybe.

http://www.rubatomouthpieces.com/tuba-a ... uthpieces/

Their music video is pretty funny and cheesy. Just wish they had more than one size for tuba mpcs.

i have some old clear plastic mouthpieces that have aluminum shanks on them. They were designed to be able to view your embouchure by a tuba player who was in Montreal at the time. I don't recall his name, this is going back about 20 years now. Anyway If you leave the aluminum mouthpiece in the horn for any length of time, say a few days without taking it out, the brass and the aluminum react in such a way that the mouthpiece will become stuck and is very difficult to get out.

I'm not sure why, but aluminum thicker than a beer can just kind of freaks me out. I'm not sure what property of it does that to me, but I just find aluminum things to be completely unenjoyable.

bort wrote:I'm not sure why, but aluminum thicker than a beer can just kind of freaks me out. I'm not sure what property of it does that to me, but I just find aluminum things to be completely unenjoyable.

The beer can is the door to curing you. Focus on the beer can, embrace its aluminumosity. More really good beers in a can these days. I could go on, but honestly I find aluminum creepy too, as if it's a non-authentic metal. It would be like making a mouthpiece of zinc.

Back in the 1970s Bill Ratzenberger - who made the original Jet Tone mouthpieces in a shop next to his restaurant in CT - put out a line "alloy" mouthpieces. These seemed to be aluminum versions of his brass mouthpieces, and appeared to be anodized. The theory was they warmed up instantly, etc. As I remember it these did not catch on.

Bill never made a tuba mouthpiece that I know of - just trumpet/cornet/flugelhorn and trombone stuff. The current incarnation of Jet-Tone is different of course.

Giardinelli made Delrin rimmed mouthpieces - I had one of these - which were nice for cold weather outdoor gigs. Only the rim was Delrin (a Nylon derivative); the rest was brass.

The idea was to come up something that responded faster to body temperature - I think.

Mark Heter

Jose the tuba player wrote:

bloke wrote:http://www.finishing.com/384/92.shtml

????
did i miss something?

Yes. Reactivity. Most places have some sort of calcium or lime in the water, and we ingest that, then it makes its way into the horn. With the slightest bit of acid, of whatever source, even perspiration, it will react with the player and the brass of the horn. Because of the reactivity, bare aluminum is not a good metal. Think about every recipe you've ever seen that uses tomatoes - it says use a non-reactive pan, meaning non-aluminum, because of the acid in the tomatoes or other foods. I have not tried the anodized mouthpieces listed above, because if the anodizing ever becomes compromised, the mouthpiece will again be reactive and not suitable.

I'll stick with my blokepiece Imperial, thank you.

To be fair, silver tarnishes on exposure to foods that are about as much like our chemistry as tomatoes are. And I have more than one mouthpiece where the silver plating has been compromised, exposing brass - if anything more reactive than aluminum.

For that matter, what if the tuba player is not dense enough?

ken k wrote:i have some old clear plastic mouthpieces that have aluminum shanks on them. They were designed to be able to view your embouchure by a tuba player who was in Montreal at the time. I don't recall his name, this is going back about 20 years now. Anyway If you leave the aluminum mouthpiece in the horn for any length of time, say a few days without taking it out, the brass and the aluminum react in such a way that the mouthpiece will become stuck and is very difficult to get out.

Sounds like those were the old Ellis Wean mouthpieces.

I haven't seen or heard of one for a long time. My recollection is that they were intended as more of a "limited use" teaching tool than as a constantly-used rehearsal and performance mouthpieces. I had forgotten those shanks were aluminum.

bloke wrote:http://www.finishing.com/384/92.shtml

Interesting thread with a great "finish".