Thoughts on Giddings Mark 1?

[pompatus]

Anyone have experience with the Giddings Mark 1? How did it play for you? How would you compare its size to other rims or cup depths? It has a very unique backbore that I’ve not seen in any other piece, a kind of shelf or ledge when viewed from the shank end, and I’m also somewhat curious about how that came about and how it affects the blow.

[Burgerbob]

This was nearly 15 years ago, but I remember it being quite bright and a bit odd on the face. I think there are better designs in that size range.

[RustBeltBass]

Only going by memory here, but like most Giddings mouthpieces, the specs are quite funky. That being said, it’s one of the more normal sized Giddings mouthpieces, on the smaller end of what they make. This mouthpiece has a ridiculously strong full low range and the response is just great. Overall I felt I sounded extremely dark on it. I love how easy the response was and enjoyed playing it, but I never managed to make the steel mouthpieces work for me in the section. Your experience might be different.

Listen the the low brass section recordings of the President’s Own Marine band. their bass trombonist plays one and sounds fantastic on it.

[Mv2541]

It is definitely not be for everyone but I really like mine. Almost all my playing in the past few months has been on a 36 with a Monette, and the Giddings is only bass piece I’ve played where I feel like I can approach the horn similarly. Both of them have the target really low on each partial.

The rim on the Mark 1 is weird; the outer edge is the high point and then the rim angles inward toward the cup. It makes the piece feel bigger than it actually is (opposite of something like a Laskey). I definitely wouldn’t use it on a legit gig with a good section because the sound/articulations are quite hard and the sound gets really bright if you push.

Also it’s longer than most other pieces overall. If your bass is flat (like a lot of Bachs) I could imagine this being an issue.