Things Pile Up...

I like to call myself a collector. Some might say pack rat. Others might say ferocious consumer of more than his fair share. Whatever you may think my collections are usually music related and I think maybe I have moved on from the cheap Chinese made distortion pedal fetish but now I'm into mouthpieces.

When I was a young tuba player I did not think much about mouthpieces. I maybe thought about my mouthpiece because back in those teen age monkey business years it was not uncommon to prank a mouthpiece of even your best buddy. I just did not think much about mouthpiece brands. A mouthpiece came with your horn and you used it. It might be tarnished, chipped and have an out of round shank but it was usually good enough for the fat boys with the big horns on the back row. 

Now, with the internet information expressway it's possible to know or maybe find out what opinions people have of all kind of things like distortion pedals and mouthpieces. As you could spend hundreds of dollars on these items all this available info makes me kind of find my own way to go. 

Starting on the from row right dead center is a bugle mouthpiece flanked by two trumpet mouthpieces. The bugle seems to have a dirt dobber nest in it because it's been hanging out in the garage draped with Mardi Gras beads since some Mardi Gras Party. I happen to have a couple of unplayable non working trumpets that belong with the other pieces, which are good quality mouthpieces made by the Bach Company in the USA. The one on the right can be used with the alto horn. 

Second row are the baritone mouthpieces. Could also be used on trombone. On each end are two Kelly pieces made from lexan. You can get them in about any color you want and I bought the gold sparkle when Miguel gave me a thrift store baritone. It's not a real deep cup so this tuba player, used to a big cup was having some trouble. I then bought the red which was a little deeper. Then last week my friend George, your friends may notice when you are collecting before you do, gave me the metal Schilke. It's a good quality piece, made in the USA with a deep cup and it has really help me step up my baritone game. Thanks, George. 

And last but not least we come to the tuba. In the middle of the back row is the mouthpiece that came with my tuba. It's a Bach and brand new one would cost $90. It is probably not anywhere near as old as my made in 1936 tuba but somehow it came to not satisfy me so I began buying the lexan Kellys which are copies of more expensive models and can be had for about $33 or cheaper if on sale. This fact gives you a chance to try out a lot of models you might not be able to afford. The white one is too small but plays well in the upper register and the green and clear are pretty all purpose but my current favorite is the purple one on the right. these are made in Wisconson and one of their benifits is that they play better in cold weather outdoors than metal. 

I know this is way more indepth information than many may need but things just seem to go better with a good mouthiece, a cheap distortion pedal and if you at least try to explain yourself.