Bass Bone Mouthpiece Help

[BassboneJ25]

I play an Edwards B502i with a single bore.562 slide and SS B3 leadpipe. I’m a pretty advanced player that has received their terminal degree in trombone performance. I am currently playing on a Hammond 21BXL and a Laskey 90D. For me, the Hammond is a very orchestral dark sound that can carry the weight of an orchestral section on heavier germanic/romantic repertoire, and the laskey is a brighter sound that can carry more of the early classical and jazz band sound and sections. I am currently looking for a mouthpiece that I can use with soloing. So the hammond, for me, is too dark and in the upper register loses some of overtone color to help project, a wide wall of sound. The laskey is great, but whenever I give it any more power, the sound breaks up really soon, a laser of sound. I am looking for something in between those two styles. Any suggestions would be helpful!

[Burgerbob]

Markey 90

[jjenkins]

Doug Elliott LB114/K/K8 or a Griego-Markey 90 or Greg Black NY 1GS

[LIBrassCo]

Pollard Aria 900 with a Pollard shank

https://www.librassco.com/pollard-signature-series

[tbonesullivan]

Markey 90

Seconded. The Markey series are just great mouthpieces. I keep wanting to get a 90 myself to see if a mouthpiece of that size will actually work for me. I tried a Doug Yeo and a Ferguson LS, but they are just too big and I didn't like the feel.

[BassboneJ25]

any thoughts on Giddings?

[Burgerbob]

any thoughts on Giddings?

I'll just go ahead and say no

[BassboneJ25]

any thoughts on Giddings?

I'll just go ahead and say no

Heard, I have tried and bought a lot of mouthpieces over the years and because I had no job this summer had to sell my whole stock. I'm asking for others thoughts on mouthpieces of this size, since I moved to a slightly bigger rim diameter, because I'm not trying to spend a lot of money dialing stuff in... I should go to a conference/show, but I am not able to this spring/summer. So I am limited to what music stores have around me.

[bassbone1993]

any thoughts on Giddings?

I found them to be quite stale sounding. I've had 3-4 of their bass pieces, and they don't feel great or sound great in my opinion. If you REALLY wanted to look into a steel piece, I'd look at AR Resonance

[Burgerbob]

It sounds like a gamble, but I'd just get a Markey 90. Used if you can. It might just replace your other two pieces entirely

[Doug Elliott]

You're always welcome to audition my stuff and return if you don't like it.

[BigBadandBass]

There’s a reason steel hasn’t caught on and become major mainstream. I third a Markey, it’s the Toyota Corolla of bass pieces at this point, sans the price tag

[WGWTR180]

I realize I'll get multiple opinions on this but here goes. Markey 90 size wise is close to what? Markey 87 size wise is close to??

[Burgerbob]

I realize I'll get multiple opinions on this but here goes. Markey 90 size wise is close to what? Markey 87 size wise is close to??

90 is Greg black 1G sized (29mm), 87 is Greg black 1 1/8G sized (bit smaller).

Markey uses the 87 for most playing.

[WGWTR180]

I realize I'll get multiple opinions on this but here goes. Markey 90 size wise is close to what? Markey 87 size wise is close to??

90 is Greg black 1G sized (29mm), 87 is Greg black 1 1/8G sized (bit smaller).

Markey uses the 87 for most playing.

Thanks. Read the specs but this is helpful

[GabrielRice]

But the Markeys are quite a bit more efficient than the Blacks - I think there's a little less cup volume and certainly a smaller throat.

To go back to older models...
93/95 are kind of like the corresponding Laskeys
90 is in the Schilke 60 neighborhood
87 is between 60 and 59
85 is in the Schilke 59 neighborhood

[Burgerbob]

Yup, I'm speaking only to the rim sizes.

[swissbone]

I play an Edwards B502i with a single bore.562 slide and SS B3 leadpipe. I’m a pretty advanced player that has received their terminal degree in trombone performance. I am currently playing on a Hammond 21BXL and a Laskey 90D. For me, the Hammond is a very orchestral dark sound that can carry the weight of an orchestral section on heavier germanic/romantic repertoire, and the laskey is a brighter sound that can carry more of the early classical and jazz band sound and sections. I am currently looking for a mouthpiece that I can use with soloing. So the hammond, for me, is too dark and in the upper register loses some of overtone color to help project, a wide wall of sound. The laskey is great, but whenever I give it any more power, the sound breaks up really soon, a laser of sound. I am looking for something in between those two styles. Any suggestions would be helpful!

Probably too late for answering this question but for me the obvious suggestion would be the Hammond 21BL. Everything you know and love of the 21XBL but very easy on top and a little more forgiving in colouring the sound when played loud.

[SamBTbrn]

Give the Bob Reeve line a try. If you can find a place that has them in your area.

[Bassbone11]

at the risk of sharing links without permission, jonathanharker posted a link to a spreadsheet about a year ago with measurements of a whole bunch of pieces sorted by rim size but it also lists throat size and a vague description of cup depth. the list is far from exhaustive but its pretty damn long.

[hyperbolica]

Back to stainless, I've never played Giddings, but I've played other stainless components. Stainless steel itself is a great mouthpiece material. It gives more power to the sound, maybe because it is more dense/heavier than brass. I have a Parker rim which fits my DE XT cups, and I use it for particularly high tenor playing, as it requires less effort for equivalent sound. I'm not sure I'd use it on bass unless you're looking for a brighter sound with heavier articulation. Stainless is a valid material even if Giddings isn't the best example.

