King 5G mouthpiece?

[gepatrick]

I am a college student and my professor wants me to get a Bach 5G mouthpiece, as I currently play on a 6 1/2 A. I decided to look through all the horns my school owns to see if there was one I could borrow for a bit before I spent $80, and I discovered a King 5G. It feels pretty similar to my 6 1/2 A, but I can’t find any info online about King trombone mouthpieces. Can anyone help?

[Burgerbob]

Probably came with a later King 4B. If it's large shank, just use it for now, it should be similar enough.

[BGuttman]

I have a King 4G mouthpiece. My experience is that it is slightly larger than its Bach namesake. Try the King 5G mouthpiece and see if your teacher approves. If he balks, find a Faxx 5G. It's a copy of a Mount Vernon Bach 5G but much cheaper.

[Posaunus]

I have a King 5G and an identical CKB 5G mouthpiece. Each has a very slightly larger cup diameter (~25.55mm I.D. vs ~25.0mm I.D.) than a Bach 5G, and a significantly larger throat (7.40mm vs 7.00mm) than a Bach 5G.

Essentially just one step larger than a large-shank Bach 6½A.

It's definitely worth a try to see how it feels to you!

[gepatrick]

Thanks all for the advice! I'll definitely try it out for a while and see how I like it.

[Crazy4Tbone86]

Is there true agreement on the exact measurements of the Bach 5G? Even the modern Bach 5G mouthpieces can have some variety in how they measure. There has always been some discrepancies between Bach mouthpieces within each vintage.

When I switched to a Bach 5G in 1981, my teacher measured some things in the throat and the backbore and said “they made this one too tight!” He proceeded to take a little metal out of the throat and the inside exit diameter. I think he had a very precise idea of the measurements he wanted on a Bach 5G based on his Mount Vernon model.

In the ITA article about John Kitzman published a few years back, he explained his choice of mouthpiece. I think he stated that he tried several Bach 5G’s and they all played differently. He indicated that the particular 5G he chose worked so well for him that he had no need to investigate other mouthpieces.

[Posaunus]

Is there true agreement on the exact measurements of the Bach 5G? Even the modern Bach 5G mouthpieces can have some variety in how they measure. There has always been some discrepancies between Bach mouthpieces within each vintage.

There's no question that there's variability (chronological, geographical, and sample-to sample) in Bach's mouthpieces. Few that are labeled the same are identical - that's pretty well-established. Many do not match well to Bach's catalog specifications. These variabilities seem to be less for many other mouthpiece manufacturers, though they may take their measurements differently than Bach, so cannot be directly compared.

That's one reason that I try to measure (in my own primitive way) all my mouthpieces. At least I can identify most of the outliers, and what the dimensions are that are meaningful to me.