MeeuwsenMouthpieces.com


Trumpet Mouthpiece design and dupication


NEW: Check out my youtube channel here:


https://www.youtube.com/user/lipshurt



Meeuwsen Mouthpieces is a full

service trumpet mouthpiece shop. We

concentrate on custom mouthpieces

and custom mouthpiece work. Things

like mouthpiece copies, rim and cup

alteration, threading rims, threading

backbores, backbore and throat work

are our specialty. We also do have

many popular pieces "already made".


     Common jobs that have a high rate

of success for the player might be:


Taking and existing mouthpiece and

making it feel on the lips like another

mouthpiece by altering the rim and cup

diameter. This is maybe the most

common alteration.


     Removing a tiny bit of material just

below the bite of the rim to give a bit

more room for the lips to vibrate. This

is common on a piece similar to the

Schilke 14A4A which has a "high

alpha angle" which does not work for

some players.


     Mouthpiece or rim copies. Copies

really not that hard to do, but some

pieces pose particular problems. I use

the "old fashioned" method of making

an epoxy impression of the cup and

rim and then carving the new piece to

match the impression. I have gotten

quite good at this in the last 40 years.

having said that it should be noted that

some pieces pose particular problem.

most mouthpieces to some degree are

not perfectly concentric. That means

that one side of the inner edge "bite"

will softer or sharper than the opposite

side. It sounds like a bad thing, but lots

of players will always turn the piece so

that the shaper edge is at the bottom

or top lip and then that mouthpiece is

MAGIC. Well, that is hard to copy.

When you make the impression, and

split it in half, you only get two points

of reference. The copy made will be

quite close to the original but wont

have the non-concentric magic.

     How good a copy is can also be

about more than if the rim and cup are

duplicated accurately. The mass of the

blank, the length of the throat, the size

and shape of the backbore etc affect

the vibe of a "copy".

     I tell people I can copy about as

close as anyone else and better than

a "computer copy" which is far inferior

to the "old fashioned way". That is a

fact by the way.