Posted by Marty Neilan on December 01, 1999 at 19:55:07:
I am thinking of selling a very rare mouthpiece. It is a three piece tuba mouthpiece designed by renowned studio and jazz tubist Don Butterfield and made by the Giardinelli custom mouthpiece shop in New York City. Mine was made in the early eighties. I remember when I bought it, I met Charles Collin while he was in the shop to take care of something relating to brass conference. Giardinelli closed their New York City shop some years ago, and their three piece tuba mouthpiecees are no longer readily available, if at all. This mouthpiece is stamped Giardinelli New York and Butterfield on the cup section, and B on the rim. The rim is Gold plated and the cup and backbore were silver plated. Most of the silver plating on the outside of the cup and backbore are worn off, but the inside of the cup is still decent. The rim has 98 percent of its gold plating intact and is in good shape except for 1 nick that is outside of the contact area (for me, at least.) This mouthpiece is very playable in the condition it is currently in. I am selling it because I have not used it much for several years and am now very happy with my own custom mouthpieces (and I need the money for Christmas gifts ;)
For those who would rather play it than collect it, the mouthpiece is a medium large helleberg style mouthpiece designed for 4/4 piston BBb horns and would probably work equally well for a comparable CC. I would put its characteristics as playing bigger/darker than a Conn 7B but not quite as big as an Arnold Jacobs.
I am not setting a firm price yet, but would like to hear from anyone who may be interested, particularly old Butterfield students. This piece probably belongs in a museum or deserves to be played, and I am doing neither right now. If interested, email me by clicking on my name and we can talk. Tell me what you think its worth; I don't want to ask too much but I don't want to give away something this special, either.
Thanks
Marty Neilan
administrator(AT)lynchsystems.com
PS With all the years I spent in Jersey, I regretably never took one lesson from Mr. Butterfield. I did know and play with some his students and wouldn't mind hearing from any of them that still remember me.