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Just got back from HONK!TX.
Honk is a kind of street style, which is kind of fun and rough and ready. I'm more into funk than finesse with my brass sousaphone (Holton Collegiate Sousaphone, circa 1954.)

A woman at Honk let me try her LM-7 mouthpiece and I liked it. I think sometimes I'm outnumbered and maybe more punch sometimes would be nice. Endurance is important to, and being able to dig into that low-F...

I think I have a medium sized jaw but rather big lips, to be honest.

Anyway how can I figure out if I want the LM-7 or the LM-12? I'm in Boston. I don't suppose there's a local vendor there where i could try before buying it from them?

(posting this because I forgot to click "Notify me when a reply is posted")

I tried an original "grenade" shaped LM-7 about a decade ago. The cosmetics have changed, so I don't know if my impressions then are valid now, but FWIW: I found the LM-7 to be a very efficient mouthpiece with great tone, core and projection. What I did not like about it was that the slotting was so tight I was riding throttle on my 1st slide a lot more than I did with lipping notes into place with other mouthpieces. The most basic example: on a BBb 186 we all know that D below the staff can be slightly sharp with the slides in, fingered 1+2. By contrast, the fifth partial D middle line fingered open valves can be really flat. With other mouthpieces I could lip both in as necessary. But with the LM-7, the slotting was so tight that I was pulling 1st valve a little bit for low D, and using 1+2 as the middle line D fingering, also pulling a little bit, because I could not comfortably lip open into tune.

But if your tuba has a relatively good scale, and you are the only one holding down the fort, it is a great mouthpiece.

The LM-12 is like a howitzer - very shallow rim with a wide inner diameter (33.2 or 33.7). For sheer punch and projection it is in a class by itself. The LM-10 (33.5 with a comfy rim) is a close second for that type of playing. I've used both on a 6/4 Holton BAT for un-miked outdoor gigs and was clearly heard in the next county. Because of the shallow cups you can play in the extremely high register with great ease - if that's your thing. The low register is very snarly with either of these 2 mpc's. (The low F on a 1291 with either of these 2 pieces is downright scary.)

I've got one- but I don't use it anymore. With it I can play louder than literally any instrument I've ever heard, including electronics. It'll turn you into Superman- nothing can stop you. You can blow over buildings, explode cars, and save humanity from extinction. The sound is very aggressive, not very tuba like.

But sousaphone-like??

Do the numbers mean anything, or is it just the chronological creation ordering?

If you want to sound like a tuba I wouldn't especially recommend the LM12

I have an LM-12, and have played in both the Seattle Sounders FC band and so me Honk! groups from the Puget Sound area. If Honk! is your game, this is your mouthpiece. As a matter of fact, this is the only style of music I'd use it for. It definitely thins tone and hurts blend on sousaphones and 4/4 horns. It is mighty powerful though, and gives easy command of all registers. Sucks the wind right out of you!

Back from HONK!TX '19 and going through exactly what OP went through.. Played some LMs and now I'm hooked... Can't find them anywhere though. Sorry for reviving an old thread, but if anyone's got one, I'd pay a fair price...

JPLynd wrote:Back from HONK!TX '19 and going through exactly what OP went through.. Played some LMs and now I'm hooked... Can't find them anywhere though. Sorry for reviving an old thread, but if anyone's got one, I'd pay a fair price...

Last known price was $1,000,000 I think..so good luck. Out of principle, I'd never own one based on that whole fiasco that went on with the owner.

JPLynd wrote:Played some LMs

Which? As mentioned above, there's the LM 12, and then there's normal mouthpieces. If like the OP you played an LM 7, there's got to be another mouthpiece that's pretty close. If it was an LM 12, then you might search tubenet for someone who's apparently planning to duplicate it - there might have been a couple of them. I don't know in what medium - could be 3D printer, who knows.