ctm2aud

Greetings all,
Here's a question for you: Have you ever found that a particular mouthpiece brand goes with a particular brand of horn better than another mp brand? Here's an example of what I mean from my limited experience.

I was at Kanstul a couple years back testing some cornets. I took a GR cornet mp with me for the test but I found that an Olds 3 copy they had in the store worked better with a Kanstul horn. I later found the GR mp to work very nicely with a Schilke cornet.

Another example: I find that GR works very well with Bach horns but that the Curry mp made for Flip Oakes works better than GR for the Flip Oakes (Kanstul) horns. Another story: I was talking with an Eclipse dealer a few weeks ago and he said Eclipse players tend to gravitate toward GR.

When I say "works well" what I mean is my impression of the overall sound of the horn/mp combination.

So, is this a design philosophy thing or what? I know this is kind of vague but I was wondering what those with more experience might have to say.

Regards,
Dave Taylor

Dave Mickley

I have found that Reeves works for me on both my K. Allmen and Benges but the Monette only works on the K.Allmen which is basically a N.Y. Bach. I found that the small intonation issues on the K.Allmen disappear with the Monette m.p.. This is probably due to the way I approach playing more than the equipment. Dave

rowuk

Dave,
I don't think that we can create a technical correlation. We do not have a "standard" interface between player/mouthpiece, mouthpiece/horn or horn/room. Because of this, "standard" mouthpieces are designed to avoid certain problems which does in fact cause other ones.
In theory, we can control the sound, intonation and resistance (impedance) through mouthpiece design. The horn and the player has to be in the equation however. The only way to get a close to optimum TECHNICAL match, is to buy a mp/horn combination like Schilke or Monette for instance, or to work with the custom builders and start with a standard mp and make corrections. Any other way involves a great deal of luck. All of the custom mouthpiece makers have a great working relationship with their clients!
That being said, if you have a combination that works OK, then don't worry about it. If you CAN'T get the job done, the mouthpiece might not be the only issue.
I made a decision to work with Dave Monette many years ago. His sound and mouthpiece concept appealed to me. He modified one of his picc mouthpieces to work with the horn in my avatar. Before that, I always had a problem with the octaves being out of tune. In 15 minutes, he had me hooked up. If I have an issue, I call Portland and let THEM solve it. My brain is free to make music.

Vulgano Brother

Dave, you are right, and it is weird. Trombonists will go a step further and pay money (much rarer for those guys than for us) and stick a Bach cup and rm on a Schilke shank, for example. So, yeah, you're right, Robin's explanation is right, and it is still right weird, how some mouthpieces work better in some brands than others.

rowuk

Why can't we just accept the fact that most players found THEIR mouthpiece purely by LUCK? The microscopic differences are what make the difference and are hardly predictable!
Most of us really do not have ANY idea how complex a mouthpiece is. Balancing cup, throat and backbore to some horn and playing style AND developing a rim that has an optimal grip and feel for the hundreds of thousands of face and teeth formations is a formidable task.
We can get close by just copying what pro players playing "our" music have - but only if we practice as much. The reason that so many people can play at all is because of the adaptability and resiliency of the human body. We can "get used" to just about anything if we have to!
I firmly believe that it will always be that way - a little luck required.