[Posaunus]

Back to stainless, I've never played Giddings, but I've played other stainless components. Stainless steel itself is a great mouthpiece material. It gives more power to the sound, maybe because it is more dense/heavier than brass. ... Stainless is a valid material even if Giddings isn't the best example.

Giddings mouthpiece designs are all over the place. Some a little ..."unusual." But some (at least small tenor and large tenor; I've never played a Giddings bass piece) are excellent. Including one titanium piece that I have. They shouldn't all be as disparaged as they occasionally are on this site.

[EriKon]

Give the Bob Reeve line a try. If you can find a place that has them in your area.

Are there more options besides the Orchestral and the Mr Bass Trombone one? Over here I can only find those. The Mr Bass seems to be a 1 1/2G like piece. Do you have any experiences with the Orchestral one?

[Burgerbob]

IMO of course, but the Reeves pieces are pretty weird. I've played most of them (including the Schippers) and I'm unsure of what the design brief is.

[EriKon]

IMO of course, but the Reeves pieces are pretty weird. I've played most of them (including the Schippers) and I'm unsure of what the design brief is.

What makes them weird in your opinion? Just the design? Playability? Everything together?

[EriKon]

IMO of course, but the Reeves pieces are pretty weird. I've played most of them (including the Schippers) and I'm unsure of what the design brief is.

What makes them weird in your opinion? Just the design? Playability? Everything together?

[Burgerbob]

Very heavy, thick rims. A bit like old Minicks but I don't feel the same magic in the sound. I had an O Bass for a bit but my laskey 85MD is simply better in every metric in that size range.

[SamBTbrn]

Hey Erikon, I use an O bass (standard model) as my main bass mouthpiece. I also have an O bass Mercury (the light weight version) with a Remington shank for my Con 60H.

It was not the mouthpieces I thought I would buy when I finally moved off my schilke 59 after 15 years on it, but after trying everything around it was the one that was the best for me.

I find the thicker rim Aidan mentions to be the most comfortable mouthpiece rim I've played on. The laskeys I find are so thin, feels more sharp than the Schilkes.

And yeah it's a big heavy mouthpiece, but they do make lighter versions now, so that's always an option. But the depth of the cup also feels right for me, not shallow but angles back in a little like a funnel mouthpiece at the bottom.

There is also a Martin Schipper version that is between the Mr bass and the O bass.

It's a different style of mouthpiece, but worth trying to see if it's maybe the style for you.

[tbonesullivan]

Very heavy, thick rims. A bit like old Minicks but I don't feel the same magic in the sound. I had an O Bass for a bit but my laskey 85MD is simply better in every metric in that size range.

A bit off topic, but have you had a chance to compare the new 85MD to the old ones? My first "real" bass trombone mouthpiece after a Faxx 1 1/2G was a Scott Laskey made 85MD. I still have it, among other "old production" laskey pieces, but have never gotten a chance to try any of the "new production".

[Burgerbob]

Very heavy, thick rims. A bit like old Minicks but I don't feel the same magic in the sound. I had an O Bass for a bit but my laskey 85MD is simply better in every metric in that size range.

A bit off topic, but have you had a chance to compare the new 85MD to the old ones? My first "real" bass trombone mouthpiece after a Faxx 1 1/2G was a Scott Laskey made 85MD. I still have it, among other "old production" laskey pieces, but have never gotten a chance to try any of the "new production".

Yes, I have an old one and a new one. They are quite different, the old one is lighter, quicker, less even, more commercial sounding. Newer is much more legit, thicker sound, more comfortable rim. For my uses the older one is more useful but they are both very good pieces.

[GabrielRice]

I played the Laskey 93D for several years, and I had a lot of them in and out of my possession over time - maybe almost 2 dozen. There were some discernible patterns, including two clearly different backbore dimensions (that Scott had an unpublished way of indicating on the outside of the mouthpiece), but they were all different. Sometimes extremely different.

I guess what I'm saying is: beware generalizations about old Laskey mouthpieces.

[Burgerbob]

Yes, I've had a couple older ones (and many 93Ds and 90Ds). They were all different.

[EriKon]

Hey Erikon, I use an O bass (standard model) as my main bass mouthpiece. I also have an O bass Mercury (the light weight version) with a Remington shank for my Con 60H.

It was not the mouthpieces I thought I would buy when I finally moved off my schilke 59 after 15 years on it, but after trying everything around it was the one that was the best for me.

I find the thicker rim Aidan mentions to be the most comfortable mouthpiece rim I've played on. The laskeys I find are so thin, feels more sharp than the Schilkes.

And yeah it's a big heavy mouthpiece, but they do make lighter versions now, so that's always an option. But the depth of the cup also feels right for me, not shallow but angles back in a little like a funnel mouthpiece at the bottom.

There is also a Martin Schipper version that is between the Mr bass and the O bass.

It's a different style of mouthpiece, but worth trying to see if it's maybe the style for you.

Much appreciated, thanks!!!

[tbonesullivan]

I played the Laskey 93D for several years, and I had a lot of them in and out of my possession over time - maybe almost 2 dozen. There were some discernible patterns, including two clearly different backbore dimensions (that Scott had an unpublished way of indicating on the outside of the mouthpiece), but they were all different. Sometimes extremely different.

I guess what I'm saying is: beware generalizations about old Laskey mouthpieces.

I do have two 59MD and 59D mouthpieces, mostly picked up on the used market around the time they weren't in production due to Scott Laskey's illness. They do seem a bit different, but not remarkably so. I still have yet to find mouthpieces that I like better than them in Bach 42s. May have to pick up some of the new production to see how they compare.