Conn 2 mouthpiece

[Alex C]

I have it on good authority that the Conn 2 was cut by the same tooling that cut the cup and rim for the "original" pre-WWII Conn Helleberg. One authority was a Conn Artist, the other (a former tuba player) worked for Conn/UMI and he accessed the old files and old workers who were in the factories for information on tuba production.

The 7B is virtually the same as the Conn 2 but cut on newer tooling. It went through some changes during its production period.

I put original in quotation marks because other mouthpiece makers were licensed to produce Helleberg mouthpieces before Conn. These mouthpieces have as much claim to the title "original" as do the Conn's.

The difference between the Conn 2 and the earlier "orginal" Helleberg's is the mouthpiece blank and the Conn 2 will not play by itself.

As discussed in another thread, the "original" Helleberg's are documented to be far superior mouthpieces and capable of winning an audition all by itself; the only thing the player needs to do is provide the correct fingerings.

[TubaRay]

The difference between the Conn 2 and the earlier "orginal" Helleberg's is the mouthpiece blank and the Conn 2 will not play by itself.

An excellent point!!! Of course, the rims are also very different, as well.

[Matt Good]

I'm sitting here at my desk and I have a Conn tuba mouthpiece that looks like a Conn 2 but just has the marking "CONN" stamped on it. Is this a Conn 1? I also have a CONN "CHIEF" sitting next to it and the plain old Conn has nothing to do with either the "CHIEF" or any of my original classic Conn Hellebergs.

[Alex C]

Matt,

If it's a funnel shaped blank you have a Conn 1. If it isn't a funnel shaped blank, I don't know what you have.

The Conn 1 was a bit larger than the Conn 2 and was first stamped with just Conn. I think it was later on they added the numeral to the 1 when they added the Conn 2, 3 and 4 mouthpieces.

By the way, I picked up my newspaper today wearing cut-offs and sandals. How's the weather in Dallas?


(Sitting at your desk? Not the practice demon I thought you were.)

[bill]

This is an interesting question to me because I own all of the mouthpieces mentioned. When I discovered there was a series of Conn mouthpieces numbered from 1 to 4, I set out to get one of each and succeeded. I like the Conn 2 for most playing, especially on Conn horns. I asked Doug Elliott to make a Conn 2 with a Euro Shank for me and what I got was nothing like a Conn 2 because he said "the rim is so big I could not get it to my mouth without it hitting my nose." Compared to a 7B, the 2 has a much larger and flatter rim and, to me, is much more comfortable. The bite also seems sharper. The is also true with the Helleberg but the Helleberg has a deeper cup. The Conn 1 I have is quite a bit deeper than any of the above. It was a lovely mouthpiece on some very large tubas and, if I were still playing tubas like that, I might have gotten it refinished for daily use.

With all of that said, I select mouthpieces for horns by playing them with horns and not by their general characteristics exclusive of horns. A Conn 2 works with more horns than most mouthpieces but still does not provide the BEST intonation on some tubas. I use other mouthpieces if I find they work better on a specific horn. As an aside, I tried a G & W Jon Sass on a Conn 5J I own and discovered it played almost identically to a Conn 2. The intonation was the same and the sound was the same and it felt the same.

I have a micrometer and I use it when I get curious about dimensions. All of my mouthpieces I have discussed are of different dimensions except, generally, in shank size.

Of course, ymmv, imho, etc.

[Donn]

Compared to a 7B, the 2 has a much larger and flatter rim and, to me, is much more comfortable. The bite also seems sharper.
...
Of course, ymmv, imho, etc.

This sure seems to confirm the rumor that these mouthpieces aren't even the same from one to another of the same model. I just measured my own 7B and 2. Their rims are the same size, but the 7B is flatter so would perhaps seem wider. My examples of these two mouthpieces sound distinctly different, but the Conn 2 is a little beat and may not be a good representative.

They're wider than most other rims I have, except the C4 and King 26 which are wider but more rounded.