Mouthpiece Boundaries

[DaTweeka]

I've been poking around and looking at what various manufacturers have been doing to think outside the box with their mouthpieces. The Wedge rim seems to be a fantastic design concept (which I intend to try out soon), and the Monette design has certainly stirred up some controversy in trumpet circles over the years, regardless of its actual function. There's also been a mouthpiece put out by the Austrian company Schagerl that I've found enticing, called Apredato, which involves reducing the mass around the cup and throat of the mouthpiece to an absolute minimum, placing an unscrewable jacket around the mouthpiece mass, and then filling the void between the two with water. In case my description is lacking, here's a photo of an unscrewed Apredato to move things along;
http://images01.olx.pt/ui/30/53/29/boca ... 4429_2.jpg" target="_blank

Supposedly, it creates the darker sound a heavier mouthpiece offers, but with the response of a much lighter piece. These seem to only be offered to trumpet mouthpieces, but where there's a will...

Anyways, I'd love to see who's tried what, and what else is out there that I've missed. This seems to be an exciting time for development, especially with the 3D printing thread that's been posted, and I'm anxious to see what else pops up in the future.

[Art Hovey]

In my humble opinion, this is like trying to improve the performance of an automobile by customizing its hubcaps.

The mouthpiece of a tuba vibrates less than any other part of the instrument, regardless of its material. That's a good thing, because you don't want the tuba to vibrate. You want the air inside it to vibrate, and you want nothing to divert that energy.

Perhaps the idea of a water-filled mouthpiece is to prevent its temperature from changing rapidly. Since water has a large specific heat it will take more time to warm it up or to cool it down. Making the mouthpiece out of thick and heavy brass accomplishes the same thing. But the nice thing about plastic mouthpieces is the fact that they don't take a lot of time to warm up. Same with the "skeletonized" (thin metal) mouthpieces that were popular some years ago.

Some people actually believe me when I say that I painted my helicon black "to give it a darker tone".

[Doug Elliott]

I think you actually DO want the instrument to vibrate. If the sound only projected out of the bell, you wouldn't be able to hear yourself very well. The player needs the sensation of the instrument vibrating, at least some. Greenhoe trombones (which aren't being made any more) were specifically built to freely vibrate, it's quite noticeable, and they are known as some of the better playing trombones.

There are many different aspects to what makes a mouthpiece or instrument good, but people like to single out one thing and attribute everything to it.