Mouthpiece Help

[Tubaryan12]

I'd would go with something that has a much smaller throat than the 7B. The easiest to purchase mouthpiece with similar inside rim diameter with a smaller throat would be the Perantucci 64 or 65.

BTW, what mouthpiece is he playing now? That may be able to help match inside diameter as well.

[ginnboonmiller]

H1s are huge and there's a whole ton of smaller mouthpieces out there. Maybe a standard Helleburg 120s is enough for the guy, but the thing is that what air he's moving might have decreased, but he's moving it in the same way, and it's less about the magic mouthpiece than it is about being comfortable breathing more often, and thinking of phrasing in a different way that allows him to still make music with more frequent breaths.

[Tubaryan12]

If that is the case, the best choice may be a Marcinkiewicz N1. The inside diameter is a hair larger (33.66 mm vs 33.60 mm), but the cup is shallower (38.53 vs 41.45 mm). The difference in the throat is 7.67 mm vs 8.33 mm. The slightly smaller cup volume plus the smaller throat on the N1 should help a lot.

[iiipopes]

He is using a marcinkiewicz H1 alt for the past 20 years.

The Marc H1 has a throat of .328. Most mouthpieces designed for BBb/CC tuba have at least a .323 (the "P" drill bit).
I believe Scott Laskey makes mouthpieces with a smaller throat, but in smaller cup diameters. It will be difficult to find a 1.325 cup i.d. mouthpiece with a smaller throat without going to a shallower cup so the upper register doesn't go flat.

Bloke's Orchestra Grand might be the best option.

There is also the G&W Caver.

[Jose the tuba player]

I want to recommend the proper mouthpiece size, bore, shank for someone for has breathing troubles and lung issues but wants to play Tuba still and can't put a huge amount of air into the horn anymore. Something that doesn't take much force to produce a full sound.

Lm12
the kid who uses my yamaha 103 normally uses an olds 97 mouthpiece which is tiny but when he couldn't find it for the lesson i lent him my Lm12 and he was able to get a decent sound and actually hit the low Bb.

[Donn]

Can you recommend something similar to the N1, it seems they are very hard to find if not impossible since they are discontinued.

They are discontinued? Who says? It looks like you can order one direct from marcinkiewicz.com, or from dillonmusic.com; mouthpieceexpress.com doesn't show it in stock, but they have the N2 and I bet a quarter you can't tell the difference without looking.

I am not saying that it's necessarily what you're looking for, though. I haven't seen one, but it appears to be a thoroughly different mouthpiece from the H series - not just throat, but also cup and rim shape. Just about anything is going to have a more normal throat then the H series. An ordinary Conn Helleberg for example, the 120S or whatever they call it lately. 7B too, but it's a more noticeable step down from the H1 in size. Both have "funnel" shaped interior profiles, somewhat like the H series.

[patricklugo]

bach 18 tuba mouthpiece is a good mpc to start. if you are looking for a cup mpc for rotary valve or conn helleberg for piston.

[iiipopes]

bach 18 tuba mouthpiece is a good mpc to start. if you are looking for a cup mpc for rotary valve or conn helleberg for piston.

I respectfully and completely disagree for this thread. Having owned several Bach 18's and derivatives over the years, a Bach 18 has a larger throat and takes more air than its cup design would otherwise indicate. I do agree it is a good mouthpiece with a large bore rotary instrument, if you have the breath to support it.

[Roger Lewis]

You want to go with a bowl shaped mouthpiece as it spins the air before it can get to the throat. Also a smaller throat will help.

I would look at the Schilke 69C4 as it has the smallest backbore and a relatively shallow cup modeled after the Miraphone C4.

Another to consider is the Sellmansberger Solo 1 as it has a reverse taper throat and gives back a fair amount of air.

Just my thoughts.

Roger

[patricklugo]

i posted the bach 18 because it is a starting point for most people and situations. i am currently using (5years) and it is good mouthpiece.

[swillafew]

I don't know how short of air the player is, but I would swap out the instrument for a smaller one until the problem didn't seem so acute. For example, with a trombone, if that's what fixes it.

[Kevin Hendrick]

i posted the bach 18 because it is a starting point for most people and situations. i am currently using (5years) and it is good mouthpiece.

"Most people and situations", yes -- but not this one. Re-read the original post carefully & you'll see why.

BTW, I've never played on an 18, but I do have (and use) a 7 and a 24W (same .348" throat and backbore as the 18). They're great mouthpieces ... but I don't have breathing problems (yet). After reading the original post, I got out my Marcinkiewicz ST4 (same .302" throat as the N1) and tried it; I think that may be my default band mouthpiece this year.

[iiipopes]

I don't know how short of air the player is, but I would swap out the instrument for a smaller one until the problem didn't seem so acute. For example, with a trombone, if that's what fixes it.

That doesn't help. All the resistance takes place from the bottom of the cup through the first expansion of the lead pipe. After that, it's like a river flowing into a lake or ocean: velocity of air through the horn drops to near zero and static wave compressions and rarefactions take over. If something, like a bend or brace, is in the wrong place and impedes an antinode, a particular note here or there may be stuffy because resonance on that note is impeded, but not the horn in general.

[Donn]

May be a misunderstanding here - the idea as I understood it was to switch instruments, progressing from tuba to euphonium, baritone or trombone, alto horn, french horn, mellophone, flugelhorn, cornet, trumpet, Eb cornet ... somewhere in there, I think, the idea is that one would detect a diminution of the wind required to play the instrument. On the other hand, playing that same instrument might offer diminished satisfaction, so who knows if it's worth it. The same might be said of the mouthpiece, but i'm optimistic that if our subject can manage with a smaller mouthpiece, he will be able to get satisfactory results from it with practice.

[swillafew]

Donn is maybe expressing it better than me. I have tubas of different sizes, and the small one takes less air. I have two trombones, and the smaller of the two takes less air. I have a trumpet, and I can play studies in one breath that would take several on the BBb horn. I am poor on the trumpet, but if I ever get too short on air, it will be there for me. Switching mouthpieces on any of them doesn't affect much.