Posted by Jan L on July 09, 1999 at 22:38:20:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Mouthpiece backbores posted by Jay Bertolet on July 09, 1999 at 16:02:46:
I'm certainly no expert at tubas or tuba mouthpiece design (my primary instrument is trumpet), but I have spent over 30 years playing, researching, and expermenting with trumpet mouthpieces. At least on a trumpet, I have found that the mouthpiece backbore is one of the most critical areas that can alter a horn's playing characteristics. In the late 1970s, I had Giardinelli send me a trumpet mouthpiece "try" set that had 5-6 different cup styles and depths and 5 different backbores, all with the same size screw rim. The object was to find the "perfect" mouthpiece for my Benge. I found that out of all the variations I could produce with the try set, the shape of the backbore had the most impact on the playing characteristics of my horn. The backbore shape affected the tone color, the intonation and pitch, and the amount of "felt" resistance.
I wonder, does anyone know of a company that offers this service for tubists? I haven't had any contact with Giardinelli in almost 20 years, but they may still offer it.
I find that with my tubas, just by adding a sousa tuning bit to the receiver changes the airflow characteristics of the horn quite a bit. With that in mind, I would think that changing the backbore of the mouthpiece would also affect the horn. With trumpet, it's simple... the more open the backbore, the darker the sound.
Speaking of mouthpiece to receiver fit, I met Renold Schilke back in the 1970s and shared several conversations with him at different times. He was always very particular about the fit of mouthpiece to receiver on all brass instruments. During one of my trips to Chicago, I visited his old downtown shop and bought one of his trumpet mouthpieces. He insisted on fitting it to my Benge. The horn played great! Since then, I have had all my trumpet mouthpieces fitted to my horn when they didn't butt up properly to the leadpipe inside the receiver.
Anyway, that's my $.02!