| Kenne60
I well aware of the Claude Gordon mouthpieces having taken lessons from Claude himself for 3 years and his views on mouthpiece designs.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the cup and rim are somewhat the same as the Bach 3c except for the outer bite on the rim falls off much faster because of the " anchor-grip " type mouthpiece blank. ( the outer rim design was modeled after the cornet mouthpieces of Del Staigers and HL Clarke - it give you much more flexibility but very little support from the outer portion of the embouchure ). The backbore is close to a mini-Schmidt but , here's the big difference - the throat size is a # 23 ( Claude's personal model had a long V cup with a #22 throat ).
To me - that is a very big throat size - with the other factors to play commercial trumpet parts. OK - the CG mouthpiece is what you like so we'll work from there.
Oh by the way -
Claude's most successful students of the days when I took from Claude were Bob O'Donnell and Mike Paulsen in Los Angeles and Larry Souza in the SF Bay area. All 3 played the CG Benge , but they offset the large bore by using Bob Reeves mouthpieces with 28 throats ( Mike eventually ended up with a 13a4a - 26 throat on a Calicchio 1s/2 LB playing in Las Vegas for the last 15 years - I believe he played lead trpt on the " Viva Le Girl's show ) with reeves 69 backbores - same as Chuck Findley ( Larry now plays a 692 backbore on his Selmer CG with a 26 throat) with a roughly a 7 - 101/2 c Reeves diameter mouthpiece rim.
Sidebar:
Lowell Stevenson , originator of the " Fokus Mouthpiece " line, also took from Claude at the same time and used a Bach 20 F ( yes a F cup - shallower than a Bach e) with a Bach 47 backbore, but i do remember he had a 24 throat .I believe one of his Fokus mouthpieces is copied from this design, but not with the small diameter rim. Lowell spent many years playing in Germany with Al Porcino , after leaving Las Vegas , subbing regularly for Al on many recordings. Lowell played in Vegas at the Stardust ( or was it the Sands ) in the 70's with a trumpet section consisting of Lowell, Rick Baptist , Tony Scodwell and Gerry Lamy.
What a section.
The " FoKus " mouthpiece was being manufactured by kanstul for a while but I believe Bill Muilhous , out of Minn. is now making them, I may be wrong on that also. I gave Lowell my Walt Johnson - Calicchio mouthpiece as a model for one of the Fokus pieces and he did use certain aspect of that piece also. Anyway , there's a little plug for my friend Lowell.
My point was that the best of the Claude Gordon students at the time - those that were actual pro./ working players were really not playing his line of mouthpieces even thou they did play his CG Benge. The combination was just too big for the commercial demands they had.
OK, back to Kenne60 and his new Calicchio.
I would suggest first to play a ML trumpet ( or even a Medium ala Dave Trigg ) because of the large throat of a CG3. Second I would suggest that you use a #3 leadpipe, which is the most " Bachish " of the Calicchio standard leadpipes giving a very quick response and easy, smooth attach and a very " secure " condensed sound, but still has a very open upper register with very close slots. ( the # 3 was used by Jerry Hey on his 1s/3 and Walt Johnson on is 2/3 for many years and is also the leadpipe Dave Trigg plays on his medium bore model and Mike Williams on his large bore model )
Now if you want to get more custom, you can try a 2s or 7s leadpipe which gives you a smaller venturi y( Bob Findley and John Harner play the 2s leadpipe on their Calicchio's )yet still give that very even felling of the airflow and " hot " Calicchio sound.
I wouldn't get any bigger in the bell size than a 1s seeing how the modern commercial trumpet sound is getting somewhat narrower and more compact even thou I love a Calicchio #2 bell and have 2 trumpets with a #2 bell on them.
Here;'s a thought, if you can, get a raw brass Calicchio for now and a couple of extra leadpipes that can be strapped to the side. Start with the standard #3 leadpipe and then try the others as your playing starts getting use to the Calicchio air flow and " free blowing " quality. If you want to get a commercial " sizzle " to your sound and not change mouthpieces , then you need some resistance somewhere so a longer, narrow tapered leadpipe would serve that purpose , plus a smaller venturi would help in playing softer and in getting a more " instantaneous " attack,
especially if your practice time can be somewhat limited or inconsistant.
Then when your satisfied on the combo - you can get a finish applied to the trumpet.
I'm told by Noel Langley that the famous lead trumpet player, Derick Watkins carries 3 or 4 leadpipes with him so why can't Kenne60 from Conn. do the same.
Again, on Claudes line of mouthpiece's, there is nothing wrong with them, just not a piece that would ever work for me.
here's another thought:
Go to the Kanstul Comparator ( Kanstul makes the CG line of mouthpieces ) and over lay the Bach 3 c on a CG3 and I think you'll find that they are rather close. another thought is you can always have Jim New at Kanstul make you a CG3 with a more conventional 28 or 27 throat and see what that feels like. You might have to go thru Claude's company for the purchase of the final product, but Jim would be happy to discuss the option with you.
Remember - this is all " cyber-advise " it could be a big "180 " from what you really need and are looking for , but you asked and this honestly is what i would do in your situation as you described it.
Good luck
Larry
So, like we talked about before - you need to create some resistance somewhere |