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Now that I've satisfied my new horn curiosity, I can return to the most important quest of all: finding the perfect mouthpiece. Can you handle the excitement?!?
Sometime next week I plan on placing an order at MouthpieceExpress.com. I've also heard good things about DillonMusic.com, but MouthpieceExpress has a longer trial period (2 weeks vs. 1).
As I've mentioned before, I find the process of finding a good mouthpiece to be somewhat overwhelming. There are just too many choices for me to make a confident selection. I feel like I'm just guessing. Which, I guess, I am.
MouthpieceExpress carries the following brands: Bach, Reeves, Curry, Wick, Giardinelli, Jet-Tone, Marcinkiewicz, Purviance, Schilke, Stork, and Yamaha
I want to keep the price below $50 per mouthpiece. So that leaves: Bach, Curry, Wick, Marcinkiewicz, Giardinelli, Schilke, Stork, and Yamaha (most of these are less than $40)
I currently own the following mouthpieces: Bach1 1/2C, Bach3C, Bach5C, Schilke15, Yamaha 11C4-7C (these are the only mouthpieces I've ever tried)
Of the group, I find the 5C and the Yamaha mouthpieces to be the most comfortable. I actually prefer the way the Schilke plays (the air seems to move faster), but the rim gets uncomfortable after I play for a while -it looks kind of flat to me.
So, there you have it. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them. I'll wait a week or two before placing my order.
After my V1 comments earlier - I ain't touching this one. LOL Just let us know how it all turns out. I will agree with your Yamaha comment. They make very comfortable mouthpieces.
Marcinkiewicz are superb. I play the more expensive Concert Pro-Line range, which Dillon do for $90. But even the cheaper range is excellent. I find the tone so sweet on the Marc. MP's. Very comfortable too.
I must first compliment you on your website. Very well done. As a trumpet player with over 30 years experience, I can tell you that you have made remarkable progress in a short time. I wanted to touch on your mouthpiece search. This is one of the classic traits of all trumpet players -- that is, to search for a better mouthpiece. To start off, I can tell you that for some strange reason Bach trumpets sound better with bach mps, or something similar. If you like that 5C in terms of comfort, why not keep it until you can afford to really make an improvement? My preference of late has been the Monette mouthpieces. In your case, I would suggest the B6. You will find that Monette will give you more volume and more core to the sound. But these ain't cheap. If you live anywhere near Dillons in NJ, I would suggest going there and trying out the Monette B6, and perhaps a laskey 65MC. Cheers, Roy
Another new contributor: Roy H! Thanks for stopping by, and thanks for the compliments and advice.
In truth, Roy, I'm really not that happy with the 5C (I've actually been playing my Yamaha 11C4-7C lately). My Schilke 15, and the two mouthpieces I just mentioned, each have certain characteristics that I like. I'm hoping that a new brand/model might offer a better combination of attributes (for me). With so many options under $50, it seems wi$e to give them a try first...
Speaking of, I just placed an order for the following:
-Denis Wick 5X
-Schilke 14C2
-Marcinkiewicz 4/7C
-Curry 60M
-Curry 5C
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