TromboneChat

I know the answer will be immediate (hit my Doug)
Just switched from a 6.5AL to a Schilke 51 on small bore - and by JUST, I mean today is my second day practicing on the mouthpiece. (Mind you - I used a Yamaha 48 for years before switching to the 6.5, which I liked but didn't LOVE)
I play a Yamaha 51C4 on my large bore, which to my understanding is a little different to the Schilke, a bit shallower and less flat rim, but it feels about the same size-wise.


Anyway, I'm doing my drone and tuner practices and finding that I'm often 1/4 to 1/3 of a position flat on most notes, or that the tuning slide has to almost be pushed in all the way to be at pitch, ad even then, I'm still ending up a bit flat on notes that I'd have no trouble with on a shallower piece. Is this an adjustment of airflow thing or do I need to just "build muscle" on this mouthpiece or something? Or just adjust my overall playing and position muscle memory and keep working on my ears for better intonation? (Gotta do that anyway)


I should mention that I'm loving this mouthpiece so far, it truly feels like a perfect fit for my sound concept and for what I'm familiar with. Full, mellow, BIG sound with a lot of cores and color, lights up a bit when pushed to the limit... No loss of range, far far fewer cracked notes, great flexibility and low range... Exactly what I was looking for (so far)!

I think if you compare, the Schilke 51 is a longer mouthpiece than your others. There's nothing wrong with that, it's just a different design philosophy. But it will lower your pitch a little.

My experience is if I switch from a shallow to a deep mouthpiece it lowers my tuning Bb so I have to adjust the tuningslide a bit to compensate if I want that Bb to still be in same place.

/Tom

Doug is correct. The Schilke pieces are longer. So Yamaha makes a 51C4? I know that Schilke does.

Yamaha makes a 51 and a 51C4, but they are a bit different than the Schilke mouthpieces with the same numbering.

JS

CalgaryTbone wrote: ↑Sun Dec 24, 2023 10:35 am Yamaha makes a 51 and a 51C4, but they are a bit different than the Schilke mouthpieces with the same numbering.

JS

Thank you!

Specifically, the Yamaha 51 and 51C4 are slightly smaller than the equvalent Schilke numbers, and play a bit brighter in tonal color.

Thanks guys, very valualbe insights here. The Schilke is indeed longer which seems to play into it all. I've been using my ear and a lot of tuning exercises to get things back to pitch, so far it's working out.

Who makes an identical rim and cup with a shorter overall length? I may make the jump to a deeper cup on my large bore. Probably not soon (honestly the Yamaha 51C4 feels just about identical on my face, maybe I'll try a Yamaha 51 one of these days just to keep things straight.)

davdud101 wrote: ↑Mon Dec 25, 2023 1:09 pm Who makes an identical rim and cup with a shorter overall length?

Probably Schilke.
https://www.schilkemusic.com/products/m ... omization/