Posted by Rick Denney on September 24, 2002 at 09:12:44:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Repairman Questions posted by frank on September 23, 2002 at 23:46:37:
The old-style F tubas are sized in between euphoniums and contrabass tubas, and the real F-tuba mouthpieces that work well with them are similarly in between those ranges. Typically, they are bowl-shaped in the German style, with a relatively small cup diameter and throat. The Parantucci PT-60 through PT-64 are examples. I used an old-style PT-9 (equivalent to a PT-64) with my Music F tuba, to good effect. But my Yamaha 621 require more embouchure strength than I have to make a good, open sound in the low register, and that instrument responds well to a larger mouthpiece, just as do other F tubas that fall outside that fuzzy category called "traditional German-style F tuba." With a smaller rotary F tuba, though, those big mouthpieces are too hard to focus, and rob the instrument of its color, or so it seems to me.
Rick "whose biggest beef with his Musica was the lack of a fifth valve" Denney