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In my practice sessions lately, I have noticed that my Rudy 3/4 felt much better with a monette 98 prana than a pt-50. And I've got to thinking that maybe some tubas work better with certain mouthpieces.

Essentially I'm curious about your experiences with matching mouthpieces and a tubas and which you feel are great matches.

For me

York monster eeb with Dennis wick 3
2155 with a pt50
Rudy 3/4 with the monnette 98 prana
Miraphone 188 with pt88+

If there is another thread I would gladly resurrect it.

There are very good theories on balancing the mouthpiece to the horn and several factors seem to come into play. While I can summarize things here, it would be best to read Phyllis Stork's take on things in here writings on the Stork Custom Mouthpiece web site. I found it very informative and made a great deal of sense. But in very brief summary: Each player has a different set up with regard to lip tissue - thin to thick. It is tough for thin lips to handle a sharp rim. Various sizes of cup volume, throat and back bore all figure on how well the player can maintain the necessary air pressure inside the mouthpiece. Some equipment can be too larger for one person and just fine for another and vice versa. It is easy these days to become seduced into the larger is better scenario. At first a large mp might sound great for a while and give you instantly a new bottom to your horn - or help with a more open sound. But as is often the case, these pieces prove not a good choice for an all-around mp.

There are a number of articles on this link by Phyllis Stork.

http://www.storkcustom.com/Library.htm" target="_blank

58mark wrote:I've never had a harder time finding a mouthpiece that works with a certain instrument as I did with my old conn Eb

with my normal mouthpieces, it sounds like crap, and with smaller ones, it sings. Never seen that before

Same experience with my york. As soon as. I switched to the smaller mouthpiece the horn opened up.

Thank you for that wealth of information PaulMayberry. I switch mouthpieces moderately (I would say one every two years) and I would not dispute there is a honey moon phase, BUT I've also had experiences where my friends made a suggestion given in their experiences and it created a better feeling.

I no longer play by how the horn sounds, but rather what equipment makes it easier for me to get that sound. I sound the same on just about every horn and mouthpiece... It took me awhile to figure this out.