TubeNet

A friend advised using a plastic mouthpiece for Tuba Christmas. I use a Bach 12. What is comparable? What do you recommend?

An old TubeNet thread (can't seem to find it...) indicates that a Kelly 18 is pretty close in rim width to a Bach 12. The Kelly 18 is ~33mm (measured for that thread; I also measured one) while the published value for the Bach 12 is 32.75mm. I don't know if that means you can expect a similar feel/sound as I've never played a 12. It might be close enough for government (or TubaChristmas) work. I do know that the Kelly 18 is and feels wider than a Bach 18.

I've only used metal mouthpieces for outdoor TubaChristmas concerts and will again this year. Keeping the 'piece warm with my hand in a jacket pocket when not in use works fine.

YMMV depending on the weather.

vatubist wrote:A friend advised using a plastic mouthpiece for Tuba Christmas. I use a Bach 12. What is comparable? What do you recommend?

Here's a Bach-vs-Kelly cup diameter comparison chart:
According to both companies' published specs, the Kelly 18 looks like its diameter matches that of the Bach 12.

Hope this helps!

My mistake on the 12 (read the dimensions for the 7). I looked again for that thread, but can't find it. I deleted the bookmark after switching to a different mouthpiece.

You can almost invariably count on two things when discussing Bach mouthpieces:

1) They are usually larger in cup diameter than "spec," and
2) They are so inconsistent from year-to-year that you can't rely on "spec."

My two Kelly 18's measure 1.28 and 1.285, as they are from a really old run and a not quite so old run. New spec on a Kelly 18 is advertised as 1.29.

A Kellyberg is 1.30.

The other option is to do what I did: I like the feel of lexan, so I bought a blokepiece Imperial, a lexan rim and a spacer, and I use that both indoors and out.