[TPIN] Re: mouthpiece booster

[Daniel,John]

Friends,
I have to go a little against the grain of many responses 
to this thread.  I have tried many mouthpieces in my day 
and I've worked with plenty of prototypes.  Laskey 
mouthpieces, for example, were a bit heavier the first 
year or two of production.  Scott favors a very responsive 
mouthpiece, and the weight is part of the deal.  The mass 
adds resistance to the act of the lip vibrating, in my 
experience.  Some folks feel this means a bigger throat is 
needed, but I don't necessarily agree.

The effect of more weight is a more stable tone.  The 
pitch slots are firmer and the dynamic being played is a 
little more stable/ harder to change.  Another aspect of 
this phenomenon is the brilliance of overtones don't kick 
in until one reaches a louder dynamic with a heavier 
mouthpiece.  Yet another aspect is that out of tune 
tendencies are harder to correct on a heavy mouthpiece. 
 Even if it is the player's fault, if our upper register 
is sharp on a heavy mouthpiece, it's going to be harder to 
get the pitches down.  There are a couple of heavy 
mouthpieces in my arsenal.  The mass at the front end also 
helps keep the standing wave going, which means MUCH 
better presence of sound.  So:

A heavy mouthpiece is only going to be a good idea if it 
happens to also be very in tune and have a sound that we 
adore and wouldn't want to change.  Everything is much 
more locked in, for better or for worse.

I wouldn't expect everyone's experience to mimic mine, but 
that's been my experience so far.
John Daniel




On Tue, 3 Jul 2007 19:02:38 -0400 (EDT)
  "William F. Dishman" <afn54653 at afn.org> wrote:
> I have tried a couple of different brands of the 
>mouthpiece "donuts" to
> add mass.  They all worked about the same.  The main 
>"difference" was how
> the horn balanced in the left hand.  With a little more 
>weight on the
> mouthpiece end the center of balance shifted. Not a big 
>deal IMO.
> 
> Regarding sound/response.... After using them and 
>comparing with my own
> subjectivity I found no real difference in sound/tone. 
> Others listening
> in a "blind" test could not distinguish any differences. 
> 
> 
> Response...I noticed no difference with or without the 
>mp weights.
> 
> My own personal view is that any differences may be 
>attributed to slight
> differences from moment to moment in my own playing.  No 
>matter how I try
> there are always variations from day to day.  This may 
>cause the
> perception of the effect of the weights to be distorted.
> 
> Bottom line....They are relatively cheap so if one 
>wishes to try one
> .....go ahead.  If YOU think they improve your playing, 
>GREAT!
> 
> If you decide they are of no benefit then use them as 
>small paperweights
> for phone messages.
> 
> Bill Dishman
> Gainesville, Florida
> 
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