richardbailey

After some testing, I recently decided to make a switch to Monette Prana mouthpieces. I've had a B2M S3 for about a month and the adjustment seems to be going well and I'm happy with the results.

My questions/concerns are with the piccolo mouthpiece that I recently aquired. I play a Yamaha 9830 and after exchanging some email with Gretchen at Monette, I ordered a Prana AP2LS with a trumpet shank. The mouthpiece arrived new, directly from Monette, about 2 weeks ago.

At first glance, I noticed that there seemed to be a smallish defect in the plating at the end of the shank. I also noticed that the edge of the shank is much thicker than my other Prana (it's very thin and fragile looking) - even thicker than those of mouthpieces I have from other manufacturers. I was under the impression that the thinner shanks were characteristic of all the Pranas. Also, after closer inpection of the inside of the shank, that defect in the plating seems to continue into the shank about 1/4" - it looks the inside of the mouthpiece has been gouged with something.

In what is perhaps an unrelated issue, the horn plays almost a half-step higher than it did with my previous "standard" mouthpiece. I can compensate by pulling the leadpipe out (or by drastically lipping the notes flat - that's how it feels), but it's a bit unnerving to pull it out so far and I wonder about leadpipe gap (as opposed to mouthpiece gap).

So should I, or can I do anything about the apparent physical defect in the mouthpiece? I have been practicing with it so it is now "used".
Is the shank thickness appropriate for this model mouthpiece?
Is the intonation merely the result of my needing to continue to adjust to the "constant pitch center" and mechanics of the 'piece.

Thanks for your thoughts,
Richard

Pedal C

Richard...

Most of the mouthpieces I've gotten from Monette look like the inside of the shank has been altered. I think Dave does this during the play testing. I know that the mouthpiece that came with my Prana C trumpet looks like the gold has been removed on the inside of the shank.

As for the thickness, I don't have any Monette pic mouthpiece, Prana or otherwise, so I don't know how they usually are.

And the pitch, since I haven't found any Monette pic mouthpiece that works for me, I couldn't tell you how it should work. Someone with more experience will have more info I'm sure...

Good Luck!
Jason.

ROGERIO

Richard,

I may be asking the obvious here, but...

Have you contacted Monette about this?
That should really be your first step.

The BuZZ

Vulgano Brother

One of my ARTA colleagues played the Monette APL2 on his Yamaha 9830 with great success. My experience with Dave's piccolo mouthpiece is the same as yours. I guess we play wrong.

rowuk

Richard,
the shank on every one of my Prana mouthpieces has a different thickness. My picc shank is much thicker than the rest. Dave does modify the inside of the backbore, scratching, scraping, whatever. It works though. Last time I was there he modified a mouthpiece for the picc on my avatar. I couldn't even "see" what he scraped off, but it sure did play MUCH differently.

I had the same intonation effect for the first week or so. I did not pull the leadpipe out and learned (forced myself) to relax. After that first week I only needed to pull the leadpipe out a little bit and everything lined up. Big improvement across the board. I believe Dave is right when he says that almost every trumpet player plays on the "high side".

Manny Laureano

This is a complex subject and a simple one. If something's out of tune, it's out of tune. That's the simple part. The complex part has to do with an instrument that plays in two different keys, A and Bb. The slides don't change and what many people experience is a sharp high F. You pull out the first slide and the D is flat. That's why dave has been hesitant to build a four valve A/Bb instrument: because of the compromises in intonation.

And, yeah, Robin's right. People do, for the most part, tend to play sharp and sharper still on the piccolo. I also think rims have a lot to do with people's comfort on an instrument. It's very difficult to find the right rim unless you have a half dozen mouthpieces from which to choose right in front of you.

What to do? Scales, scales, scales. Arpeggios, arpeggios, arpeggios. Relax, relax, relax.

As to the imperfections, i would call the shop. Dave doesn't like stuff getting out if it's not right and I'm sure it just was unnoticed before it left the shop. It happens.

ML

trumpetnick

IMHO I have found how to resolve the problem, and it si quite simple. I would never probably think of that if I did not see it...couple of years ago I went to spada shop and by that time he had just built his first piccolo for the Principal trumpet of the Zurich Opera. I just ordered one...the piccolo is a schilke style piccolo (though quite free blowing compared to the schilke) and had a trigger not only on the usual 3rd piston slide but also on the 1st one. Before that I was trying to experiment with pulling out more or less the first piston slide but was never really happy with the result. This trigger gives you exactly what you need: pull the slide out whenever you need to and the put it back for all other notes...like on the big trumpet. very useful

B15M

kadleck

Thanks Joe -

That's a great story! I've always wondered why Dave didn't build these.

Thanks -
Tony