What Was Your FIRST Horn/Mouthpiece Combo?

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Re: What Was Your FIRST Horn/Mouthpiece Combo?

Post by TubaGuy304 »

I had whatever my school could provide. A Jupiter JTU700, and an old Yamaha mouthpiece, model number worn out from abuse.
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Re: What Was Your FIRST Horn/Mouthpiece Combo?

Post by Rick Denney »

I played a King sousaphone with a Bach 24AW, starting in the 7th Grade. The mouthpiece was a poor choice, but that was the choice we made. There was no analysis whatsoever. The "cushion rim" was the selling point, as I recall. I played that or another King sousaphone through high school, but my hand director had buddies at Rice University (he played in the MOB) and borrowed a 186 for me to play in the spring semester of my senior year. I did not appreciate what that gave me at the time. When I played in the Houston All-City Band, I used a three-valve Besson that was lying around the rehearsal space at Houston's HSPVA. But flooding rains truncated the concert and I didn't join that group the following year. That combination of Besson and Bach didn't change in college, or even in the first year of my return to playing after college. So, I didn't think about a proper mouthpiece (or tuba) until I was 26.

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Re: What Was Your FIRST Horn/Mouthpiece Combo?

Post by bone-a-phone »

I've got 40 years of trombone playing behind me, but I've just started with the tuba. I'm playing a Wessex Bombino with the mouthpiece that came with it, marked Wessex Mt Vernon. The best thing that has come from my tuba playing to this point is that it has greatly improved my bass bone playing. The shift from Bb to Eb is going as well as you could expect, and its only slowing me down slightly more than the switch from slide to valves. I'm enjoying the tuba, and when I can string all the notes together evenly and in time, I think I'll enjoy it even more.
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Re: What Was Your FIRST Horn/Mouthpiece Combo?

Post by Leland »

I think it was a fiberglass sousaphone and a Bach 18. Borrowed it from the local high school to try playing in the quintet at church. We soon swapped it for a Yamaha 201 from the same school.

At about the same time, I started marching contrabass bugle in my second year of drum corps (the first year was on baritone, my first valved instrument).

My first-first horn-and-mouthpiece combo, though, was my uncle's Olds trombone with a Bach 18c mouthpiece.
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Re: What Was Your FIRST Horn/Mouthpiece Combo?

Post by iiipopes »

9th grade: volunteered to play souzy - a first generation King 'glass with it's original #25 mouthpiece. It was already old when I got it checked out to me, but by the end of the season it was the best looking and best playing souzy in school. I played it all four years.
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Re: What Was Your FIRST Horn/Mouthpiece Combo?

Post by bigboymusic »

from 4th grade through 8th played a plastic King Sousaphone with King 26 MP. Then got to play a brand new (1985) YBB 321 with a gold Conn Helleberg. Within a week of unpacking the 321, I set it half way on the back riser where we sat, and the horn pitched back and gave that outside bow the lovely dent that I see almost all 321's have...... MY first horn was a MW25 my sophomore year with a Marcinkewicz (sp?) Tommy Johnson model MP. I always thought the horn played sharp since the tuning slide sat almost all the way out until my first true tuba teacher switched me to a Schilke H, and that solved the sharp problem...
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Re: What Was Your FIRST Horn/Mouthpiece Combo?

Post by WC8KCY »

Good Lord...the first tuba I got to play in Grade 7 was a Getzen Elkhorn sousaphone with several crude solder repairs on the kinked gooseneck and red-rotted leadpipe, along with corroded valves that made a grinding noise when depressed. Two of the tuning slides had splits in the crooks that were patched up with white adhesive tape. The mouthpiece was a New York Bach 18 with almost all of the silver plating gone.

Looking back, I have to wonder if my band director was trying to sabotage my switch to tuba in the hopes that I'd go back to playing the bass clarinet.

Every now and then, I do an eBay search for "Getzen sousaphone". None have ever turned up. I hope all of these utterly damnable instruments have been retired by now.
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Re: What Was Your FIRST Horn/Mouthpiece Combo?

Post by jacobthompson1 »

A Yamaha YBB-201 with some old beat up Yamaha mouthpiece.
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Re: What Was Your FIRST Horn/Mouthpiece Combo?

Post by Tom Coffey »

Ancient school-owned Besson sousaphone (with no bell for the first year) and a well used, school-owned King 26 mouthpiece. Fifth grade band, with the Belwin First Division Band Method, which pictures of Bill Bell in the front demonstrating how to hold a tuba and a sousaphone. Eventually, the band director brought the bell, too, and after fifth grade, that Besson "lived" at home, and I used the school's sousaphones at school. In high school, we had 3 valve King recording bass tubas, which were Eastlake orange and played very well. We got a Meinl Weston Model 11 later.
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Re: What Was Your FIRST Horn/Mouthpiece Combo?

