TubeNet

Does anyone have any experience cutting mouthpieces into a visualizer? What equipment do you use?

Thanks,

Jeff

band saw is the best tool for this job, file the edges afterword.

Dremel. Much easier to be precise than a band saw. I did it last year, but took too much of the cup away. I wish I'd left another inch of width, just to get a little more air directed toward the shank. That's beside the point of a visualizer, I know, but I have some exercises I do with that.

If you want to do it even more easily, use a Kelly or an Astro Cup Nylon. Probably a 10 minute job on those.

eupher61 wrote:Dremel. Much easier to be precise than a band saw. I did it last year, but took too much of the cup away. I wish I'd left another inch of width, just to get a little more air directed toward the shank. That's beside the point of a visualizer, I know, but I have some exercises I do with that.

If you want to do it even more easily, use a Kelly or an Astro Cup Nylon. Probably a 10 minute job on those.

Good call, yes a dremel would be precise, my buddy did mine on a band saw many years ago. Ugly but it works.

I used a hacksaw....

I chucked the mouthpiece into a lathe and used a hacksaw.

Jeff,

Call Dana. His visualizers are fantastic.

Josh Wirt

I have a former student that cut the majority of the cup off but left the shank and a strip of the cup connected to the rim. It's pretty slick, you can still put the "mouthpiece" in your tuba and practice buzzing.

If you cut the whole cup and shank off, as someone else said, give yourself some room to hold the rim, otherwise your fingers will be smashed up against your face. A bench vise and a dremel or hacksaw would work well for this project, that is of course unless you have Jaws on speed dial, in that case use Joe's advice!

JB

Let's see some pictures of these home-made visualizers!

Tubajug wrote:I chucked the mouthpiece into a lathe and used a hacksaw.

I guess I should have added that I then soldered a brass rod to it to hold. I'll snap a picture when I get a chance. It wasn't terribly complicated.

Pictures of the ones I had made (I cut off the rim and someone else soldered it onto a brass rod):

Front:


Side:


Back:

sorry for the poor quality pictures. But they show pretty well where I cut. I mentioned earlier I wish I'd left a little more of the cup in place, but it works.

Thank you to everyone for their ideas and experiences. I am interested in leaving just a bit of cup on each side so that it can still be used in the horn. I think a dremel might be the way to go.

Thanks again! I will post pictures with the finished product!

Jeff

I was about to reply saying I wouldn't suggest leaving some on opposite sides...but I changed my mind before sending it. I wish I'd left about 1/4 of the cup instead of 1/8, but maybe leaving 1/8 on opposite sides would be more beneficial for using it in the horn, without sacrificing visability of the lips. Interesting idea.

By all means, a Dremel was much easier on this than a hacksaw. I used a hacksaw for the initial cut but quickly went to the rotary tool.

Some teachers feel it's good to be able to see the lips to diagnose certain issues. I am one of them.

Why not use a Blokepiece rim in the flavor of your choice. No cutting involved.

I still like to be able to plug the mp into the horn to demonstrate different air streams and the effect on timbre and pitch. However, 99% of the time I use one with my younger students to show alignment.

I don't know what it does but I'd just make it out of brass or stainless steel on a lathe.

bigbob wrote: What is a visualizer?? Is that so you can buzz?? why not just use the mouthpiece?? Is it the weight?........BB

Arnold Jacobs was a huge advocate of using just a rim (in small doses). The idea is that we are trying to get the lips to vibrate, and then the cup of the mouthpiece and the instrument provide amplification. The stronger the vibration, the greater the resonance in the sound.

It is harder to get the lips to vibrate without the back pressure of having the mouthpiece in the instrument, so if we play on the mouthpiece alone, we will develop a stronger buzz. It is harder to get the lips to vibrate with just the rim than with the mouthpiece alone, so using the rim alone helps develop a stronger vibration.

It has to do with the strength of the signal we are sending to the lips from the brain. The lips are not wood, like a reed, and do not necessarily need to respond to simply blowing. There has to be a definite signal of the pitch vibration we want that is sent from the brain to the lips in order for them to respond. The stronger the signal that is sent from the brain to the lip, the quicker the neural pathway is formed. It is what Daniel Coyle talks about in The Talent Code as "Deep Practice."

If we can learn to get the lips to vibrate strongly while buzzing on the rim, it will be easier to do so on the mouthpiece alone, and much easier on the tuba.

The idea of cutting away the cup of the MP is a good one. Holding the tuba and fingering the valves enhance the development of the conditioned response we are trying to achieve, since we already have some neural associations established through our playing. Similarly, using a device like the BERP is good, because we can go quickly back and forth between the tuba and the MP when practicing.

IMO, being able to see what is happening with the lips while they are buzzing is of limited value because we are all different in structure. Just look at the "weird" embouchures of the CSO brass players that are in the Farkas book. They are all different, but work well for them. While certain generalities can be applied to MP placement, the most important thing is how it sounds, and striving to imitate the sounds of great players on our instrument. This is what develops the embouchure. The shape and movements of the muscles involved are the result of the subconscious motor signals that are sent to the lip.