Eb mouthpiece question

[Dave DeWitt]

This past summer I sold a 1958 Conn Naked Lady 3 valve Eb Tuba. I bought a 1928 dent-less beautiful Conn 3 valve Eb. I made the mistake of letting the mouthpiece go with the horn. I loved the mouthpiece, however I`ve never seen one of these before. All it said was "Miraphone Eb" had a different shank on it, European shank????
Does anyone know about this mouthpiece? Are they still available? It was smaller and shallower but for this horn it worked amazing. I really wish I hadn`t let this go.
Thanks,
Dave

[CA Transplant]

Here's a list of current Miraphone tuba mouthpieces, with dimensions:

http://www.hornguys.com/tubamps.php" target="_blank

Maybe you can spot the one in there.

[iiipopes]

Email Miraphone directly?

[Tom Eshelman]

Dave,
I have one of those mouthpieces and would be willing to part with it cheap. It has a euro-shank. All it says on it is MIRAFONE Eb. PM me. Are you the jazz bassist/pianist Dave DeWitt in Columbus OH?

[ghmerrill]

I'd be interested in the dimensions on this mouthpiece (cup diameter and depth) if anyone cares to measure it. I presume it's bowl-shaped rather than Helleberg?

[otakuphill]

I had a similar issue with my besson Eb tuba. It came with a Besson 13 mouthpiece an i wanted a larger one to help with low notes. I found it doesn't take normal tuba mouthpiece but is the same as large shank euphonium mouthpieces. I ended up just getting the besson one replated and working with that but maybe a larger Trombone or Euphonium mouthpiece may work better for you. My Large shank Denis wick Euphonium mouthpiece works fine but is hard on the lower notes.

[MikeW]

The older Bessons (pre about 1980) need a "Small European" shank. The only place I know of that keeps this size in stock is Denis Wick Mouthpieces. For Eb, most TubeNetters seem to recommend a Denis Wick 3 mouthpiece, which is the same size as a Bach 24 (not the 3L, which has a standard shank). A minority group recommends the Denis Wick 2, which is bigger, about the same size as a Bach 18.

[Tom Eshelman]

The MIRAFONE Eb mouthpiece is bowl shaped with an inner diameter of 1.25". It's tight but good for a 14J Naked Lady. High notes are so easy.

[Dave DeWitt]

Tom, I sent you a PM, but I`m new to the site and may have done something wrong.
But I`m interested in buying your Eb mouthpiece
Dave

[ghmerrill]

The MIRAFONE Eb mouthpiece is bowl shaped with an inner diameter of 1.25". It's tight but good for a 14J Naked Lady. High notes are so easy.

The DW 5 I use on my 1924 Buescher is 30 mm (or about 1.18") in diameter -- so narrower than this. But it's fairly deep. It's the best I've found for this little Eb horn.

[MikeW]

The older Bessons (pre about 1980) need a "Small European" shank. The only place I know of that keeps this size in stock is Denis Wick Mouthpieces. For Eb, most TubeNetters seem to recommend a Denis Wick 3 mouthpiece, which is the same size as a Bach 24 (not the 3L, which has a standard shank). A minority group recommends the Denis Wick 2, which is bigger, about the same size as a Bach 18.

EDIT
I would appear that Bloke keeps the highly recommended Selmansberger Imperial in stock with the Small Euro shank (sorry Bloke, I thought that was a special-order item )

Some years ago you could special order a Bach (Boosey & Hawkes shank) I don't know if this is still possible, and I think Doug Elliot also makes that size.

[Doug Elliott]

Yes, I can easily make any size or special taper on my shanks.

[Dave DeWitt]

Special thanks , Tom. The mouthpiece came today and It`s perfect. I feel like for the 1st time since last summer I`ve got my sound back on Tuba.