TromboneChat

I'd like to try out a Giddings MP for the bass trombone. I typically play on a Doug Yeo MP now, but really like the Giddings models on tuba. On tuba I play the MMVI/Baer model, and I like it better than any other MP I've tried.

What are some good Giddings MPs to try? I'd like one similarly sized to the Yeo I currently play, so maybe that's the Harwood model based on the specs? Recommendations are appreciated!

Try the NY-O. It has a fairly large throat that might be more like you are used to playing.

Imo, the Yeo is better than anything Giddings offers.

The Harwood is I think their best piece. It's a 1 1/8ths true 60 sized piece. Big but not too big, fairly efficient. I can't say that about most of the Giddings lineup.

At least one prominent LA studio cat uses one and I have 2 tuba playing friends who use the Harwood when playing bass.

I've enjoyed the Harwood and Mark I depending on the state of my chops and air control. I find that unless I am playing bass regularly the Harwood can be a bit too much for me, but does not require daily play time to keep up with.

Thanks for the recs!

I think the current count is 12 or 13 of us that play/played at BonesWest have switched to the Giddings (& Webster) Chinook. And all coming from different mouthpieces.

IMHO - I have found stainless steel mouth pieces tend to lose focus at softer levels (about mp) and titanium pieces lose it sooner (just about mf). Playing loud, they work well, but in an orchestral situation or in the studio, or a tight
mic-ed performance you want focus at all levels.

ssking2b wrote: ↑Tue Jun 11, 2019 9:56 am IMHO - I have found stainless steel mouth pieces tend to lose focus at softer levels (about mp) and titanium pieces lose it sooner (just about mf). Playing loud, they work well, but in an orchestral situation or in the studio, or a tight
mic-ed performance you want focus at all levels.

For what it's worth... Like I mentioned in my previous post I know of at least one bone player using a Giddings for studio work in LA (I think possibly 1 or 2 more but I can't confirm what they use now) and there are numerous players who use them for orchestra. I mean... Alan Bear and Harwood have their names on pieces!!

I never found the focus to be an issue with Giddings stuff... it was the feedback that got me. But to each his own, everyone is different!

"Feedback" - too much or too little?

Bach5G wrote: ↑Tue Jun 11, 2019 11:31 am "Feedback" - too much or too little?

Neither? It just sounds different than brass. It's like if someone changed the EQ on your side of the bell. Not bad but different. Everyone said I sounded the same on the piece but it felt completely different on the other side side of the bell.

What ever works for you is fine. I have a wooden mouthpiece I use in orchestral tenor and I love it. Focus, feedback, at al, whatever you want to call it, is something I count on and it's not there for me on the G&W pieces. I'm happy for Alan Baer and Don Harwood and their mouthpiecrs, but it's time get over the " if it works for them, it will work for me" delusion. It's a sales technique. My interest is in what works for me.

Based on what you describe I recommend the Harwood.

But what is wrong with the Yeo that you hope will be different with Giddings ? Yeomaha is a very (!) well balanced mouthpiece, in my opinion it is the first true improvement of the Schilke 60, though not the only one any more.

RustBeltBass wrote: ↑Wed Jun 12, 2019 10:49 pm Yeomaha is a very (!) well balanced mouthpiece, in my opinion it is the first true improvement of the Schilke 60, though not the only one any more.

I’m starting to recognize that based on the comments. There’s nothing I don’t necessarily like about the Yeo, but it’s literally the only MP I’ve ever played and I was curious whether there are others I might like better. I might just stick with it for a while.

EDITED to add: I once played a Schiller 59 for a bit and hated it, way too small, so I went back to the Yeo. I think that’s just the tuba in me talking though.

I also would recommend a Laskey 93D but those are hard as hen's teeth to find now with Scott passing...

Don't forget about the Griego GP6 and GP7 (GP6 is a Schilke 60CV sized piece while the GP7 is closer to a Schilke 60) are also fantastic improvements on the Schilke 60.

And... there's always BrassArk/Bob Reeves's CV and CV 2.0 pieces, which are also great! Though a little bigger... closer to a Laskey 95D.

Laskeys should be available soon if they aren’t now, as the company was bought by Eastman/Backun.

I use the Nor Easter from Giddings and really don't want to use anything else. Liked the mouthpiece so much in Stainless, I bought in Titanium. Its the second widest they have, if not the widest. I had a Joe Alessi issue w/having to find a really wide mouthpiece.

I think people give differnt materials a hard time because of product dedication, the mouthpieces aren't easier to play but it re-enforces great trombone habits with a beautiful sound. And bad ones with a terrible sound. Even more so with harder, more denser metals (titianium.)

Me personally, I would want to stay away from signature mouthpieces, waaaaay to personal and should have had learned my lesson many dollars ago. Lets not have marketing make such a personal decision for you.

In summation, it might be cheaper to go to trombone summit of some sorts then to keep buying mouthpieces over the internet, prices are lower. You can literally spend thousands of dollars trying and switching just mouthpieces.

Do you have a private teacher?

