euph mouthpieces

[arul]

I have been using Schilke 51D on a Yamaha 321 for the last twenty years. It is a good fit for the horn (at least for me).

Arul

[Rick F]

mulrian,

The 51D is a good mpc for that horn. You will need the "small" shank or "tenor" shank size for your horn. The 51D is a little larger in rim size than that of the 6 1/2 AL that you're used to. The cup of the 51D is deeper providing a darker tone.

Hope this helps.

[Rick Denney]

so what size mouthpiece does my instrument need in "official" / "technical" terms? large/medium/standard shank? or what else might it be called?

Euphonium mouthpieces come in three shank sizes. The smallest is what you have, and it's the same as a tenor trombone. The largest is what most new euphoniums have, and it's the same as a bass trombone. In between is the old Besson, or European size, which I think only one model of Willson still uses. Besson changed from the medium-sized to the large in about 1974.

The Schilke 51D is considered the standard by which other mouthpieces are measured, so it's hard to go wrong with that choice. But I would also consider the Denis Wick 4AY, which is made specially for the Yamaha. The Wick (and Mead, which is a variation) mouthpieces work very well for me on euphonium.

I've always found that the 6-1/2AL was too trombone-like for a bigger euphonium, which the Yamaha is except for the mouthpiece receiver. It's big for a tenor trombone, but it seems to me a euphonium is more like a bass trombone than a tenor.

Rick "who likes the Weril because it's like a 321 with a large receiver" Denney