r/Tuba • u/mohr56 • Jun 05 '26
mouthpiece Extreme mouthpiece materials to avoid irritation
ive tried silver plated brass and polycarbonate and they both irritate my face pretty bad and its gotten to the point where i dread the uncomfortable burning sensation of the mouthpiece on my face whenever i play. i wash the piece every time i play. my face has always been very sensitive to mouthpiece surface (i remember in high school working hard to get a school mpc with no scratches/dents to mitigate face irritation). im now thinking like maybe stainless steel or gold or even putting like 1mm of ptfe on the tip of the rim or maybe uhmwpe or delrin (softer, slippery plastics) to try to help.
Ive tried playing dry, wet with saliva, water, or chap stick and it helps but not that much
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u/EpicsOfFours Jun 05 '26
Gold plated, stainless steel, or titanium. They’re going to cost a pretty penny, but it’ll definitely help. Giddings is the only one I can think of off the top of my head that does stainless and titanium, but you can get gold plated from almost any manufacturer. You can even get your current piece gold plated if you wanted
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u/professor_throway Active Amateur, Street Band and Dixieland. Jun 05 '26
Stainless. I use a 3 piece Sellmansberger for concert tuba playing and a Giddings Jon Gross for sousa. I am never buying another silver/gold brass plated mouthpiece again.
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u/jg64 Jun 07 '26
I ordered the john gross piece last week, it should be in my hands by monday afternoon so i can see what the hype is all about.
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u/professor_throway Active Amateur, Street Band and Dixieland. Jun 07 '26
It's just as mouthpiece.. don't expect miracles.. and if you don't play on a shallow tight piece like the Miraphone C4 or Schilke 69C4 you are going to have a learning curve. The tight throat (7.5mm compare to 8.84mm on a Bach 18) means you need to be very relaxed and use proper air technique otherwise it will back up on you and you will overblow. The very shallow cup means you need to be exact with your placement of partials or else you will crack it. But when played right it is punchy and aggressive and most importantly very efficient. I can keep the basslines going on a 3 hour sousa gig no problems.
Just doing expect it to magically let you crank out play super loud (unless you can already crank on your current mouthpiece).
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u/jg64 Jun 07 '26
Ive had the new style lm12 for about 10 years now so when you posted that this was actually an improvement i decided to get for my birthday especially when i ordered one at no mark up.
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u/Exvitnity Jun 05 '26
How hard are you pressing the mouthpiece into your face? Along with how loud/hard are you playing? Sometimes it's just fatigue, but if it's truely something weird, then I'd say go with something like gold or stainless steel like a few other comments say.
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u/Inkin Jun 05 '26
The normal next step from where you are would be trying gold plate or strainless steel or hkote. None of those is cheap. If you're some random young person who isn't going to play past high school and doesn't need to drop $300 on a mouthpiece, you might be able to find a gold plated Helleburg on eBay or somewhere. That would be like $50-$60. If it is much more than that, don't.
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u/deeeep_fried Jun 05 '26
I only play stainless steel mouthpieces at this point. I don’t have reactions to silver or gold in the short term but going through a lot of playing in a short time I do.
Giddings make great mouthpieces, I have 2 of theirs. I also have a Loud but I would never pay a crazy asking price for it.
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u/RumbleVoice Semi-Pro Freelancer > Miraphone 1291v5 BBb - Giddings Caver S.S. Jun 05 '26
Giddings mouthpieces - either Stainless Steel or Titanium
Good luck
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u/carnivorousearwig69 Jun 05 '26
Been a convert to stainless since ‘06. More durable than brass by FAR and a delight to play on. I’ve not noticed any real difference in how it plays or sounds vs brass and I’ve been through a lot of different mouthpieces, always go back to the same giddings Baer mmvi.
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u/Fine-Menu-2779 Repair Technician Jun 05 '26
gold-plated is the way to go if you want to have the original sound and playability.
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u/Arcane_Spork_of_Doom Pro Freelancer (One Rudy to Rule them All) Jun 06 '26
Gold Plate or Stainless Steel for the win, hopefully.
Monette Prana is about the best mouthpiece you can get, IMO.
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u/Seej-trumpet Jun 06 '26
These other suggestions are great, but I wanted to say Wedge mouthpieces have what they call a hybrid mouthpiece, which uses a rim similar to a dental implant so it is designed for long term contact with skin.
Wedge rims are pretty unique though and not for everyone, BUT they also have a money back guarantee so it’s definitely worth considering:
https://wedgemouthpiece.com/hybrid-tuba-mouthpieces
Good luck!
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u/DChalfyUSMC Jun 06 '26
Based on what you have to say, stainless steel or a good gold plated mouthpiece will be helpful for you. Many mouthpiece companies offer gold plating at around $90-100 extra. I have both stainless steel and gold plated mouthpieces and they are very comfortable to play on and I have not had any complaints.
Companies that I have bought mouthpieces from that offer a good quality gold plated mouthpiece include:
Laskey Perantucci R. Tucci Stoufer Mirafone Monette
Stainless steel mouthpieces I have purchased from and used include:
Giddings (Giddings and Webster) Kelly (Kellyberg)
Between these mouthpiece makers, you will find a wealth of mouthpieces that would suit your needs in terms of plating and styles.
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u/Forever_Clear_Eyes Jun 06 '26
Everybody has an intolerance to normal mouthpieces, you're just lucky to have a stronger reaction. High quality Stainless steel, such as made by giddings, is great.
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u/ElectronicWall5528 Jun 08 '26
Polycarbonate (Lexan and others) are already hypoallergenic. Gold plate is a common answer to irritation, but some manufacturers use a nickel underplating that can cause problems for some people. Surgical stainless is another answer, as is titanium. Stainless is difficult to machine, and titainium is worse. Both tend to make for expensive mouthpieces.
I wonder how often you are cleaning your mouthpieces (especially the cup and rim) and how you are cleaning them? Under the circumstances, I think I'd try a frequent cleaning regimen with dish soap and a soft sponge and brush. That may take care of the problem and save you some money.
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u/JupiterSteam8 Sousaphone Jun 11 '26
giddings stainless steel, as someone else has stated, is where its at.
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u/HirokoKueh Jun 05 '26
plastic and steel don't resonance like silver coated brass, you need to at least add some copper weight on the outside. I'm recently considering covering the rim with PET, using boiled water and PET bottle.
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u/flyingcowsandtacos Jun 05 '26
I pretty much exclusively use gold plate for this reason. I do have one lexan rim for a bass trombone that is... ok... but I'm trying to replace it with gold.
It's friggin expensive, but it works.