TromboneChat

Hi everyone and happy new year!!!
I need your invaluable advice and experience for the following question.
I have been playing with a Best Brass 5B mouthpiece (Cup diameter Ø 25.75 mm / Deep cup / Ø 7.10 mm bore) for a few months now. I like the low-range, I really like the middle-range and above all I love big, orchestral sound it gives me. However, I have realized that in this moment of learning in which I find, it might be better to move to a 5G size since I have not yet consolidated the air column and it is difficult for me to fill the mouthpiece in long passages, legato, etc. some notes end up a bit poor: I have to improve my lung capacity and my way of blowing and maybe a mouthpiece as big and deep as the Best Brass is not the best idea right now... I think a conventional 5G (I think a little shallower) could be good for me (I have a 5GS but I don't like it at all...) to finish consolidating my playing. An acquaintance has offered me a DE LT 101 G-Cup and I think it could be a good alternative to the Bach. I have also heard good things about the Bach Artistan 5G and the Griego Alessi (although I don't know which model would suit me better...); I would like not to sacrifice the big sound and the repertoire I do is exclusively classical/symphonic.
What experience do you have with these sizes and mouthpieces in this kind of repertoire?
Thank you very much to all of you!!

PS. I am playing with a Shires Q30 (yellow brass bell).

Once upon a time, the alternative would have been a Schilke 51.

But maybe sticking with the BB and working on the problems you’ve identified is the answer?

Bach5G wrote: ↑Sun Jan 08, 2023 10:05 am Once upon a time, the alternative would have been a Schilke 51.

But maybe sticking with the BB and working on the problems you’ve identified is the answer?

Thank you very much for your reply! Of course I will continue to work on the question of breathing, airflow, etc. (I don't claim otherwise) but I think I took a "risky" step going from a Schilke 50 directly to the BB and I think that maybe for this "early" moment of my learning it was not the smartest idea. I will try the Schilke 51, thanks! If anyone has more info on the Artisan 5G or the LT 101 G for what I'm talking about, I'd appreciate suggestions. Best regards!

The LT 101 and G cup is probably a good choice.
You didn't say how old it is or what shank it has, but my new G8 shank is outstanding and would be a good upgrade for it.

Doug Elliott wrote: ↑Sun Jan 08, 2023 12:43 pm The LT 101 and G cup is probably a good choice.
You didn't say how old it is or what shank it has, but my new G8 shank is outstanding and would be a good upgrade for it.

Hi Doug,
Thank you very much for your quick respons! It is indeed a year 2015 G8 shank. I may consider keeping that mouthpiece and buying your new shank if you think it's worth it!
best regards!

Email or message me

Out of curiosity Doug, how would you describe the difference between the old and new G8 shanks. I picked up an LT102/G/G8 (also marked 2015 on the shank) from the classifieds a couple months ago, and while I like a lot about how it plays, it feels like it backs up on me too much for my liking.

Over the years I have gone through a lot of tweaking of my backbores. That's one reason I put the year on them.
Over the pandemic I really did a lot of experimenting and made adjustments on all of my backbores, in some cases going through as many as 20 different versions of one backbore to get it how I wanted it to play.

I'm not going to describe the actual differences, but it doesn't take much change to seriously affect the way a backbore responds and sounds. It feels more open, puts out more sound easily, and focuses better.

Anything stamped 2022 with a star is the final version. For 2023 I'm not putting the star on them, just 2023.

I have a 2021 G8* and a G8 from a similar vintage to yours. I recently did some shifting of my equipment and I was running into what someone might reasonably call “backing up” on my G depth. I can back up that the G8* helps a lot in that regard.

That said, I also find that going shallower helps on that particular setup and stopped the “backing up”. So I’m using an E8* on that setup now. Which, to be fair, that’s also been my go to depth for awhile, but I thought the G might be useful for getting back into playing some orchestral rep. (Doug, when I asked you about if you made an E5 a couple weeks ago , that’s what I was trying to figure out, but a large shank 525 pipe w/ the E8 ended up working perfectly).

Doug recently finished a SYM piece for me and a G10 (and a G9 I already have) so I’ll have all three large shank sizes and I can see if the shank plays better for me on that depth or if I really just like the focus of something slightly shallower.

What's the deal with the G10 shank? Is that design set now and for sale? I've been interested since last year!

Yes, G10 is all set now and I have a couple in stock.
I just couldn't make them for a while because I needed to make the blanks.
I'm away all this week, get to me next week.