[Trombone-l] "plastic" mylar mouthjpiecea

Thu Jan 22 10:46:11 CST 2009

I happen to be a huge fan of plastics - for some uses.

On my Buescher trombone, I use a 6.5 AL Kelly, which is made of Lexan plastic.  I'm going to cut a tone ring for it, but I like the cut, feel, and sound.  I use their "harvest gold", since it closely resembles bare brass.

On my old Conn 52J tuba, I used a Kelly 18 Tuba Mouthpiece, again with a tone ring.

A major symphony tubist I know used an older DEG Nylon Mouthpiece (they're much smaller now than then).  He had it painted silver to hide that it was plastic - too many people hear with their eyes.

I'm currently experimenting with ABS plastic - I'll have an opinion on that soon.

I have tried some bad plastics... but plastic tends to feel warm and friendly, and I don't like my mouthpieces to be over-slippery, so I generally prefer the feel of Lexan, but my only wish is that they had a little more mass - they lose quite a bit of energy very quickly.

Kelly mouthpieces I think are a great inexpensive source for tuba mouthpieces, which are getting pretty pricey for beginners to own their own.  They're also a cheep source for an english-shank euphonium mouthpiece :-)  And, of course, they're a godsend in extreme temperatures.

J.c.S.

---- Dennis Clason <dclason at nmsu.edu> wrote: 
> Delrin or another polycarbonate is the more usual material.
> 
> They are pretty good heat insulators, if I were in one of the bands 
> yesterday at the mall I'd be using one for sure.  Even when finished 
> very smooth, it seems to have a fairly high coefficient of friction on 
> skin, like oh, my embouchure.  For playing outdoors in cold weather 
> they're great.  For playing in less extreme conditions, I don't think so 
> much of them.
> 
> Charles Levine wrote:
> > Pro?  Con?
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> -- 
> --
> Dennis L. Clason, Ph.D.
> University Statistics Center
> New Mexico State University
> Las Cruces, New Mexico
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