Post by tclements »

Meinl Weston Bill Bell Model CC and I played the Helleberg style mouthpiece that came with it.
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Re: What Was Your FIRST Horn/Mouthpiece Combo?

Post by Donn »

Tom Coffey wrote:Ancient school-owned Besson sousaphone (with no bell for the first year)
Egads. Were other 1st year players with school instruments required to play with with parts missing, or was that just for you?

I started at 30 years or so of age, with an Conn 2 mouthpiece and an Olds O-99 - 3 valves, one with a loose stem. A newspaper classified ads find - remember them? from an older guy who many local old-timers probably remember; he had a couple horribly battered 20Js, and the very battered Olds that seemed to have a more present sound. I'd been playing woodwinds, but no band until mid-20s. I look back on a miserable school owned clarinet as likely part of the reason why not, but at least it was essentially a complete instrument.
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Re: What Was Your FIRST Horn/Mouthpiece Combo?

Post by Voisi1ev »

Oh man, 2341 with a flat bell. Probably a King 18, I think I had a Helleberg by the time I graduated. Also an old Conn Sousaphone that I left at home to practice with and hide my cigarettes from the rents.
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Re: What Was Your FIRST Horn/Mouthpiece Combo?

Post by fenne1ca »

Yamaha 321 4v BBb with a Bach 24AW, belonging to my high school program. Neither are equipment I would choose or recommend again, but they were enough to get me through many a band festival, and into a university studio.
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Re: What Was Your FIRST Horn/Mouthpiece Combo?

Post by capt_tuba »

King 1140 with a Bach 24A.
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Re: What Was Your FIRST Horn/Mouthpiece Combo?

Post by basslizard »

I was recruited to tuba in high school because I wanted to march. Oboes aren't terribly field friendly. I played a King 3/4 Bb convertible, no idea what model or mouthpiece. We put them on our shoulders to march, and in our laps for concerts. Got a brand new miraphone full sized concert tuba my senior year, but the new band director wouldn't let me play it. He finally let the only guy tuba player have it. We had a 13 year run of an all-girl tuba line until this guy who couldn't read music came along, but he sure could play. I only had to play the part once or twice before he could play it too. Luckily he had long hair. We insisted he wear his hair down under the green berets the tubas got to wear. He only marched parade season, so it was ok.
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Re: What Was Your FIRST Horn/Mouthpiece Combo?

Post by ckalaher1 »

Yamaha 103 3v BBb with dried bubblegum on the leadpipe to plug a ridiculously large leak. When the old gum dried and cracked off, I'd put another huge chunk of gum on there and hope I didn't blow bubbles big enough to alert Rog, our band director who we feared/loved.

Still have the Yamaha 67C4 mouthpiece that I used on it.
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Re: What Was Your FIRST Horn/Mouthpiece Combo?

Post by Cdub »

A Hirsbrunner BBb with a Bach 18. It is what the school had to use. I started a bit later on the tuba (Sophomore in college).

My first non-tuba mouthpiece combo was an olds single horn in F with a holton mc mp.
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Re: What Was Your FIRST Horn/Mouthpiece Combo?

Post by wisekwai »

I volunteered to play tuba during my sophomore year of high school after years of sitting at third cornet.

The school's horns at the time were a pair of Conn white fiberglass sousaphones, which were used for marching, but there was also a sousaphone chair for concert settings.

In addition, there was a horribly mangled Reynolds or Olds 3-valve 3/4 BBb. It was so dented and crushed it resembled and played like a trash can. Unfortunately it had to be used more times than anyone ever cared to remember.

An interesting concert horn owned by the school was a 3-valve Olds or Reynolds recording bell BBb with a fiberglass body. It actually played very well and was the horn of choice to take to solo and ensemble competitions. During my time as tuba player, the fiberglass concert tuba was taken apart and sent to an auto body shop that specialized in Corvettes. They filled in cracks and gave it a gold paint job. I wonder occasionally if any of these fiberglass recording bell horns still exist today or have devotees.

For mouthpieces, there was a collection of Conn, Bach 24AW and Hellebergs that are probably still there.
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Re: What Was Your FIRST Horn/Mouthpiece Combo?

Post by Donn »

wisekwai wrote:I wonder occasionally if any of these fiberglass recording bell horns still exist today or have devotees.
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Re: What Was Your FIRST Horn/Mouthpiece Combo?

Post by dmmorris »

First , middle school, was a King sousaphone and a King mouthpiece. I had no idea what I was doing.

High school was King BBb 4-valve, straight bell and Bach 18. Great combo all through high school
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