European mouthpiece makers

[TheBerlinerTuba]

Hello Tubnet,
bort asked me a while back if I knew of any lesser know(in the states) mouthpiece makers here in Europe. Here is a short list of the ones that come to mind. If I missed anyone, someone please let me know.
Thank you bort and Mark, list is updated.

Most of you will have at some point heard of these makers and they are household names here in Germany.

Bruno Tilz https://www.mundstueckbau-tilz.de/home.html
Josef Klier http://josefklier.de/mouthpieces/?lang=en
Werner Schmidt https://www.schmidt-brass.de/englisch/m ... s-tuba.htm
Dennis Wick https://www.deniswick.com/product-category/mouthpieces/
Perantucci Tuba Mouthpieces https://www.hornboerse.de/en/mouthpiece ... hpieces-3/

Here are some that you perhaps haven't heard of:

Windhager: https://www.whf-mouthpieces.at
These are some of the most "in" mouthpieces in Germany and Austria at the moment. They are 3 part modular and have an incredibly huge range of sizes and styles available.

Breslmair: https://breslmair.com/mundstucke/page/2 ... t_cat=tuba
Also from Austria. Is extremely popular with trumpet players but they also offer a number of solid tuba mouthpieces. If the Vienna sound is your thing, definitely worth a look.

AR Resonance: https://www.arresonance.com/tuba
These mouthpieces are from Italy and are pretty snazzy looking too. I've tried a few over the years and thought they worked quite well.

Romera Brass: http://www.romerabrass.com/romerabrass_ ... _p1_o1.php
excellent mouthpieces from Spain

Jerome Wiss: http://jeromewiss.com/produit/embouchur ... m-saxhorn/
beautiful french made mouthpieces for Euphonium or Saxhorn

Christian Bosc: https://www.bosc.it/en/mouthpieces/
Christian doesn't have a standard production for tuba mouthpieces, but he does some of the best duplication work.

Brand Mouthpieces: http://www.mundstuecke.ch/en/
From Switzerland, these are high level plastic mouthpieces, but like the Kelly pieces, they work very well. Oddly their website doesn't mention tuba mouthpieces, but I've seen them in an S3 or S4 model, so they do exist! One special feature is their rifled backbores.

Buffet Crampon has a line of tuba mouthpieces called the ICON series and they are made in Germany. https://www.musicstore.com/en_OE/EUR/Bu ... 004976-000

Alliance Mouthpieces: https://www.alliancebrassltd.com/produc ... eces/tuba/
I believe these are an offshoot of Dennis Wick, but I havent personally tried them.

Miraphone has their own line of mouthpieces, but I think most of you already know this. I believe some are available in stainless steel.
https://www.miraphone.de/accessories/mo ... ument-tuba

Rudolph Meinl also has their own line of mouthpieces. https://www.thomann.de/de/tuba_mundstue ... lf%20Meinl

K&G is also a mouthpiece maker based on the island of Malta:
http://kandgmouthpieces.com/product/tuba/

Arnold&Söhns or GEWA are both german companies offering budget versions of Bach mouthpieces. They are made by the same company I believe.

Wooden Mouthpieces by Rieger & Gräf: http://www.rieger-graef.com/Startseite-start-page/


There is another mouthpiece maker from the UK who specializes in Tuba mouthpieces, Mercer and Barker https://www.facebook.com/MercerBarker/

As bort has already shown you in a previous post, the Elsberg mouthpieces were quite popular in Denmark but are likely consigned to the history books.

And if you need a candle in the form of a tuba mouthpiece: https://huss-weihrichkarzle.de/de/tuba- ... k-650.html

Cheers from Berlin,
TheBerlinerTuba

[bort]

Thank you for pulling this together! Very cool, thank you!

One quick note -- K&G is a company based on the island of Malta. I've been in touch with them in the past, and although their website shows only the odd-numbered sizes (1, 3, 5, 7), they are planning to eventually release the even-numbered in-between sizes.

http://kandgmouthpieces.com/product/tuba/" target="_blank

Also, that AR mouthpiece looks beautiful. Uh oh...

