Is it foolish to replace a mouthpiece for a borrowed horn?

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Charlatan
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Joined: Thu May 18, 2023 1:26 pm

Is it foolish to replace a mouthpiece for a borrowed horn?

Post by Charlatan »

Hello all! Just joined and loving the info here.

I've played a Conn 88H for years, mostly in community jazz bands. But it's recently gone to the shop for a few weeks. One of my band leaders kindly loaned me a Courtois 402T to use in the interim. He included two Yamaha Japan mouthpieces (marked as 45C2 and 45C2-12). I've been using the 45C2 and after a month of practicing I feel like I've finally gotten more or less acclimated to it.

My playing is decent with the horn/mouthpiece but I'm vaguely disaffected with it (when I look at it I think "wow, that's microscopic") and have been considering getting a new mouthpiece. My upper register is good but could be improved a little. The main goal is to improve my endurance while helping (or at least not hurting) my upper register.

Complicating things, I've started looking to buy a tenor trombone. Would like a Conn 6H/48H.

The question is thus:

Is it a bad idea to replace the mouthpiece on my loaner before purchasing a horn? Is the feel/fit of the mouthpiece going to be different enough (on a new horn) such that I should wait?

Thanks in advance.
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BGuttman
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Re: Is it foolish to replace a mouthpiece for a borrowed horn?

Post by BGuttman »

I would buy myself a new mouthpiece. Leave the two Yamaha mouthpieces in the case with the loaner. When you are done, you now have a mouthpiece that will be good for another tenor.
Bruce Guttman
Merrimack Valley Philharmonic Orchestra
"Almost Professional"
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JohnL
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Re: Is it foolish to replace a mouthpiece for a borrowed horn?

Post by JohnL »

Buy something that fits your face. As long as it's not too far out of the mainstream, it'll probably be fine on any small bore tenor.
Charlatan
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu May 18, 2023 1:26 pm

Re: Is it foolish to replace a mouthpiece for a borrowed horn?

Post by Charlatan »

That's the kind of advice I was hoping to hear. I'm certainly not going to purchase anything out of the ordinary, so it seems like I can move ahead with the mouthpiece portion of my plan. Thanks again.
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