One thing to bear in mind with the Giddings pieces is that many are a bit of a departure from other designs and often have rather large throats (although they have more traditional designs now that didn't exist a few years ago). So a lack of focus can easily be blamed on the design as much as the material. I actually happen to have 2 Chinook, one in steel one in titanium, threaded for LB rims. It's sort of Schilke 60 sized although with a reasonable .304 throat. But it's sort of "V" shaped and I don't have much that can be compared to because of it's shape. One of these days I wouldn't mind replicating it in brass so I can actually do an A/B comparison. I will say there are differences between the steel and titanium but I don't think the changes are as big as the changes in the design. But I'm unable to be dogmatic in that assertion because I have nothing which I can directly compare it to.

If they work for you, that's awesome. Steel and titanium are cool materials. They really never tarnish. If you like the way they feel you're pretty much set. But if you don't, it's hard having them threaded otherwise.

To directly answer the OPs question, if you're looking for alternatives to try given attributes of the Yeo that you like, you might want to consider an Elliott piece. He has a generous return policy and has a whole lineup of pieces in the same vein as the Yeo in the XB series. Or possibly LB. You'd want an XB114/M/M10 or possibly a different cup/shank depending on what direction you want to try.

Matt K wrote: ↑Sun Sep 01, 2019 9:29 am ...

To directly answer the OPs question, if you're looking for alternatives to try given attributes of the Yeo that you like, you might want to consider an Elliott piece. He has a generous return policy and has a whole lineup of pieces in the same vein as the Yeo in the XB series. Or possibly LB. You'd want an XB114/M/M10 or possibly a different cup/shank depending on what direction you want to try.

I was under the impression that my LB114/L/L8 was more Yeo-ish. I bought it long before there was a Yeo model and face-to-face with Doug. I told him I didn't like the 1G or 60 but the 1 1/4 was too small.

trombonedemon wrote: ↑Sun Sep 01, 2019 8:09 am I use the Nor Easter from Giddings and really don't want to use anything else. Liked the mouthpiece so much in Stainless, I bought in Titanium. Its the second widest they have, if not the widest. I had a Joe Alessi issue w/having to find a really wide mouthpiece.

I think people give differnt materials a hard time because of product dedication, the mouthpieces aren't easier to play but it re-enforces great trombone habits with a beautiful sound. And bad ones with a terrible sound. Even more so with harder, more denser metals (titianium.)

Me personally, I would want to stay away from signature mouthpieces, waaaaay to personal and should have had learned my lesson many dollars ago. Lets not have marketing make such a personal decision for you.

In summation, it might be cheaper to go to trombone summit of some sorts then to keep buying mouthpieces over the internet, prices are lower. You can literally spend thousands of dollars trying and switching just mouthpieces.

Do you have a private teacher?

Harder the material the stronger chops have to be, but sound will focus more once the chops strengthen and adjust. Brass is really soft so the hypothesis its easier get oscillation of sound. You can really project with titanium!!

I was under the impression that my LB114/L/L8 was more Yeo-ish. I bought it long before there was a Yeo model and face-to-face with Doug. I told him I didn't like the 1G or 60 but the 1 1/4 was too small.

I think the Yeo is somewhere between an L and an M but I don't know that for sure; just another possible alternative!

Harder the material the stronger chops have to be, but sound will focus more once the chops strengthen and adjust. Brass is really soft so the hypothesis its easier get oscillation of sound. You can really project with titanium!!

I don't generally find this to be true. My titanium piece does not project as well as the 'same' steel piece. It isn't 'darker' though; it seems to just have less overtones or something. Whether that is because the piece is not in spec with the steel piece or because it's titanium I'm not sure. Or because I'm using a lexan rim on them but when I compare those two pieces with the exact same rim but a variety of brass underparts, neither of them project as well. Or at least they didn't on the bass I was testing them on (which at the time was a Duo Gravis).

Given the proposition that harder material = more projection but less endurance, then by putting a soft material as a rim, you should theoretically get all of the projection and all of the endurance simultaneously. So it would seem to me that the hardness is less important than the overall design; so if you have a good design that matches the horn and it also happens to be of a hard material it could possibly project very well. Just not hugely more projecting than a brass or steel piece that is "identical."

BGuttman wrote: ↑Sun Sep 01, 2019 9:45 am

Matt K wrote: ↑Sun Sep 01, 2019 9:29 am ...

To directly answer the OPs question, if you're looking for alternatives to try given attributes of the Yeo that you like, you might want to consider an Elliott piece. He has a generous return policy and has a whole lineup of pieces in the same vein as the Yeo in the XB series. Or possibly LB. You'd want an XB114/M/M10 or possibly a different cup/shank depending on what direction you want to try.

I was under the impression that my LB114/L/L8 was more Yeo-ish. I bought it long before there was a Yeo model and face-to-face with Doug. I told him I didn't like the 1G or 60 but the 1 1/4 was too small.

The 1G would be to small for me and the Rim is way round and some sharpness, the 60 was way to sharp of a rim, cant remember if the depth was to shallow also. My chops are way meaty.