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I know this is not a tuba thing but i wonder what your thoughts are.

It looks like I'm going to be playing cornet in community band this fall. Its a small group and we have 2 tubas and 2 baritones already so ill fill in where needed. I have a king cleveland cornet that my grandfather bought for my dad at a yard sale in 1956. Ive been dying for an opportunity to play it. We've kept it in great condition. I have the original mouthpiece and a bach 3c mouthpiece. I started buzzing on the mps to get a feel for it. The original mp has a larger cup, rim and throat and doesn't get a clear tone. The 3c gives me a clearer tone. I find this surprising. Why?

On the bach I had to trim about .100 thou off the the end because it was bottoming out in the leadpipe and not seating in the reciever. Now it seats properly.

Any thoughts why the smaller one responds better?

3C is a great mouthpiece.

Do what works.

Check the taper of the shank of the original mouthpiece compared to the 3C. Until sometime in the 1950's, King/Cleveland had their own proprietary taper to their cornet mouthpieces. Now, if you had posted this on TrumpetHerald, you would have received many cringes and deprecations, if not outright condescension about grinding a mouthpiece. Fortunately, a 3C is so common that probably there is no real economic loss. HOWEVER, you MUST check the taper of the receiver to make sure of its taper. This is because compared to the proprietary taper, even though the tip diameter of the mouthpieces may be similar, a Bach taper will wobble and damage the receiver eventually. I know this having had possession of my Uncle's King Silvertone for many years. I had to search for proper proprietary shank taper mouthpieces for it for this very reason. Fortunately, several of the boutique makers will have on file a 3C cup, if that is what you prefer, and will make the shank to the older King shank taper, if this horn has the original proprietary shank taper.

Good luck and have fun playing cornet in community band.

I've been playing cornet in band a couple weeks now and really enjoying it. What i enjoy is the different perspective. Playing harmonically in a section rather than unison or independently as a tuba is very different. I'm still not terribly fond of the tiny mouthpiece but whatever. I'm not having trouble with fingerings or reading. Learning on the fly is going well. Pushing myself to switch between the different keys of my tubas more frequently has really helped with mental flexibility.

Grumpikins wrote: Sat Sep 19, 2026 3:38 pm I know this is not a tuba thing but i wonder what your thoughts are.

It looks like I'm going to be playing cornet in community band this fall. Its a small group and we have 2 tubas and 2 baritones already so ill fill in where needed. I have a king cleveland cornet that my grandfather bought for my dad at a yard sale in 1956. Ive been dying for an opportunity to play it. We've kept it in great condition. I have the original mouthpiece and a bach 3c mouthpiece. I started buzzing on the mps to get a feel for it. The original mp has a larger cup, rim and throat and doesn't get a clear tone. The 3c gives me a clearer tone. I find this surprising. Why?

On the bach I had to trim about .100 thou off the the end because it was bottoming out in the leadpipe and not seating in the reciever. Now it seats properly.

Any thoughts why the smaller one responds better?

Hi, I hope your concerts went well. Regarding the buzzing tone of the mouthpieces, this is a normal thing. The Bach 3C which also probably had a longer shank, has a much shallower cup and therefore will almost always give a more nasally buzz that is also louder. It's basically a standard trumpet top portion set onto a cornet shank. Plugging it into a cornet can give nearly an identical tone quality to a regular trumpet, though it also depends on how the original cornet was made with how trumpet-like they made it with conical/cylindrical proportions and bell taper. The mouthpiece type with the much deeper cup like the original mouthpiece is what is considered a "traditional cornet mouthpiece," which can be the main influence in giving a more warm and mellow tone.