[P@rick]

Nice list! Thanks for sharing

[cjk]

IIRC, assuming nothing has changed,
Miraphone's mouthpieces are made by Josef Klier except the steel ones which are made by Giddings and Webster.
Rudolf Meinl's are made by Bruno Tilz.

Bort, check out the engraving --> https://www.arresonance.com/custom-works" target="_blank

[windshieldbug]

check out the engraving --> https://www.arresonance.com/custom-works" target="_blank

Love that bass clef and cross bones!

[cjk]

check out the engraving --> https://www.arresonance.com/custom-works" target="_blank

Love that bass clef and cross bones!

I wonder if they'd make a "Jules Winnfield wallet" tuba mouthpiece.

[oedipoes]

Rudolf Meinl's are made by Bruno Tilz.

I read on this forum somewhere they are made by J Klier now...

[Patrase]

Slightly off topic, I like my Bruno Tilz M0. But it has a large (Euro?) shank and I am now playing on a tuba with an American shank receiver. Do they make their mouthpieces in a smaller shank as an option?

[E. Green]

The Tilz M-0 can be obtained from Tucci, available as a PT-86 with a large or PT-86S with a small shank. info at hornboerse.de would be the address for a one-off order.

Eugene

[bort]

Windhager: https://www.whf-mouthpieces.at
These are some of the most "in" mouthpieces in Germany and Austria at the moment. They are 3 part modular and have an incredibly huge range of sizes and styles available.

I see many of these in use (via YouTube videos). I'm curious how they really compare to other mouthpieces and what really makes them so popular right now.

Willi from Mnozil Brass uses them... maybe that's something to do with it?

I've also heard that Herr Windhager holds clinics/meetups to get people fitted with the right combo of mouthpiece parts. Sort of a try before you buy, but even more useful since there are so many modular options?

[pjv]

Windhager says “The design of the outer contours of the mouthpiece, including mass and shape, considerably influence tonal quality and blowing quality. It is also a factor in matching the mouthpiece to the instrument.”

Maybe a naive question, but is this true?
I mean, AR puts all kinds of fancy stuff on their mpc’s. Did they calculate this into their design as well?

[Donn]

Maybe a naive question, but is this true?

My opinion is that it is a naive question, in that all you're going to get from us is a bunch of baseless speculation.

But since when does that stop anyone?

My theory: if you're sort of a machine, you'll sound as good as you can sound on any mouthpiece that suits your face, once you get used to its requirements in terms of breath etc. However, tuba players are (please don't hate, it's true) artists, and they respond to different things that can't exactly be proven - and don't need to be proven. If they had to be subjected to the cold light of rational analysis and testing, the mouthpiece mass ideas would ... oops, sorry, like I said, we don't care about that!

[pjv]

It seems to me that there are users on this board that can give a well informed an educated opinion, which is basically what my question was about.
(For baseless speculation I can place a meme on FB).

[bort]

there is Mercer and Barker. maybe that's the one you couldn't remember https://www.facebook.com/MercerBarker/" target="_blank" target="_blank

Very pretty!

[P@rick]

Windhager says “The design of the outer contours of the mouthpiece, including mass and shape, considerably influence tonal quality and blowing quality. It is also a factor in matching the mouthpiece to the instrument.”

They bother to make heavy and light versions, so apparently they are convinced that there is a difference.
I played a PT50 and PT50+ side by side a long time ago and there was not a noticeable difference. At least not noticeable enough to bother which to choose from. I still use the PT50 I'm 100% convinced that I would not notice a blind swap with the PT50+.

That said...I would choose the Windhager heavy version

[Rick Denney]

Maybe a naive question, but is this true?

In physical acoustics terms, probably not. At least not at any measurable level.

In the way they feel to the player, maybe.

In psychological terms, probably.

Rick "presented in reverse order of importance to a musician" Denney

[pjv]

Thank you