Trumpet“Lead” cup concepts

"Already Made mouthpieces"

Lead cup #1


Is Basically a copy of the Yamaha Shew “Lead”, but comes in different sizes. The Diameter to depth relationship is proportional, meaning that as the diameter gets bigger, the cup also gets deeper. Not much. Proportional. That way the cup SHAPE stays more constant over the different diameters. The sound characteristics many times are controlled by the SHAPE of the cup.


The Yamaha Shew lead is .635 in diameter. Pretty small, but the Yamaha rim has a pretty rounded bite which could make it feel bigger than if it had for example a GR standard rim. ("GR" is a registered trademark of GR Technologies, LLC) I make this cup in .625, .635, .645 


I really think that this cup in a larger size is a great choice for many players that just cant play on such a small diameter. As it gets wider, it gets deeper so bottoming out is less likely. Make no mistake though, it’s still a very shallow piece with not a lot of undercut. It has a pretty high “alpha angle” even in the wider diameters (not as high as my #2 cup). The cup has a bit of a bowl shape though for such a shallow cup. As the diameters get bigger the alpha angles get lower by a little bit. By the time you get to .655 (3c size) it has a healthy amount of room at the top of the cup. At .655 it makes a good lead version of a 3C.


Of course the rim contour is an option, and various rims make the mouthpiece feel bigger or smaller than the measured size.


This is a real “Lead” mouthpiece. It would be hard to play “everything” on this cup.


I have a new shallower lead cup which i call the LZ. It is very loosely based on a faddis heavyweight but with a higher alpha angle. the bottom of the cup transition into the throat is real nice and efficient. for such a shallow cup the sound is full and doesnt promote lip intrusion like some shapes do