thread with the transparent purpose of getting people to talk about my mouthpieces

[bloke]

...ok...maybe...but actually...

I've gone through some changes (and I don't believe it has been "because I'm getting older" - because I evaluate my playing as "about s good as ever, particularly when I spend some face-time with my instruments) with my mouthpiece choice for my F tuba. Maybe, the changes are due - just a bit - to becoming a bit...wiser...(??)
Reviewing those mouthpiece metamorphoses, here is (probably) boring, which means that others should post links to pictures/videos of the Chicken Dance, beer girls, and their pets.

I started out playing my B&S "Symphonie Modell" (basically, a handmade/sheet-metal version of the B&S PT-9, and with a bell kranz) with a mouthpiece which would be the equivalent of a Sellmansberger Solo cup, a Sellmansberger #2 back-bore std.-shank back-bore, and a Sellmansberger #1 profile 33.2mm opening rim. (That c. 1976 1-piece brass mouthpiece sits - to this day - in my sock drawer.)

Later, I moved to a #2 profile 33.2mm rim.

...and then I moved to a Solo #1 back-bore (same sound, less work).

Then, I gave the Solo #0 back-bore a shot (same positive results as with the immediately-previously-typed line)

Lately (not being a "same-rim-on-everything" subscriber, and as I've been using a 32.3mm opening #2 profile rim with my cimbasso mouthpiece), I moved to the new 32.9mm (not a huge change, but .3mm less lip vibration in the cup) and I'm getting a sound that is more centered, and - well - clearer.

Off-and-on I HAVE experimented with using my "Imperial" cup (medium-shallow funnel - deeper than shallow-bowl "Solo") with it's own back-bore and the same 32.9mm #2 profile rim. That mouthpiece offers that "round/big-F-tuba" sound (that seems popular, these days) AND it offers the same really great intonation throughout. The "thing", though, is this: I sounds nice and "round" at home (in my large/very-high-ceiling room) YET - when I use that mouthpiece with orchestras - the sound is "dead", I find myself unconsciously making inappropriate adjustments, and - moreover - not playing as I play... so I believe that experimentation is over-and-done... THAT HAVING BEEN SAID, it could be a good (were I seeking some gig somewhere) "audition mouthpiece", because the sound is even, round, blah-blah (yeah...I guess basically "blah") which seems to allow people to advance - who also stay between the ditches with their time and tuning, and tip their hat to "phrasing" just a bit.

Why did I post this stupid sh!t ?
duh...
- I drank too much coffee.
- I don't want to go out and pull the weed trailer around the property.

[Three Valves]

Unless one has a Joker-like mouth, 33+ mm is too big.

[bloke]

I think it depends on how flat the front of a face is. I have a picture saved in my computer of illustrations of two human skulls which look very different.
One has several front teeth that are almost flat across, and the other exhibits teeth which are more rounded to the back.
I use an over-33mm embouchure opening rim for big tubas, because I’m trying to send as much signal through the instrument as I can. This is sort of like the more expensive magnetic phonograph cartridges (of decades ago) which tended to be quite large, so the stylus would stimulate larger magnets and the original signal would be stronger going to the pre-amplifier…
… but - though I personally use the same rim PROFILE on all my mouthpieces - are use that profile with three different embouchure openings, depending on the instrument.
One of my customers – who plays in a full-time orchestra thousands of miles from me - puts 33.5mm rims on all of his Sellmansberger mouthpieces.

Unless one has a Joker-like mouth, 33+ mm is too big.