davidjohnson

manny:

i've read a little concerning monette making mouthpieces designed for C trumpets. the philosophy made sense until i recalled that there seems to have been so many great players that never bothered with the idea.

i think i'll stay on my schilke C7 horn from now on, mostly with a 3c or giardinelli screw-rim 6. but i would like your input regarding special C-trpt mouthpieces.

thanx
dj

Manny Laureano

Well, certainly, there was life before Dave Monette came on to the scene, wasn't there? He was inspired by the same people we all were, principally great jazz players and musicians of other instruments beside trumpet and they weren't playing equipment he hadn't invented.

I also like the choice of equipment in baseball gloves today, too. My dad has expressed how much nicer life was when he moved to the mainland and got to used toilets instead of outhouses. I like Amado style water keys rather than the old fashion cork style.

It's a question of taste in sound and the ease in producing that sound once you decide that's the sound you prefer. You know, for years the number 27 hole was the throat size served up by most mouthpiece manufacturers. Who decided that should be the size? I guess Vincent Bach did. Maybe he was going on a paradigm that was there before him. I'm sure someone around here knows. The point is folks open that up all the time once they reach a certain level of playing. Why? They find it constricting and once they open it up, it changes the sound. Then they take it to someone else and mess with the backbore. On and on they go, until they get something they like. Now there are so many varieties of mouthpiece combinations that there no excuse except for cost for someone not to have the equipment they want to play. Some folks leave it as it comes and accept the sound that they make as just what is and that's that .

I wonder what Gottfried Reiche would have thought of that new-fangled keyed trumpet. I wonder what Anton Weidinger would have thought of that new-fangled cornet thingy with the valves. I wonder what Stoelzel and Blumel would have... well, you get the idea.

The bottom line is: does it make it easier for you and does it improve the sound to your ears?

ML

kerouack

like always, try it and if you dont notice the difference dont but it. Buy it only if it works for you right now. You can try it again in a few years just to check again.

davidjohnson

so, you agree with his statement that if we use Bb mpcs (he says they're really best suited for 'A' trumpets) on C, there is a distinct mismatch that puts the player at a disadvantage?

do you use the C mpc?

thanx
dj

fundenlight

I recently switched from my monette's (B2 and C2) to a mouthpiece that was made for me by Bob Reeves (not sure what it is, he said it should fix some issues I was experiencing). I told Bob what mouthpiece I was currently using and that before the monette's I used a Bach 3C w/ a 24 backbore. I notice that while my new mouthpiece feels easier, more open, it retains basically the same sound I was getting on the monette but with less complexity. The big kicker is that since switching back to a non-monette I realize how much I was compensating for pitch problems before playing monette's. The brochure really hits the mark: standard mouthpices are sharp on low notes and flat on high notes. The pitch center on those mouthpieces is dramatically improved particularly on the C trumpet (it's back to alternate fingerings for me).
By the way, I didn't have a personal issue with the monette's, they just didn't seem to agree with my horns. Bob has made a mouthpiece, which for the most part retains a lot of the monette's quality.

Manny Laureano

To my ears, it's not even debateable: C pieces for C trumpets and Bb pieces for Bb trumpets. Others will disagree but that's my experience. I'll tell you what happened yesterday: I accidentally picked up a C piece and put it in my Bb and couldn't find the center, started missing notes... it was just weird. I tried to check my body use and it still was not right; like standing on my tip toes instead of normal. I accidentally looked at the mouthpiece and saw it was for the C. I put the Bb piece in and I was home. What can I say?

Excuse me while I go grab some more Koolaid,

ML

davidjohnson

thanks. enjoy the koolaid!

dj

B15M

I have always thought that the mouthpiece is the most important part of the trumpet. As you go farther toward the bell the equipment means less.
That doesn't mean that the bell is not important, just less important.

That being said; there is a rapid taper in the mouthpiece. I think that the taper has to be in proportion to the length of tubing you are playing. Mr. Shilke has you play a cornet mouthpiece on a piccolo trumpet. Short horn = short taper. As the tubing gets smaller I think the taper needs to change little by little. C trumpet is smaller so C trumpet mouthpiece should be smaller.

This is an educated guess based on stuff I read all over the net.

TrentAustin

To me the idea of shorter mouthpieces for shorter instruments makes 100% sense.

I'm glad I don't play C, D, Eb, and F/G anymore! I'd have to buy even MORE mouthpieces.

-t