Posted by Leland on March 01, 1999 at 20:17:30:
In Reply to: R & S Mouthpiece posted by Chuck on February 24, 1999 at 17:44:07:
From another perspective --
We haven't noticed much difference other than initial feel with the heavy R&S Hellebergs. Last year, us two tubists in wind ensemble noticed that we blended better if I used my Conn and he used his R&S "soup can"; also a good blend with my PT50 and his PT88. If we mixed up those pairings, the blend just wasn't as good. Both the Conn and R&S were noticeably brighter than the PT50 or PT88, and we weren't looking for brightness in that group.
For _me_, I don't need one. It's not different enough from what I already have, really. At first, the pitches seemed to slot more readily, but that went away. It does play brighter than I would expect, and its loud extreme isn't reached as smoothly as a number of regular-weight mouthpieces. Lastly, it seems to vibrate at times, on some pitches more than others -- that got disconcerting more than once.
Of course, we're the type to bore out Conn Hellebergs and actually enjoy the results (I might get my PT50 done, too).
About silverplating your 2155-
If it's just for cosmetics, I'd vote to leave it as it is. If you like the way it plays now, you won't know for sure whether it'll be improved or degraded until after the process is done. If it's not your main axe, and you wouldn't mind a little experimentation, I wouldn't see a problem with it.
Thanks for reading,
Leland