TromboneChat

I am looking for feedback on AR Resonance mouthpieces, particularly as pertains to their various materials. I just bought a 26mm AR Symphonic mouthpiece in (standard brass) and love it. I had been playing a Greg Black 4.5G-5G which up to this point was the best piece I have used. The AR is almost identical in size (.05mm larger rim diameter and .1mm larger throat) and weight, but my sound seems brighter and more colorful compared to the darker sound from the Greg Black. I play both with my Shires Custom large-bore tenor with a MV42 Copper leadpipe from Brass Ark. I am curious as to what differences I could expect with AR's Phosphor Bronze, Titanium or Buffalo horn(!). Thanks in Advance.

I recently had one of my favorite tenor mouthpiece setups 3d scanned and used as a basis for a custom AR Resonance set. The original is standard silver-plated brass, and the AR piece is a titanium top paired with a silver-plated nickel backbore. I'll disclaim my observations comparing the two by saying that beyond the normal variance one might expect between any two "similar" mouthpieces (even the exact same model with the same specs from the same manufacturer), there were also some notable design differences between the custom piece and the inspiration pieces in addition to just the materials change. I also have yet to take the AR piece out for a spin in an ensemble, so my feedback is limited to what I can hear inside my home studio and on practice session recordings.

Caveats aside, I find the AR titanium piece to generally have a faster response, but with rounder articulations and a slightly darker sound behind the bell. Legato playing is like butter on the AR. The dark, big sound aligns very well with my concept for an orchestral 2nd. The polished titanium rim is more slippery than a typical silver rim, which makes it feel slightly larger on the face compared with silver of the same nominal size/shape. If you've compared a gold-plated rim to one in silver, the difference (to me) is similar. I imagine Tony could tune the polish level to suit individual preferences and mitigate the difference in perceived size somewhat. I have a couple Symington pieces in zirconium that were intentionally not finely polished when produced, I believe for a similar reason. Overall, I'm very pleased with how the AR piece turned out, and I'm looking forward to getting it into some larger halls next season to see how well the sound blends and projects.

For anyone looking to do something similar with a scan of a favorite piece, Tony partners with Jim New (https://james-r-new.com/), who has the exact same scanner setup. This makes for a shorter turn-around time for scan work if you're in the US vs. sending a piece to Italy. I found the scan pricing to be very reasonable, and the production work for the mouthpiece after Tony had the scan in hand and we'd discussed the project, was amazingly fast for custom work.

I hope others will chime in here. It would be very interesting to hear thoughts from someone who has tried two of the same AR pieces in different materials, as my comparison isn't really apples to apples.

If you don't mind me asking, what is cost for a AR custom piece?

harrisonreed wrote: ↑Fri Jun 30, 2023 2:48 pm If you don't mind me asking, what is cost for a AR custom piece?

Yeah, no worries. I was pleasantly surprised, actually. The 3d scan was $50, and the custom mouthpiece was essentially no different than list for a stock design in the same material. The titanium sets with silver plated backbore are €349 on the site. I added a custom image engraving (cost varies, depending on the image), and the total for the custom piece came out to €375.

I should also say that the scan only included the rim profile and inner cup down to the throat - the backbore wasn't copied. I was fine with that, but I mention it because I know you have some strong thoughts on design in that area. I actually like the GR1 72 backbore design as well if not better than what my model piece has. I have the other backbore sizes on order to compare. I don't know if a full copy including the backbore is something that they offer, but it wouldn't hurt to check. Tony is great to work with, and I enjoyed chatting with him about throat entrance designs and how the approaches used by different makers impact things. The piece turned out great - top notch quality, and I really dig the look.

Mike, Your new AR mouthpiece is easily the coolest looking piece I have ever seen! Thanks for your thoughts on this topic. I expect the AR Resonance product lineup is not widely known, and your feedback is helpful for the community.

The advice I got when I asked Antonio and others who play is gear led me to take a punt on bronze for bass, and nickel silver for small tenor when I'd determined what sizes I wanted based on playing brass demo pieces. I'd previously played a bronze piece on bass anyway, and a custom brass AR piece on small tenor.

Due to a mixup, I ended up having two tenor pieces of the same cup delivered (one in bronze and one in nickel silver) and the nickel silver was much more responsive, and what I wanted/needed for that horn.

I tried some bass pieces a few years back. I had difficulty achieving the low end overtones I am accustomed to getting.