TubaForum.net

All,

Thanks to the invention / direction of one of our forum members, I am now in possession of a lovely Conn 4J. I have a Bach 18 mouthpiece, and have been playing with it as I get used to a bigger brass (former euph player) instrument.

I used a Schilke 51D on my euph, and enjoyed it quite a bit. Apparently, it is quite a love / hate thing for many players.

Now, I feel like I want to use a smaller, deep-cup, mouthpiece as I learn the tuba - something transitional. Is the Bach 18 my best bet, or is ther something smaller, but deep cup (like a 51D) that I could use or even adapt, for the tuba?

Thank you for any thoughts!

Terry Warburton would tell you to use something that's not even close to your euph mouthpiece, because you're going to need to play differently, anyway.

But for me, it really didn't matter what mouthpiece I started on (which probably was an 18, if I remember). It's just more the time you put into the instrument. Whatever mouthpiece you have, just get to work.

I have a degree in euph performance, and my career is bass/tuba. So I know what you're going through. It took me about a year or two to really get comfortable on tuba, and a solid 40 hours of practice in the span of a week to really solidify my low Bb and down chops, spending 75% of it just running low long tones, taking breaks when I got dizzy.

As someone who went from horn to tuba, ^^^ Yup.

BopEuph wrote: ↑Fri Mar 29, 2024 1:36 pm Whatever mouthpiece you have, just get to work.

This IS probably the best advice...

But gear-acquisition syndrome....but...but...

Thank you :)

Mary Ann wrote: ↑Fri Mar 29, 2024 2:57 pm As someone who went from horn to tuba, ^^^ Yup.

That's an even bigger leap than my euph-tube.

Not that there's anything wrong with a relatively small mouthpiece, if that's what your face structure etc. calls for. Schilke 66, for example, is deep enough to be a regular contrabass tuba mouthpiece, but inside diameter on the smaller side.

I think there are some really low cost no name Chinese copies of Bach 22 mouthpieces on ebay. At least there used to be.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/275469292587

I double on tuba. I use a CB P cup, 122 rim, and the AM shank from Doug Elliott. Tried the Bach 18, 22 copies. Went with Doug.

Be wery, wery, qwiet. There are many viola playing disruptors amongst us.

The old Conn 2, which is close to a 7B, was the piece shipped with those old 4Js.