Posted by Matt G on October 22, 2001 at 10:27:24:
In Reply to: OK, I did it - update posted by js on October 18, 2001 at 23:50:59:
Joe,
I am a believer in the Dillon line of mouthpieces. I played a G3 for a long time and enjoyed it on a 6/4 horn. I used it to try out the MW32 I now own and I still like the moutpiece. However when I popped in the G3B (bronze instead of brass) I noticed that the horn's sound didn't break up as easily and seemed to project farther. Matt Walter's confirmed this fact, and he WAS NOT intent on selling me a mouthpiece. In fact he wanted an honest opinion of mine on the new G5 and I found it not to my liking, but many people like it. Lew makes mention of the H* series versus the H*B series. These mouthpieces are the same outside blank I believe, but the depth of the cup moves the throat farther into the moutpiece. There is less wall thickness there and less "effect" from the bronze versus brass. On the Geib series though, the cup is shallower and moves the throat closer to the lips, making the wall thickness much thicker in the throat section. These mouthpieces are CDC lathed and made by Terry Warburton, so not only do I believe my chops that tell me that they are the same, but I actually do believe they are the same. Maybe that is why the Monette mouthpieces don't seem to make as much difference as they should. My wife (mathematician) hears a sound on the G3 versus the G3B and thinks that the G3 has a "lighter" sound and the G3B has a "darker" sound (in her words). It isn't much, but enough to make me like the G3B better in all-around contrabass situations. By no means do I think that the change is revolutionary or a "night and day" type situation. I think that the proper placement of extra mass will make some difference, but it will not be so much that it is going to make a person who doesn't want to practice sound like Roger Bobo. It may make enough of a difference to make the mouthpiece worth it or it may not. At least we have an ample variety of mouthpieces to chose from and when we find a good one, we don't have to worry about the right reed to go along with it!
Matt "fan of capitalism" G