Looking into mouthpiece. Advice?

[bubba42200]

I am a developing tubist, looking into buying a new mouthpiece, the Alan Baer MMVII mouthpiece by Giddings and Webster for CC or BBb tuba. I have a few questions before I spend that much money.

Which one would be a better buy, titanium or stainless steel?
Is there a difference between polished and finished?
Is this even a decent mouthpiece for an intermediate tubist? It was recommended for me by my teacher.
Should I get the standard or Euro shank if I use a Miraphone 191?

Any and all opinions would be nice.

[opus37]

Stainless is the best especially if you are not sure if this is the right mouthpiece for you. Polished versus matt finish is a personal preference because it is purely cosmetics. I'm not sure on Euro versus American shank for your horn. G&W mouthpiece are good. The issue I have with them is I like to have the option to change rims. The Sellsmanberger/House and some of the others provide the ability to have different rims. Something for you to consider in your purchase.

[bubba42200]

I use a Bayamo stainless steel, like the feel, but it's too large. I don't think I'll need to change rims too often for now, but thanks for the advice.

Should probably mention I'm a freshman in high school, but I intent to play professionally.

[Donn]

Polished versus matt finish is a personal preference because it is purely cosmetics.

I got my only GW before there were finish options, but from the web site, it sounds like they apply the finish to the rim surface, not just the exterior, in which case my guess would be that polished vs. satin could indeed be significant on a practical level. They say polished feels more like gold, satin more like silver, if that gives you any idea (I'm not very sensitive to the difference, but I think silver is supposed to be a little stickier.)

Conversely, I'd expect the material to make no difference whatever, except insofar as it affects rim feel.

As for the design ... every tuba mouthpiece is ideal, for someone. Your teacher likely has more specific insight into why this one would be a match for you (but I wouldn't bet my life on it!)

[royjohn]

Experience is going to tell you a lot about mouthpieces that you may not know now. I would want to try out a number of possibilities before dropping $140 on a piece on a high schooler's budget. Trying out what your friends have (if you haven't already), looking in local music stores that allow tryouts in house or buying inexpensive mouthpieces like the Kellys are all possibilities. I believe if you buy from Dillon's they bill your credit card, but allow you to return undamaged mouthpieces within a week or two for full credit. If your parents' credit card can stand it, you can even get more than one mpc to compare this way. You ought to check with Dillon's and other places to make sure I'm right about the return policy before you go forward.

Looking at the specs on the Bayamo and the Baer, the Baer is a tad smaller in inner diameter and has a slightly smaller throat, but the operative word here would be slightly smaller diameter and throat. There's no reference to the depth of the cup on the Baer, but I'm guessing it's somewhat less deep than the Bayamo. These are both very big mouthpieces. Schilke and Yamaha don't even make anything this big and Bach only makes one mpc this big in diameter. So there's lots of room to go if you want to try other pieces and, if I were you, I would want to try some contrasting types of pieces before deciding for sure that the biggest he-man mouthpiece was for sure best for me. Maybe something more middle of the road would work better than either of the pieces you're discussing. By the law of averages, that would certainly be likely.

[opus37]

I have, or have had, both a polished and a matt version of the GW mouthpieces. The rim finish was the same, both were polished. From my experience, the only difference in finish was cosmetic. I agree that these are very expensive mouthpieces. A freshman in high school will go through a lot of physical and playing changes before he gets to college and beyond. The practicality that mouthpieces and horns get bumped, dropped, lost, etc. when you go through high school, suggests you should explore less expensive and equally good for you options. You might try consulting a local professional too.

[Antontuba]

Are you close enough to a reputable store, (or can you go to a conference), where you can try many mouthpieces to find out which one sound/feels the best for you? As a developing musician, the journey is more than half the fun

Adam

[Tom Coffey]

I usually look into the large end, because it is too hard to see into that little pipe on the other end.

[Roger Lewis]

The 191 has an American receiver on it so whatever you get, go with American shank. As to recommendations, the Laskey 30H is quite popular with quite a few professional players. Alan Baer won the New York Philharmonic job on either a 30H or 30G - not sure on that and I know Gene Pokorny loves his 30H. Also Tony Kniffen in Indianapolis is using Laskey mouthpieces but I believe that he prefers the slightly smaller 28 series.

My personal gear is a little different. On BBb I use the Sellmansberger Symphony model. On my Yorkbrunner I use his Solo 1, on the 188 a Miraphone TU27 for quintet and solo work and a Warburton V8 for symphonic playing. On my F I use a PT65 for solo work and a Tilz M2 for symphonic playing.

In reality you should get to a well stocked shop like Dillon's or Baltimore Brass and try as many different mouthpieces as you can. What works for me might not work for you.

Good luck on the hunt.

All the best.

Roger

[Jay Bertolet]

The 191 has an American receiver on it so whatever you get, go with American shank. As to recommendations, the Laskey 30H is quite popular with quite a few professional players. Alan Baer won the New York Philharmonic job on either a 30H or 30G - not sure on that and I know Gene Pokorny loves his 30H. Also Tony Kniffen in Indianapolis is using Laskey mouthpieces but I believe that he prefers the slightly smaller 28 series.

+1

I use a Laskey 30H, 30F, and 30C on various instruments. For me, works great.

[bubba42200]

Your looking at a good mouthpiece, but two questions,

What does your private teacher think?

How many mouthpieces have you actually tried?

My teacher suggested this among other mouthpieces, but his suggestions seemed to be almost all from GW.

I have tried a Shilkie 67, but that was so long ago I don't even remember how it feels. I own a Conn Helleberg, which I use to warm up on and personally find it easy to play on, but not easy to play on with good tone, if that makes sense. The Bayamo is easy to make good tone on, but it's rim is too large and its not very clear, even if it is deep and rich. I guessed that the reason the Bayamo sounded better was the material, could be wrong.

If I say something stupid, lemme know. I'm still not geared enough in the nuances to tell which mouthpiece is slightly better, but I can tell big differences (i.e, the Helleberg is a huge step up from a Bach 18, and the Bayamo has some qualities that are better than the Helleberg by a lot and some that aren't.)

<== I love this emote.

[bubba42200]

Are you close enough to a reputable store, (or can you go to a conference), where you can try many mouthpieces to find out which one sound/feels the best for you? As a developing musician, the journey is more than half the fun

I have been intending to ask the upperclassmen if I can test some of theirs, and I was going to ask my teacher if I could test drive some of his next week, but there aren't any stores that I know of that let you try them, and I'm not exactly in the best position to go anywhere out of the way to try some.

[bubba42200]

Thank you all for the wonderful advice. You've given me some new options to explore, and almost unanimously suggested I try out a bunch of mouthpieces before I buy one, especially one that's so expensive. I can ask around if I can try out mouthpieces, and I will definitely be borrowing the first chair's Baer.

Again, thanks, and happy playing.