Wooden mouthpieces

Multi-Instrumentalist · Regular Member Joined: 20 Apr 2012 Posts: 53

____I am not a professional mouthpiece makers in anyway____
------more or less a hobby------
I like working with my hands to create things to let me stand out and i've recently seen antique wooden baroque mouthpieces yet cannot find videos or posts about playing with wood mps.

does anyone know or have a good guess as to what wood could be strong enough to become a functioning mouthpiece?
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Each and every instrument, are all under my control (i wish complete control over more than 5)

razeontherock · Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 9:08 pm Post subject:

I dunno, but both Kanstul and Josh Landress have used wood in this application, so they would know ...

nieuwguyski · Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 11:43 pm Post subject:

There was a line of wooden trumpet mouthpieces sold a number of years ago, called Benterfa. They were sold by Stomvi (I think) and are definitely no longer available. They were constructed as turned wooden tops attached to brass shanks. There were a number of different wood options, but all the woods used were notably hard and fine-grained. Ebony was definitely one, and I think I recall olive wood being another.

Kanstul currently offers the "Woody" mouthpiece:

http://www.kanstul.com/MPcustomWoody.php

But only the cup is wood. The rim and shank are plated brass, and the cup material is mysteriously described as "diamond wood."
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J. Notso Nieuwguyski

FrankM · Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 11:46 pm Post subject:

I guess any close grained or naturaly water repelant wood would be strong enough.To minimise splitting you might have to enlarge the shank and fit an oversized receiver to take it. You could of course always fit a wooden top to a metal shank. But the big downside would be the feel on the lips. Wood, being absorbant, would stick, like a harmon mute does. Don't think I could work with that.

Multi-Instrumentalist · Regular Member Joined: 20 Apr 2012 Posts: 53

BeboppinFool · Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2012 12:20 pm Post subject:

How 'bout lignum vitae? That would seem to me to be the obvious choice.

Doc Reinhardt did experiments with various materials to make horns and mouthpieces, and "blindfold" tests demonstrated that the material the mouthpiece was made of had nothing to do with the sound it produced. It had everything to do with the player's comfort, though, which turned out to be the number one consideration. (This was back in the 40's when he began making transparent mouthpieces.)

Now, of course, we're not talking about styrofoam mouthpieces. Materials hard enough and smooth enough to be comfortable mouthpieces were used, and none of the listeners could tell the difference.
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ulli926 · Regular Member Joined: 26 Jan 2011 Posts: 31

Hello,

The company Lignum-Tech in Germany offers them:

http://www.lignum-tech.com/

You can choose different materials, and they are pretty durable, as trumpeters tell me, who use them.

Have a nice day
ulli
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Baumann rotary trumpet and flugel

ConnArtist · Posted: Sat Jun 09, 2012 6:42 pm Post subject:

trumpetDS · Posted: Sat Jun 09, 2012 7:53 pm Post subject:

I have and still use occasionally a Benterfa made from ebony. It is very smooth on the chops. I did not like the rosewood version- too much texture from the grain. I think colo bolo was another choice too.

Robert Rowe · Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2012 5:14 pm Post subject: