$800 Box of Mouthpieces!
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A trumpet playing friend of mine recently decided to dig out his old Conn 76A Connquest cornet and play it on cornet parts in the church orchestra, because I’ve been leading by example.
I offered to let him try out a bunch of my seldom-used cornet mouthpieces to get an idea of what might best work for him on his cornet. He kept them a couple weeks and returned them to me after rehearsal last night.In the box were eight Bach pieces (1C, 1-1/2C, 3, 3C, 6, 6BM, 7C, 10-1/2C), two Connstellation pieces (5C-W, 7C-W), a Conn 4, since that’s what his cornet originally came with, and a Wick 4B. I told him to be careful with that box of mouthpieces, because the replacement value was probably close to $800…
I didn’t include my Curry 3BBC., Curry 3C., and Wick 4, because those are what I’m currently playing. Out of all those, he said he preferred the sound and ease of play combination the Bach 6BM provided, since he plays trumpet on a Bach 5C. Unfortunately, I don’t own any Bach 5 size mouthpieces for him to try, because I never liked them.
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Absolutely fabulous and a good collection
I too firmly believe that holding a broad collection of mouthpieces is the way to go.
I cant understand the philosophy that some players appear to hold, of owning just one mouthpiece and then if they want to try something new they spend weeks or months asking for advice and debating which mouthpiece they might buy in order to try out a different mouthpiece.
That seems such a waste of time and effort spent in choosing when they could be playing.
It only takes 10 seconds to grab and try one out if you already have it with you.
I also have a couple of mouthpiece cornet/trumpet converters and having these has allowed me to try all my cornet mouthpieces in my trumpets as well as all my trumpet mouthpieces.
This approach has allowed me to settle on a wick 4 cornet mouthpiece on trumpet with the converter as my go to daily player combination.
This combination does everything I need and I would never have been able to discover it without having a cornet mp collection and a trumpet mp collection and a converter.
Not only this but you helped a musician friend by providing a collection for him. What could be better than this
Way to go Dale
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I've been on many mouthpiece safaris in my life, and in consequence, I've assembled a heap of mouthpieces... many of them now obsolete for me. This thread brought me to think over my collection; and I've found that there are only a few things that I have learnt that are really of help to anyone:
- If you are a beginner or a re-starter, don't start off with the expensive mouthpieces. Try out sizes and shapes with Arnold & Sons (aka Stoelzel). They are exact and durable Bach clones, at less than a quarter of the cost.
- Have at least one plastic (or rather non-metal) mouthpiece of your size - invaluable for those mid-winter outdoor gigs that pay well because conditions are so poor.
- If you are trying out different cups while staying with the same kind of rim, think of the Stomvi Combination System: One rim, two stems, eight cups... somewhat like the Warburton or Breslmaier screw-rim systems, but less expensive.
And if there are mouthpieces around your home that you will definitely never use again, donate them to deserving causes. I sent a box of 20 assorted mouthpieces (and a few instruments) to a friend of mine who was starting a school band in Bulgaria to keep kids off the streets. The band is going strong, juvenile crime in the area has halved, and the band are now regularly invited to play at civic events.
Courtois Balanced
Courtois D
Olds Recording
Buescher Aristocrat
Gaudet C
Selmer G
Courtois 154 Flugelhorn
Besson International Bb cornet
Courtois Bb cornet
B&H Sovereign Soprano Cornet
B&H Sovereign trombone
Willy Garreis trombone
Weltklang Euph -
@barliman2001
Strange that you should recommend donating unused mouthpieces. I, too, have assembled many mouthpieces in the past 7 years since my return to playing. And just two days ago I had some that were definitely of no use to me and I donated them to the local middle school band where we practice. There were 5 trumpet pieces and two cornet pieces all in excellent condition and by top names such as Curry, Bach, Getzen and Stork.
You are correct, sir, it is always a good thing to donate to deserving causes, and having our youngsters involved in music is one of the top causes I support. I recently donated a Flugel to this same school for use in their jazz band.
George -
We are creatures of habit and I firmly believe that THIS is the #1 reason for mouthpiece safaris not working.
