Finding the illusive "perfect" mouthpiece

brianf · Post by **brianf** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 8:40 am

At tuba shows I see a number of people trying all mouthpieces in the exhibit area looking for the "perfect" mouthpiece. Sometimes it gets funny when you see the same people doing that year after year.

Let's cut to the chase - there is no such animal as the "perfect" mouthpiece. Each player and mouthpiece have their own characteristics that work in some cases and don't in others. Intonation has to be controlled by the player, you can't find a mouthpiece that will play a certain note in tune - doing that is like finding a hardware solution to a software problem.

My suggestion, instead of looking for the "perfect" mouthpiece, look for the holy grail, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, or, better yet spend the time practicing. The "perfect" mouthpiece is like meeting the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny and Santa Claus. They don't exist!

king2ba · Post by **king2ba** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 9:40 am

brianf wrote:The "perfect" mouthpiece is like meeting the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny and Santa Claus. They don't exist!

Brian....Shhhhhhhhhhh.....there are children on this forum!

Bill Troiano · Post by **Bill Troiano** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 11:39 am

Sounds to me like you might like the G&W Alan Baer mouthpiece.

Dan Schultz · Post by **Dan Schultz** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 12:32 pm

king2ba wrote:
brianf wrote:The "perfect" mouthpiece is like meeting the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny and Santa Claus. They don't exist!
Brian....Shhhhhhhhhhh.....there are children on this forum!

A very accurate statement. Further... the mouthpiece has to match the horn. All things need to be considered: the MP itself, the gap, the match of the leadpipe to the MP, the inside tapers of the MP and the leadpipe, the horn, plus the driver's attributes! All things considered, finding what you consider to be the 'perfect' mouthpiece is going to happen by pure accident. What works perfectly with one horn is almost certainly not going to work with another. I think it's really dumb to run out and pay big bucks for a MP just because so-in-so uses one. My motto is "try 'em all". You will eventually stumble onto something that works for you.
Could this be something like finding the 'perfect woman'?

What I mean is.... you never really know what a MP (or a person) is like until you spend some time with it. ... then you adapt to make it a match.

Lew · Post by **Lew** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 12:44 pm

The funny thing about it is that I have never had as much of an improvement from changing mouthpeices as has resulted from practicing more.

Tubaguyjoe · Post by **Tubaguyjoe** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 2:09 pm

The closest thing I discovered to finding the perfect mouthpiece was at Custom Music where I could play EVERY SINGLE PT model mouthpiece and pick and choose the one I wanted. There were about 30 mouthpieces, I ended up with at PT-88+ and a PT-64. Good luck, thought maybe you could try something like that.

pierre · Post by **pierre** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 6:20 pm

harold wrote:
Let's cut to the chase - there is no such animal as the "perfect" mouthpiece.
Concur

True, but then there's no such thing as a perfect performance either. Does that mean we should give up searching for it?

pierre

Chuck(G) · Post by **Chuck(G)** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 7:57 pm

Personally, I think your post title asks and answers the question. To wit:

illusive adj. Deceptive or unreal, as in: Lost in the desert, he saw an illusive oasis called a mirage.

Perhaps you intended "elusive":

elusive adj. Hard to catch or grasp, as in: The solution to the problem proved more elusive than they first thought.

But if not, my hat's off to you, sir, for a very clever post!

tubatooter1940 · Post by **tubatooter1940** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 11:10 pm

We may never find the perfect mouthpiece or the perfect woman but that doesn't mean we shouldn't keep trying them out.

TubaRay · Post by **TubaRay** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 11:27 pm

brianf wrote: My suggestion, instead of looking for the "perfect" mouthpiece, look for the holy grail, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, or, better yet spend the time practicing. The "perfect" mouthpiece is like meeting the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny and Santa Claus. They don't exist!

What? I knew there was no Tooth Fairy & no Easter Bunny. You mean there is not Santa Claus, either? Oh me, oh my!

tubapress · Post by **tubapress** » Thu Jul 28, 2005 12:29 am

bloke wrote:We perfect players don't necessarily need perfect mouthpieces.

REAL men don't use mouthpieces!

Billy M. · Post by **Billy M.** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 12:57 am

My best recommendation, find a way to get in touch with Doug Elliott and tell him what you want. He'll probably have the best combination. The price will be around $200 shipping included, but it'll be the best way to set up your combo. After that, you can spend less on interchangable parts to adjust what you feel works for you at the time.

He's great to work with and very courteous.

Hope this helps.

jsswadley · Post by **jsswadley** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 4:38 pm

Both elusive and illusive, I'd say. John

Chen · Post by **Chen** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 12:35 pm

Bill Troiano wrote:Sounds to me like you might like the G&W Alan Baer mouthpiece.

Having played that mouthpiece myself, I would not recommend it to someone who is looking for a thin, sharp rim.

Maybe try Marcinkiewicz N series, they feature large cup diameter, narrow rim (N for narrow), and you have 4 (1-4, 4 being the shallowest) choices of cup depth. The N4 is the Tommy Johnson model.

For more info on mouthpiece selection, go to www.storkcustom.com
I find the info helpful myself.

There's nothing wrong with trying out different mouthpieces. However simply play them all is not very effective; go to the website and read what Phylis and John Stork have to offer. I must have played more than 60, 70 mouthpieces, now I just play on my Laskey mouthpieces, I own a set, 30G, H, F, C. They work well enough for me and my tuba, and they all have the same rim which provides consistency.

Those who tell you to forget about mouthpiece and just play, ask them if they will go for it if offered a chance to work with a mouthpiece expert, like Stork, or Laskey, Elliott or the GW guys, to create truely customized mouthpieces just for him/her, I doubt many of them will say no.

When you think you have a physical problem you go see a Doctor, who diognose (spell?) and provides you his or her professional opinion and possible ways to treat. If you feel you are not playing well because the mouthpiece, there is nothing wrong with having someone (expert) to check it out for you, and make recommendations; but if you just try different medicines yourself, maybe if you get lucky you will solve the problem, but more likely worthen it. Messing with mouthpieces randomly is kinda like that. And, would it stop you from seeing a Doctor if someone else tells you to just suck it up?

But...if it is not broken...don't fix it!!!

Chen · Post by **Chen** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 1:31 pm

tubatooter1940 wrote:We may never find the perfect mouthpiece or the perfect woman but that doesn't mean we shouldn't keep trying them out.

This is indeed an interesting (and valid) comparison. You must be pretty young!