| I was waiting for some of the more knowledgeable folk to comment on this; since they seem to be holding back, I'll timidly step up.
As an "old beginner" myself, I'll suggest that the first "clue" should be if you have an instructor and he/she suggests that you are having some playing issues that could possibly be due to a mis-match between your mouthpiece and your instrument! If you do NOT have an instructor than you need to consider if you are practicing right and are still not progressing the way you think you should be (lack of range, endurance, intonation, etc) and whether or not it might be possible that the mouthpiece is the problem. This is pretty risky though...determining what an "appropriate" development rate might be.
Personally I developed without an instructor (except for a short, 4 month period). I had a chance to try some different mouthpieces "for cheap" and found different things with each of them. It was when I was considering buying a Schilke (a more "open" horn) and had a very "trained ear" listening to me to compare the sounds from the different models that I found how certain intonation characteristics could be "solved" by working by working with mouthpiece design parameters (through a Warburton dealer's kit). Once I had settled on a particular cup depth/diameter/throat size/backbore I pretty much "locked in" on it and haven't really changed since (I've gone to a different brand but with certain elements being essentially the same as those that we settled on three years back).
The problem is that it is very difficult to be objective about your own sound, ease of playing, etc. and I'd sure recommend getting a "trained ear" to listen to you and evaluate what is happening with what you are playing on before embarking on the "safari". |