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One of my fellow tuba players has been playing a Bach 18 with all the silver warn off. He is starting to have lip sores. So I started him on a mouthpiece quest. He plays a 3 valved Yamaha BBb, likely a 3/4 size, but I don't know the model number. I had a new Bach 18, a megatone 24A, and a Sellmansberger Symphony with several rim choices. I told him to try the different mouthpieces and rims throughout practice. He started with the megatone and it was nothing special, then he put in the Symphony with a #1 rim. The sound he produced changed dramatically! Much fuller and clearer. After trying other rims, he liked a narrower rim width with a sharper inner edge. But the Symphony was the trick for him. I never realized how pronounced the right mouthpiece can affect the sound of the horn.

Sounds to me like the safari is over. Tell 'em to quit while they're ahead. It took me way too many years to end up where bloke told me to go in the first place.

I think he's going to end up with a Conn 120S or a Conn #2. Although he really likes the Symphony, he is not willing to spend the money to get one.

In that case, worth considering the Faxx copy. I'm really delighted with my Faxx HB. While I don't have a 120S, I do have a number of other Conn mouthpieces, and the rim on this Faxx is a conspicuous improvement over any of them, while remaining faithful to the concept. And it sounds great, well made (in Germany, like the Conn mouthpieces, but I think not by the same firm), and costs $20 or so less. The Conn 2 would be closer to the HB-7B model, which I haven't seen.

Donn wrote:In that case, worth considering the Faxx copy. I'm really delighted with my Faxx HB. While I don't have a 120S, I do have a number of other Conn mouthpieces, and the rim on this Faxx is a conspicuous improvement over any of them, while remaining faithful to the concept. And it sounds great, well made (in Germany, like the Conn mouthpieces, but I think not by the same firm), and costs $20 or so less. The Conn 2 would be closer to the HB-7B model, which I haven't seen.

Faxx 18 is a very good mouthpiece as well.