Posted by Sean Chisham on March 16, 1999 at 08:45:51:
In Reply to: Lighter F tuba mouthpiece posted by Timothy on March 15, 1999 at 21:02:25:
Don't take this the wrong way, but you spend too much time being concerned with mouthpieces. I have noticed that a good deal of your postings have to do with this topic, and you seem to purchase and sell them frequently. Please, don't take that as an insult by any means. It is just an observation.
Unless you are someone like Scott Laskey, you shouldn't be so concerned about the physical layout of a mouthpiece. Leave that to the people who spend years of their lives focussed on instrument and mouthpiece design. Even those folks don't always get it right. As a musician, you should make judgements on equipment based more on the product they allow you to produce. Don't be concerned if a mouthpiece is light or heavy, or if the backbore is medium or has been drilled out to a straight pipe. Take your equipment and try to play it with only your sense of hearing as your quide.
Personally, I believe the PT-65 to be one of the best F/Eb tuba mouthpieces on the market. It is an update to the PT-64, which is standard equipment for a good number of players. If the PT-65 isn't working for you in an aural sense then you could look into other Perantucci's or Dillon or Doug Elliot or Shilke or any number of other manufacturers. It might be a good idea, though, to try to find a good mouthpiece and stick with it for a few months to give yourself a baseline for building. Changing mouthpieces every week or so must be confusing for the motor memory.
sean