Dealing with Denis Wick

[scottw]

I want to go on record here at Tubenet that I just had an excellent experience dealing with this company. I had a 4-5 year-old mouthpiece--a 2-L-- that had lost it's plating on the INSIDE of the cup, just inside the rim. This is something I have never heard of, nor, apparently, has Mr. Wick. Weird. I sent him an e-mail describing the raw brass edge and my concerns about it. He asked me to send pictures, and ultimately, he asked me to just send the offending mouthpiece. There was no issue of pro-rating the thing, no games at all; he just sent me a new one from their US distributor in Chicago. The company was a delight to deal with in that they "get it" when it comes to customer service. I love what the mouthpiece lets me do and it is refreshing that the company stands behind their product so very well.
ScottW

[scottw]

My mouthpiece was silver and for 360 degrees around the inside of the cup, right at the rim, it was all raw brass. Now that I think about it, I've been experiencing some itching and related tenderness of my lips lately; a reaction to the brass? Likely, since I have not felt that since I've been playing my back-up Helleberg lately.Weird.

[Donn]

I had a 4-5 year-old mouthpiece--a 2-L-- that had lost it's plating on the INSIDE of the cup, just inside the rim. This is something I have never heard of, nor, apparently, has Mr. Wick. Weird.

Yeah, weird. I guess I should show him my DW 5, which has the same problem - out of the box, the way I remember it, though a little more plating has been lost over time. There's no harm in it that I can tell, though, and it's the old style, so I would rather keep it than get a replacement.

[scottw]

Yeah, weird. I guess I should show him my DW 5, which has the same problem - out of the box, the way I remember it, though a little more plating has been lost over time. There's no harm in it that I can tell, though, and it's the old style, so I would rather keep it than get a replacement.[/quote]

But, there is a harm in it: your lips should never be in contact with raw brass! There are serious health consequences for this.
As to the style, apparently, the rim and interior has not been changed, only the exterior shape and a bit more mass.

[iiipopes]

I have had occasion to contact Mr. DW about a couple of questions in the past, and have had the best service as well. And the new style of the mouthpieces, with their "heritage" shape (although the tuba line is not called "Heritage," per se) are a definite improvement over the older funnel shape for response and consistency.

[MaryAnn]

Yeah, weird. I guess I should show him my DW 5, which has the same problem - out of the box, the way I remember it, though a little more plating has been lost over time. There's no harm in it that I can tell, though, and it's the old style, so I would rather keep it than get a replacement.

But, there is a harm in it: your lips should never be in contact with raw brass! There are serious health consequences for this.
As to the style, apparently, the rim and interior has not been changed, only the exterior shape and a bit more mass.[/quote]

You can put nail polish over the raw brass to protect yourself, especially if you have an older mpc that you can't just send back. I do it and it works fine.

MA

[scottw]

Yeah, weird. I guess I should show him my DW 5, which has the same problem - out of the box, the way I remember it, though a little more plating has been lost over time. There's no harm in it that I can tell, though, and it's the old style, so I would rather keep it than get a replacement.

But, there is a harm in it: your lips should never be in contact with raw brass! There are serious health consequences for this.
As to the style, apparently, the rim and interior has not been changed, only the exterior shape and a bit more mass.

You can put nail polish over the raw brass to protect yourself, especially if you have an older mpc that you can't just send back. I do it and it works fine.

MA[/quote]
Funny, but that is a suggestion Denis Wick made to me whilst I was awaiting my new one, only his term was "nail VARNISH". I can see where this might work for a short while, but I would not like to depend on it for very long.