Recommended Mouthpiece for Yorkbrunner?

[Lee Stofer]

Scooby Tuba,
Really. I have it on good authority from two excellent sources. Feel free to PM for further discussion.

[Rick Denney]

My own ability to pump air through a big tuba is more limited than for most, and one of things I fight as an amateur is a fuzzy, unfocused sound.

The Revelation 52 that was originally supplied with big Holtons is a toilet bowl. I call it the Woofmeister.

I have played a range of mouthpieces on my Holton, including a Conn Helleberg, a Laskey 30H, a PT-48, a Doug Elliott 2n132T, and now the Stofer Geib. Of these, the more the funnel shape the more woofy it gets. The Elliott was too big and hard to control, making the upper register real work (it's perfect for the smaller York Master tuba, though). The Conn was woofy sounding for me. The PT-48 has been my favorite, and a four-month trial of the Laskey did not sway me away from the 48. When I went back to the 48 after tha trial, I felt like that zip in the sound came back with it.

Roger's description of his experience with the 88 seems to me to speak volumes. He talks about "lighting up" the sound, and for me that means to stop trying for a dark sound. I don't hear a dark sound in Jacobs's recordings, and his sound has quite a lot of upper harmonic content. I think this is what good players mean when they use the term "color". With the PT-48, I feel like the sound has real energy in it.

The Geib is an experiment. In my initial test, I find that the sound of the Geib is not as earth-moving as with the PT-48, but the accuracy and singing quality in the upper register is noticeably better. That's likely just my own strengths and weaknesses being superimposed on the mouthpiece. The real test will be in some months when I try the PT-48 again to see if I perceive any useful improvement with it.

There is no doubt, however, that I'm tending to narrower rims, more bowl-shaped cups, and somewhat smaller volume. The PT-48 is not by any means a small mouthpiece (neither is the Geib), but it is more of a bowl shape and is not as deep as most Conn-style Hellebergs. The Geib is a natural next step to see how far I might follow this tendency.

My point is not to look for a mouthpiece that makes the loudest or broadest sound, as Holton apparently intended with the mouthpiece they supplied. A big tuba should do that for you. The mouthpiece can therefore be a little more conservative and provide a little more resistance, so that you don't have to work so hard to control the breadth of the sound to keep it from getting fuzzy.

Rick "thinking a sound can be big without being dark or woofy" Denney

[iiipopes]

I'm two for two in following Rick this evening. His comments about mouthpieces are exactly why I got the Curry 128D for my 186, and had Vladimir turn down the rim to an 18 profile. What it does for that horn is exactly what Rick describes, as I, too, am starting down the long road of the breath will never be as voluminous as it used to be, and I also need some resistance to help manage air flow, and a little bit of a bowl for a little more definition to the sound.

[Lee Stofer]

When Rick mentions "accuracy and singing quality", that's what I'm after. After years of trying to sound darker, I've finally realized that, since I'm playing a tuba, it'll probably be dark-enough anyway.

In 1989 when I first heard Arnold Jacobs play up-close, I was surprised by the color and brilliance in his sound. There really wasn't anything dark about it, just lots of resonance and color, and his delivery was singing, not just playing a succession of notes.

The super-5-gallon birdbath mouthpiece I used to play is now retired, and when I play on a BAT it is with a moderate-sized mouthpiece with a narrow rim and fairly deep bowl. I've participated in the tuba "Nuclear Arms Race" before, but I'm through with that.

[Chuck Jackson]

The super-5-gallon birdbath mouthpiece I used to play is now retired

Who would have thought.

Chuck"It was actually a super-duper 6 gallon model"Jackson