Adjusting to a New Mouthpiece

[donn]

The only real resemblance I see between Marcinkiewicz H1 and Conn Helleberg, is the "H". Cup, throat, rim, playing characteristics, all rather different.

I don't know what physical parameters contribute to it, really, but for me the H series is a distinctive sort of bare metal experience. I don't mean literally, but in the sense of casting aside whatever supports and plugging right into the tuba. If I'm right about that, it's a classic example of a mouthpiece that you might not just pick up and get the most out of it the first minute.

[bloke]

already agreed...H1 is better-playing than Conn 120...and considerably more expensive.

[Kirley]

I like Marcinkiewicz mouthpieces which seems to be an out brand currently.

I like them, too. But I don't like the shank size which I find to be slightly smaller than standard American.

I sort of agree with that - I mean, a hair smaller than my other mouthpieces - but not sure about standard. In Matt Walters' scheme, the standard American shank is about .520 inches at the small end; European is about .530.

What I get when I put the calipers on them, is Marcinkiewicz and Kellyberg .520, most others about .530. Some of those mouthpieces could be over 50 years old, so if there's been some creep, it's been going on for a while.

It might also be the taper. I don't know. I just find them bottoming out in some of my setups. Whereas every other "American Shank" mouthpiece that I try in them work just fine.

[bloke]

There’s a good bit of discussion about insertion depth.
My personal tastes go towards not very much setback from the choke point - the “choke point” being the beginning of the mouthpipe.
In other words, I don’t care for very much of the reverse-tapered mouthpiece receiver to be exposed as part of an instrument’s capillary bore.
Response differences (as - basically - the mouthpiece’s back-bore is being lengthened and distorted) can probably be perceived with gradations of setbacks, and most setbacks - up to about a quarter of an inch - seem to work pretty well… What seems to not work very well, is when a mouthpiece extends past the choke point.

[donn]

It might also be the taper. I don't know. I just find them bottoming out in some of my setups. Whereas every other "American Shank" mouthpiece that I try in them work just fine.

Oh yeah, same for me. (Not bottoming out, but they do go in pretty far. And I wondered too if it could be partly taper - they go in a hair farther than the also-.520 Kellyberg.) I'm just saying, there may be relatively few mouthpieces that comply with the American standard shank standard.