What mouthpiece is the best for tuba?

[arpthark]

This is supposed to be a pretty good mouthpiece.

That's kind of out of the Scopes of this thread. Just a bunch of monkey business.

[The Brute Squad]

The next one you buy

[tclements]

Since you asked: https://tonyclem.blogspot.com/2020/09/t ... ieces.html

[tubatodd]

The next one you buy

"How many mouthpieces do you need?"

"One more"

[prodigal]

I'd pick the PT-41 over the PT-109. 1 piece over two pieces, but it is a bit Bulkeley.

Both of these PTs "were expendable."

[arpthark]

I asked AI and it said this one was the best:

[bloke]

I asked AI and it said this one was the best:

That's a Mexican copy of a Sellmansberger Symphony.

[Jperry1466]

Let’s get real. You don’t even really NEED a mouthpiece.

Some don't. I went to high school with a guy who carried a Sousaphone for 4 years and never learned to play it. He just sang through the horn. At least he didn't hurt the band, but he also didn't help. His cornbread wasn't quite done in the middle, either.

[tubatodd]

Let’s get real. You don’t even really NEED a mouthpiece.

His cornbread wasn't quite done in the middle, either.

I'm stealing that.

[bort2.0]

I asked AI and it said this one was the best:

I dunno Blake, this was what the robot told me:



But then I asked how they rank tuba mouthpieces:



Ugh... come on, robot... can you please show me the process for selecting the best tuba mouthpiece?





Decent.

[The Brute Squad]

[I dunno Blake, this was what the robot told me:

For those who want a combination mouthpiece/visualizer and don't want either to be usable.

[MikeS]

This is supposed to be a pretty good mouthpiece.

Good choice, but I’m going with this guy.

“If the shank don’t fit, you have to acquit.”

[bloke]

If the shank don't fit, drill it with a bigger bit.

[iiipopes]

Oh, God! Well, you got me started. As I sit here, I have a dozen mouthpieces on my shelf, all the way from "standards" such as a bog-standard Conn 120S Helleberg, to a couple of esoteric pieces, a couple of custom pieces, a few European mouthpieces, etc. I used to have more, but over the years I have sold them.

Wow! PHYSIOLOGY! We can debate all day cup diameters, cup geometry and depth, throats and backbores, etc. But is all comes down to what is your physiology. I played a Wick 1 on a Besson comp for years until my breath support started to diminish and I needed a mouthpiece with a smaller throat bore than the Wick 8.4mm. After reading blokes' posts a few years ago on this topic, I sought out mouthpieces with an 8.2mm/.323/P drill bit size throat. That helped my breath support. For years I played mouthpieces in the 1.28 inch/32.5mm cup diameter. I even had Jim New when he was with Kanstul make me a custom 18 with their standard (P) bore but enlarged the cup to 1.28. And I have played several similar mouthpieces since. And I played a Curry 128 with a modified rim that wouldn't bump my nose for years. Then I played one of Bloke's Imperials with a cup expander for years.

Then I had my bad fall a couple of years ago. I had to adjust my trumpet mouthpieces to get the outside of the rim inboard of a line scar tissue on my lower right jaw and get an implant on my lower left jaw. But I found out I also had to get the cup diameter of a tuba mouthpiece a hair larger to get it outside that line of scar tissue. I found the Wick Aaron Tindall AT3UY with a 1.29/32.8 cup diameter. No, that 1/100/.3mm doesn't seem that much, but it is just enough to get outside the line of scar tissue and rebuild flexibility, endurance, intonation, tone, etc. And it also has the 8.2mm throat.

My inspiration for trying this is how Bud Herseth worked with Vincent Bach directly to rebuild after a bad automobile accident that damaged his trumpet embouchure and resulted in scar tissue that had to be worked around.

After having played all the different mouthpieces I have played over the last fifty years, I am convinced that PERSONAL PHYSIOLOGY means more in the selection of a mouthpiece than does anything else. This will involve a safari. What I did is to take one of the "standard" models and play it until I could make some detailed notes about what I did and did not like about the mouthpiece, including response, intonation, feel, etc. I mean, it is a tuba. With the wide bell, you are not going to get that much difference in tone, if any is ascertainable at all, among similar mouthpieces. I once took several mouthpieces to a university community band rehearsal, and the conductor, as well as a couple of high school directors who played low brass, were talking. I asked for their trained ears to critique the tone among the mouthpieces. None of the three could tell any difference from the back of the room to the podium. They told me to play the one that felt best to me.

After you have assembled your notes, of which I have summarized mine above, then you can look for a mouthpiece that you think meets the resulting criteria of your notes. The point being is that there is no "Perfect" mouthpiece, and you may have to try several before you come across one that provides as good as an interface (pun intended) to the player, the horn, the repertoire, etc. The forum may have noticed I have quit posting about each individual mouthpiece as I have purchased it, because I know that if I have to have subsequent dental surgery, that will change the oral cavity and result in a new safari.

Conclusion: there is no one "best" mouthpiece for tuba. It all comes down to the player's physiology.

[Mary Ann]

"This will involve a safari."
That pretty much puts it in a nutshell. Some safaris result in larger boxes of mouthpieces than others. I stopped at fewer than ten, and only a couple of them were purchased new.
Even on the Hagen I do best with the Wick 5. I can make larger widths/bores "go" but it is more work than my size is able to accommodate and get the same results. Yeah I can tell some difference in tone with a wider, deeper cup, but I can't play it as well.
My safari is over -- every time I go through what I have, which is a range of depths, widths, and bores, I end up where I am.

[bloke]

30AAAWWWW-megatone