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HI!

As many of you know, I have a 5/4 Frankentuba. (BAT) I have started that special search for the perfect mouthpiece. I currently play a PT 88. I like the width of the mouthpiece, wouldn't mind a more comfortable rim. I
would like a cup with a little less depth. I am not a big fan of funnel shaped cups like the 24AW. Does such a thing exist? I look a Werden's spec sheet and try to imagine what these things look like and come up with nothing. Any help would be appreciated, mostly by my wife, who wants me to quit thinking about it.

Mike Lopp

Mike,
If you like bowl shape mouthpieces with a comfortable rim check out Bresilmar mouthpieces. I have a breslmare G3A(medium cup bowl mouthpiece)for sale. Also look up Giddings, Sellsmanberger(who is bloke on the forum), Scott Laskey, Doug Elliot, and Mike Parker. I personally talked to everyone listed on my year long search for a mouthpiece. They are all great guys who offer trail periods on their mouthpieces. I ended up picking a Schilke Helleberg II and I am waiting on a Laskey 30H to decide which one I will keep. Yes my wife was also sick of me talking about tuba mouthpeiecs.

Every rim is comfortable for someone. What kind of rim would be comfortable for you?

The day before yesterday, someone described a Miraphone mouthpiece as similar to the 24AW [evidently because of its] "nice big round bowl cup." Is it really a "funnel" shape? I've never seen one up close. The terminology is really kind of ambiguous, because every production mouthpiece cup is somewhat rounded. If it were up to me, there would be two parameters: min and max angles. Minimum is found near the rim, maximum near the throat (so obviously, angles measured from the axis of the mouthpiece.) When they're the same, the mouthpiece is a clean funnel; when they're 0°/90°, it's a "bowl." But of course they don't have to vary together - Schilke-Helleberg, DW 2 have a low min and moderate max, Geib reportedly is a high max and moderate min.

Of course none of that matters much compared to the details of throat and backbore.

Mike,

If you like the PT-88 and need something a bit more comfortable, the PT-50 would seem natural. PT has been rebranded so that would be the RT-50 (robert-tucci.com).
Tucci's mouthpieces are proven quantities and cost less than much of the mouthpiece magic that burns up much bandwidth.

Gene

HI!
Thanks to everyone who has answered. I really appreciate it. Yes, my avatar has a certain Dexter look to it. I may have to change it soon. I agree with Donn that we need a better descriptor for Tuba mouthpiece dimensions. I will soon be contacting the list you all supplied me to see what can be done. As a general music teacher I have learned over the years to "embrace the process." In any case, thanks again.

Mike Lopp

Thanks!! That's nice. I probably wouldn't use my real name if I was worried about using a real picture of myself. I bought that avatar for $15.00 and I am going to get my moneys worth!!

Mike

Lol - I am a Tuba player, I don't need my ears!

so you just feel the vibes, like Evelyn Glennie? . . . (that's a double entendre) . . .

No...Like Tommy....I play by sense of smell.

Mike

I had a music educator tell me in 1982 (year I student taught) that the stock mouthpiece in a student horn had been tested by the manufacturer for many years and been found to work well on the horn. It was his considered opinion that the those were some pretty good mouthpieces.

In my adult shopping, I got my first nice horn used from the Tuba Exchange in 1995, done over the phone with zero knowledge about what I get getting. You can see that horn on my avatar. I asked them to please put a mouthpiece in the deal, any mouthpiece they thought appropriate. They put in a stock Yamaha (on a German horn) and I played on it for many years, still do. I didn't know enough to understand it was one the most common models, mated to a very small tuba in this instance.

I was disappointed when it didn't work well immediately on a new (and much larger) horn I bought in 2010, but eventually I adjusted some and it worked fine.

"No...Like Tommy....I play by sense of smell"

Tommy Johnson? . . he never told me that when I studied with him (briefly).

Was he, by any chance, a pinball wizard?

Mike