Posted by Rick Denney on December 16, 2002 at 13:02:02:
In Reply to: Re: Re: MP sizes posted by Mike Sherline on December 15, 2002 at 18:30:42:
According to Doug Elliott's mouthpiece comparison, a PT-88 has a 33.5 mm diameter, and a fairly shallow bowl-shaped cup. The Conn Helleberg has a 33 mm diameter with a sharp rim (which makes if feel smaller), and a deep, funnel-shaped cup. The Bach 18 is narrower and shallower than either, with a bowl-shaped cup and a rounded rim that makes it feel bigger. The 18 is a classic bowl-shaped mouthpiece, and the Conn Helleberg is a classic funnel-shaped mouthpiece. Either make a good starting point.
Responding to one of Steve's comments, I think the feel of the cup diameter has less to do with the lips, and more to do with the shape of the teeth and jaw. My mouthpiece doesn't sit comfortably in the smaller mouthpiece, though I played them for years. That was what I loved most about the PT-48 when I first got it--that 33.5 mm diameter.
In response to the original poster, I've found that there are members of the small mouthpiece school and members of the large mouthpiece school. The former demand high levels of control and embouchure strength and flexibility. The larger mouthpiece are more forgiving to get an average sound, but require even more work to get a colorful tone. For we duffers, the small mouthpieces run us headlong into embouchure inflexibility, where our firm corners mean firm centers which pinch our sound and kill the lower register, or where opening up the center causes a loss of firmness in the corners which allows the sound to spread and the pitch to wander. The larger rim seems to give us less corner to firm up and more lip in which to transition from firm to flexible.
The better I get, the better I sound on small mouthpieces. But I'm still at the stage where the large mouthpiece is more forgiving and gets a better overall result.
This is the opposite of conventional thinking that puts a small mouthpiece on a duffer's horn and saves the toilet bowls for the guys with serious chops (except for the truly great, many of whom seem to favor the smaller mouthpieces). The conventional thinking is correct, but perhaps only in the context of rank beginners and really good players. In the big middle where most of us live, there seem to me to be interesting reversals of the conventional wisdom.
Rick "whose Elliott 132-2N/T-6 is bigger than any of the above" Denney