hcrane

I just picked up a Lyon & Healy Silver Piston Cornet off ebay. Instruments I had before this are both trumpets, so I'm new to this cornet. After a little cleanup, grease and oil, it plays amazingly well, and physically, it is in very good condition, considering its age. The only problem is that the mouthpiece is in really bad shape, which leads me to my question...

I haven't gone in to a music store yet to look at cornet mouthpieces, but on this cornet, the lead pipe is smaller than the one on both of my trumpets (meaning, I cannot fit a trumpet mouthpiece into this cornet.) From looking around on the internet, I see that a current day cornet mouthpiece shank is smaller than that of a trumpet, but I'm amazed that nowhere could I find the actual diameter of either type of mouthiece. No web site states what the actual outside diameter of a mouthpiece shank should be. Therefore, I don't really know if a current day cornet mouthpiece will fit into this old cornet. Can anyone help me figure this out?

(By the way, If I take my Schilke 15 trumpet mouthpiece and compare the inside diameter of the shank to the inside diameter of the mouthpiece receiver of the cornet, they are almost identical. When I get home, I should see if the mouthpiece that I have for the cornet will fit inside the Schilke shank.)

Dale Proctor

Try this link and look near the end - there are dimensioned diagrams of all Bach brass mouthpieces, which are industry standard in most cases.

http://www.mouthpieceexpress.com/med.../bachmouth.pdf

That said, not all cornet mouthpieces are the standard size - many of the really old ones are slightly smaller.

__________________
"Brass bands are all very well in their place - outdoors and several miles away." - Sir Thomas Beecham

Olde Towne Brass
www.otbrass.com

Brass Band of Huntsville
www.brassbandofhuntsville.org

hcrane

Thanks for your help. I went out and got a Shilke 11. It should probably slide in the lead pipe a few millimeters further, but it works.

Dale Proctor

Yes, the Schilke cornet mouthpieces are a little longer than most, and with the standard taper, they taper a little smaller at the end. They will fit older small receivers better than other modern cornet mouthpieces because of this. The downside is, they will sometimes bottom out in the receivers of other modern cornets. My Bach 184 cornet can't use Schilke mouthpieces for this reason.

__________________
"Brass bands are all very well in their place - outdoors and several miles away." - Sir Thomas Beecham

Olde Towne Brass
www.otbrass.com

Brass Band of Huntsville
www.brassbandofhuntsville.org

cabin1

I have an old lyon healy silver cornet do they have much value?

confuoco

I thought they just made harps