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Wilco wrote: Sat Dec 13, 2025 7:05 am I just got in a Doug Elliott mouthpiece (P cup, 128 rim), that mpc works so much better! I primarily play trombone and have been playing his mpc’s for 20 years. I asked him for advice and went for it. Really glad this mpc works out so well.

I didn’t find any dimensions on DE’s site so (in mm) I’m wondering what you ended up with? Better than what, I’m also wondering what you had before too?
http://www.dougelliottmouthpieces.com/cbtuba.html

It’s not uncommon for folk to double between Eb Tuba and Trombone, seems to be a good match.

Conn helleberg 7b. That worked but this is better

Here you go: http://www.dougelliottmouthpieces.com/s ... chart.html

I have Doug's CB P and N setups for my Cerveny BBb and F Contrabass trombone. His Euro shanks are just great.

Hi, an update here. I decided to try something else, I bought a London Built Besson 983! I got it in the mail yesterday. Initial impressions: plays very easy and a great sound.

At the start the intonation was way off on some notes. Most notably the Bb in the middel of the Eb’s. Which was odd…. Then I noticed some huge solder gaps on both sides of the bottom bow. I closed them off with duct tape and intonation issues went away.

Next step is to have gaps filled with solder

Question for the experts…. On the bell side there is a gap between the ferule and the bell. Maybe a cm or so. Should the bottom bow and bell be more together? Bonus would be a slight rise in overall pitch….

And here’s a picture

I think what you are saying is that there is a 1 cm gap between the bottom bow and the bell, but that gap is covered by the ferrule. Is that correct?

That plus some spots around both ends of the bottom bow that weren’t completely soldered. In those spots, is there actual space between the ferrules and the bow, like you could slip a business card in?


From the picture, it looks nice!

This thread piqued my curiosity re: the Besson 984, and I found a couple videos of James Gourlay playing one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLk4xesyWDM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c61svXdmX7s

The thing that jumped out at me is his use of a trigger to manipulate (I think) the 1st valve slide. Thus far I have associated compensating tubas with "close enough" intonation, and I'd rather just play a non-compensating tuba if slide manipulation is an integral part of playing it in tune. Indeed I leave the slides alone on my Yamaha YEB-632IIS (sometimes using 3 instead of 12 for low fortissimo notes), and I routinely pull the 4th slide on my Willson 3400S for 24 fingerings (lots more manipulation required on my CC tuba). Is slide pulling a common technique among compensating EE♭ tuba players?

York-aholic wrote: Sat Jan 10, 2026 3:00 pm I think what you are saying is that there is a 1 cm gap between the bottom bow and the bell, but that gap is covered by the ferrule. Is that correct?

That plus some spots around both ends of the bottom bow that weren’t completely soldered. In those spots, is there actual space between the ferrules and the bow, like you could slip a business card in?


From the picture, it looks nice!

Thanks! It is very nice, and you are correct. The gap is covered by the ferrule. And on the outside there are spots that are not soldered. Hopefully will have that fixed next week.

On this instrument there really is no need for slide pulling.