Posted by Dave on February 28, 2003 at 13:17:06:
In Reply to: Re: super-shallow-cup tuba mouthpiece??? posted by dave h on February 27, 2003 at 23:31:09:
Hey Joe...
Yeah, I have one of Ellis' mouthpieces. It's made of acrylic, has a huge throat/backbore, but the cup is very shallow (I'll try to get some measurements for you this weekend). The undercut is *severe* compared with any other mouthpiece I've ever seen. I believe the theory is that this "compensates" for the shallowness by adding overall volume inside the cup. I had him turn it with a Marcinkiewicz N4 rim on it.
As for how it plays - I call it the "Daisy Cutter". It's deadly in the low register (Fountains!!!), and builds up a nice cushion of backpressure to sit on top of - you might say it's the exact opposite of one of those "toilet paper tube" Hellebergs. For me, however, it gets a little squirrely in the upper register. Ellis sounded great on his, but then again, he'd sound unbelievable on a garden hose with a funnel attached.
Another option might be the mouthpiece I currently use on my 190. It's a copy of an old Burt Harrick (sp?) design that has the huge throat/backbore, and a shallow cup with an undercut, albeit less severe than the Wean. Kanstul has it programmed into their CNC machine, one with a C4 rim (for John Van Houten), the other with an N4 rim (for Tommy). They can punch one out for you for $125.
If you'd like, I can have Ellis' mouthpiece copied into Kanstul's machine. It'd still cost $125 per copy, but to get it in there initially, there's an additional $125 charge. I know Dave Hayami has spoken to me about doing this, and if there was enough interest, maybe the three of us could split the input charge? They're local, so I could run it over there no problem.
Hope this helps...
...Dave