I believe that we need MONTHS to determine if a mouthpiece is good for us. The process is called acclimation. We must practice, adapt and perform to cover our use cases.My personal practice is, and has always been to cold turkey switch and stick with the "new" for at least 2 months - no switching back to the original. After that two - three months, I retry the original and note the differences. My last switch was in 1996.
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@rowuk said in $800 Box of Mouthpieces!:
We are creatures of habit and I firmly believe that THIS is the #1 reason for mouthpiece safaris not working.
I believe that we need MONTHS to determine if a mouthpiece is good for us. The process is called acclimation. We must practice, adapt and perform to cover our use cases.My personal practice is, and has always been to cold turkey switch and stick with the "new" for at least 2 months - no switching back to the original. After that two - three months, I retry the original and note the differences. My last switch was in 1996.
I can generally tell within a day or two (sometimes much sooner) if I don’t like a mouthpiece, but yes, it takes quite a bit of playing one in different situations to tell if I REALLY like one. I’ve played a 3C on trumpet since the early 1980s, but I did switch from a Bach 3C to a Curry 3C. about 6 years ago, and haven’t looked back. It was familiar to me, so the transition was easy, and it was so much better! I generally play a Curry 3BBC. on cornet, too. I accumulated all those cornet mouthpieces over the years partly due to curiosity, and partly due to keeping some of the mouthpieces that came with horns I bought and sold.
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Chad, after telling his wife he's bought another trumpet...
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I would liken mouthpiece, instrument, and player, to car and driver.
A new or inexperienced driver does not have the skills or experience to benefit from driving different cars. They desire a change to drive faster or better but they cannot fully extract higher performance from the cars they drive.
A seasoned driver with huge experience understands the car and their abilities far better and they know how to extract good performance from the car and they can successfully change vehicles and extract high performance from each one they change to.
In other words the seasoned professional can acclimate quickly to a new car, when the inexperienced driver cannot.
I cannot speak for other players but my personal experience is I can now acclimate quickly to a new mouthpiece or new instrument, where before when I was far less experienced, it took me a long time to acclimate following a change.
I also believe that failed mouthpiece safaris may be at least partly due to the player embarking upon the safari at a point in their playing when they are less able to benefit from the changes in the safari.
I have myself never gone on a safari, I have known there is a problem, and known what mouthpiece size and shape is likely to help resolve the problem and then made a change to see if I am right. Usually I have been right.
Having a collection helps me in doing this.
Knowing your playing, knowing your equipment and knowing what effect the change will make goes a long way to making the right choice when changing and having a collection enables test changes to happen easily instead of having to wait to acquire a test mouthpiece you do not possess.
It was obvious to me just as soon as the wick 4 that I use now was in the breech, that it was the right choice partly because I knew before trying it that it was more than likely going to resolve my issue at the time and why it would resolve it.
No acclimation was needed. It has been good from the first note and has since performed faultlessly for several months and for hundreds of performances in all styles from salsa to blues to jazz to legit to baroque and to opera.
Know yourself, know your equipment, know what difference a change will make then there is a good chance the change will take you at least part of the way on your journey.
Like a journey from arizona to washington, knowing where you are, knowing where you need to be, and having a good map, helps to get where you need to be and helps stop you getting lost on the way.
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I like the plastic box you use. Did you upcycle something? Looks like an organizer for nuts and bolts.
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@barliman2001 BLESSING is my brand for inexpensive cornet and flugelhorn mouthpiece trials. They are clones of BACH CORP models. Get it in close and then invest.
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@Bb-Brass said in $800 Box of Mouthpieces!:
I like the plastic box you use. Did you upcycle something? Looks like an organizer for nuts and bolts.
I bought a 2-pack of them in the craft area of the local Wal-Mart. Perfect size for trumpet and cornet mouthpieces, but I haven’t seen any there in a couple years.
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@Bb-Brass Arnold & Sons are also good clones of good Bach pieces... and they ave the additional advantage that they are readily available in Europe (whereas Blessings aren't).
