How much of a difference will .50mm in the inner diameter actually make when playing a mouthpiece? I'm looking at the #2 vs. #3 Vacchio Series mouthpieces. The #2 is 17.00mm and the #3 is 16.50mm. I'm sure there is a difference, but how much? Thanks.

Trax

No one can help me with this???

Trax

A lot or a little, depending on how much you know about what you want your mouthpiece to feel like
They're very different feeling mouthpieces. a stork 3c is more of a bach 3c-ish size, where the 2c is more of a 1.5c-ish size, but even that is not really right because the rims are completely different than bach rims.

The mouthpiece inner diameter is not what we "feel". The contour(shape) of the rim is. Rims generally have a high point which is based on the roundness. When a rim is rounder it "feels" bigger but offers less control than a flatter rim.

Gold plating a mouthpiece can also make it feel much bigger.

We have posted it HUNDREDS of times. Nobody can "help" you with a naive mouthpiece description. The players that are focussed on their music find "their" mouthpiece and stick with it. There would be no reason to constantly switch between these mouthpieces. Those that "fool" around can't offer any information worth reading.

A .5 cm difference is huge for my lips.

Rowuk is right. A good example is a Monette B1-1 vs a B2S3. The B1-1 is the largest mouthpiece they make and feels huge because of the round rim. The B2S3 has a rim similar to a Bach and feels and plays like a much smaller piece. The inner diameter of the B1-1 is the smaller of the two.

0.5 mm is about 20/1000 of an inch (actually 0.01969").

Many manufacturers go up in sizes by 10/1000" in diameter, so .5 mm would be like going up two sizes in the Wedge or Warburton line. That is quite a significant change. As others have stated, other factors also influence how big a mouthpiece feels, including inner bite radius, rim contour and high point, OD of the rim, and even cup depth and throat.

Cheers,
Dave