Mouthpiece Characteristics Questions

[Liberty Mo]

Is there a consensus on how different characteristics of a mouthpiece produce different results, referring to cup diameter, cup depth, drill venturi, rim shape, bowl shape? If someone was looking for a somewhat specific result from a mouthpiece but didn't have the opportunity to try them, is there a generally agreed upon set of results from certain designs so that a player could focus his search to a specific cup diameter/rim shape/bowl depth that would likely get the closer to their desired result?

For example, if you wanted a focused attack, a broad sound, the ability to play in the lower register easier, what type of characteristics of a mouthpiece would facilitate these?

I understand that a lot of this may be subjective, but I was just curious if there is a generally accepted set of results from specific characteristics of a mouthpiece.

[iiipopes]

For example, if you wanted a focused attack, a broad sound, the ability to play in the lower register easier, what type of characteristics of a mouthpiece would facilitate these?

You will get as many answers to this particular question as there are active members of TubeNet.

Generally:
1) A bowl cup tends to produce more overtones (hence, "brighter" tone) than a funnel cup.
2) A deeper cup tends to reinforce the fundamental more than a shallow cup.
3) A larger throat can require more air, and the throat and backbore geometry togther interact with the horn to influence intonation tendencies.

As for me, my Curry 128D on my Miraphone 186 with the upright St Pete bell does exactly what you describe. But with the recording bell, it takes my Kanstul custom 18-style deeper cup mouthpiece to do the same thing.

It's not just mouthpiece. It's matching mouthpiece to embouchure, playing style, repertoire, instrument, and performance hall characteristics all together.

For your particular combination, I'd suggest you contact someone like Matt Walters, Roger Lewis, Jeff Rideout, Doug Elliot, or some of the other folks who post here on TubeNet occasionally that are trained and experienced in helping players fit mouthpieces to instruments.

[Liberty Mo]

Generally:
1) A bowl cup tends to produce more overtones (hence, "brighter" tone) than a funnel cup.
2) A deeper cup tends to reinforce the fundamental more than a shallow cup.
3) A larger throat can require more air, and the throat and backbore geometry togther interact with the horn to influence intonation tendencies.

Exactly what I was looking for, thanks.

I should have just said, what do these changes result in?

Wider rim =
Narrower rim =
Deeper Cup =
Shallower Cup =
Wider Cup =
Narrower Cup =

[Liberty Mo]

For some basic info, see pages 3 through 9.

http://www.bachbrass.com/pdf/AV6001%20B ... Manual.pdf

Excellent, thank you for the information.

[Doug Elliott]

Generally:
1) A bowl cup tends to produce more overtones (hence, "brighter" tone) than a funnel cup.
2) A deeper cup tends to reinforce the fundamental more than a shallow cup.
3) A larger throat can require more air, and the throat and backbore geometry togther interact with the horn to influence intonation tendencies.

Exactly what I was looking for, thanks.

I should have just said, what do these changes result in?

Wider rim =
Narrower rim =
Deeper Cup =
Shallower Cup =
Wider Cup =
Narrower Cup =

Sorry to contradict a previous post, but many of the widely-used descriptions of mouthpiece characteristics are simply not true, or at least not for all players.

A bowl is not necessarily brighter than a funnel. It tends to be darker up to a certain volume, then it gets brighter when you push it. A funnel will be more uniform in sound characteristics over the range of volume.

The effect of a wide or narrow rim depends on your face. If you have a long top lip with plenty of room for a tuba mouthpiece (look at pictures of Arnold Jacobs), a wide rim may work very well without limiting flexibility, and a narrow rim will be uncomfortable. If your nose structure is lower on your face so there's not much room for the mouthpiece, a narrow rim will work much better because a wide rim would dictate your mouthpiece placement to possibly a less favorable place, and make many aspects of playing "inflexible."

A deeper cup will favor low frequencies, so the sound will be darker and high range more difficult.
A shallower cup will favor higher frequencies, so the sound will be brighter and the high range easier. Sometimes a shallow cup will make pedals pop out easily because it helps locks into the higher harmonics of those pedals, not because it's favoring those low fundamental frequencies.

A wider cup allows the lips to vibrate in a larger way inside the cup so the sound will be "bigger" but the high range may suffer for some players but not others. A narrower cup restricts the size of the lip vibrations, favoring high range but limiting low range and sound volume for some players but not others.