Re: Mike FInn


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Posted by Rick Denney on February 05, 2004 at 13:18:08:

In Reply to: Mike FInn posted by jello on February 05, 2004 at 02:10:09:

Okay, I'd hinted that I'd post about Mike's mouthpieces, and this reminds me that I haven't done so.

I'm not a believer in the heavyweight concept, though I know that contradicts the reported experiences of some great players. Extra mass does affect the resonance of the brass, but not the air, and so a heavy mouthpiece can only affect that tiny influence that the vibration of the brass has on the air in the mouthpiece. That's a small effect on a tiny influence, and likely to be unnoticeable to objective ears out front.

But Mike didn't talke about weight. He talked about shape. When he spoke, he related every aspect of his mouthpieces to the interior shape, and not to where it tips the scales. And it was clear that he had carefully studied the cause and effect of those variations, at least empirically.

I seem to have the best results by finding the one mouthpiece that really works for each instrument. The big Doug Elliott is by far the most effective on the York Master, and my old Warburton does the job on the little Yamaha F. I think the PT-48 is one of those magic mouthpieces that lines up overtones nicely on lots of different kinds of instruments. I use it on my Holton. I like the way it feels, and the rims I bought for my Doug Elliott mouthpieces are very similar.

When I took the new (to me) B&S F over to Lee Stofer for him to try out (which he graciously did, and in so doing demonstrated some gorgeous playing), Mike was there showing his mouthpieces. He handed me an MF-4 to try in the F tuba, and the instrument came alive. Note that it had already come alive with my regular F-tuba mouthpiece, but it came alive that much more with the Finn. And I love the feel of gold rims. So I bought it, along with one of Mike Milnarik's double pouches, which can serve as a travel pillow on an airplane, heh, heh.

It's one of the few times I've had an instant reaction to a mouthpiece that gave me real confidence that the reaction would be long-lived, but that's how good the MF-4 was on this instrument. And the contour of the rim makes it feel natural even though it's smaller than my other mouthpieces by a little bit. It noticeably sweetened the upper register of the B&S and also improved my access to it, and it added zing to the lower register without bottling the instrument up at all. The bigger MF-2 was not better down low and harder work up high, which says a lot for the smaller mouthpiece on an instrument not known for its easy low register (at least compared with my other F tuba).

In short, the Mike Finn mouthpieces are superb, with considerable care given to what counts. I'd run out of money, so I didn't compare one with my PT-48!

(Regarding TubaRay's comparison, I thought the Mike Finn made a little more sound a little more roundly than did the PT-48 on the demonstrator 186-CC that Ray tried them on. That was in the Elephant Room, and I stood about 15 feet away to see how well it cut through the high noise level. The difference was quite subtle, but we are always chasing subtleties, aren't we?)

Rick "who hopes the leadpipe on the B&S can take the extra weight, heh, heh" Denney


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