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Zottola Mouthpieces


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tptptp
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 07, 2011 9:10 am    Post subject: Re: zottola mouthpiece Reply with quote

glennzottola wrote:
Glenn Zottola here. My Brother Bob tells me Mr. Hickman is a respected player and educator although i am not familiar with him.


You've really never heard of Dave Hickman? Most trumpet players have.
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plankowner110
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 7:54 am    Post subject: Re: zottola mouthpiece Reply with quote

tptptp wrote:
glennzottola wrote:
Glenn Zottola here. My Brother Bob tells me Mr. Hickman is a respected player and educator although i am not familiar with him.


You've really never heard of Dave Hickman? Most trumpet players have.


I can understand why a busy professional musician like Glenn Zattola would not be familiar with a university trumpet professor, even as renowned as Mr. Hickman. Both are outstanding musicians who perform in totally different fields of work. With that in mind, we should promote each other's welfare and rejoice in each other's prosperity.

I find the actual discussion about the Zottola mouthpieces quite interesting. Those of us who have been working musicians for forty or more years remember the days when many dance band trumpeters played Zottola mouthpieces. They were quite popular. My thanks to Glenn Zottola for sharing his memories with us on Trumpet Herald. His father will always hold a place in trumpet history.

Bill
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https://www.trumpetherald.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=26763
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Phil L
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 25, 2013 12:34 pm    Post subject: Zottola Mouthpieces Reply with quote

Just for the record ....the BEST mouthpiece I ever played is the 62A cornet mouthpiece with an adapter for trumpet. I would love to try a 62A or 62B trumpet mouthpiece but untill I can find one this cornet mouthpiece which I was prepared to hate (someone had enlarged the throat) will be my first choice. I can't even believe how good this thing is.....a real work of art that sounds and feels as classy as it looks.....and yes I do know the difference (from painful experience). So ...Frank Zottola a true artist ..... thanks.
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nieuwguyski
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 25, 2013 11:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I kept all the Zottola cornet mouthpiece I acquired, but sold all the trumpet pieces. Certainly I can't state for certain why I liked the cornet pieces so much while the same models for trumpet left me ambivalent, but the trumpet blanks were quite different from the cornet blanks, the trumpet blanks having quite a bit more mass around the cup.

I started getting into Zottolas right around the time Frank Zottola sold the company, and bought quite a few on closeout from The Woodwind & Brasswind. If Dick Akright had ever restarted production I intended to order a trumpet piece with the top turned down to the lighter weight of the cornet blank, to see if that recaptured the magic for me.
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Phil L
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 10:59 am    Post subject: Zottola Mouthpieces Reply with quote

OK interesting observation...I was wondering about that ....so thanks, duly noted, also the enlarged throat maybe makes my cornet piece play different than standard but this is really nice ....a warm and open tone etc who ever opened this up knew what they were doing... or maybe not?!
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Brassnose
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 23, 2023 10:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bringing this thread back to life … as I wrote in the Santa thread I just took delivery of a Zottola 66C two days ago - wasn’t really looking for anything and stumbled across it. The price was nice and I had just sold some stuff, so I thought, why not?

Played it for an extended period today and quite like it. A tad smaller than my ARs but very comfortable. Good sound, fairly easy to play (my) high, good pedal notes, tighter slots than the ARs. Will play it some more in the days to come and see what I find. No rehearsals until January but will then also do a playtest in the orchestra.

As someone else stated before it is little heavier around the cup (compared to the ARs) but it really plays very well. Plus it looks really slick, especially on my 6B
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Brassnose
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 28, 2024 6:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Alright, had our orchestra rehearsal yesterday and did playtest the Zottola 66C I bought before Christmas. Horn was the Conn 6B, as my rotary is at the shop for maintenance.

Somewhat surprisingly I found this description here not terribly accurate: http://users.rcn.com/rakright/zottolamouthpieces.html — the claim on the site is that the 66C would produce brilliance with ease (or something along those lines).

Very much in contrast: I found the combo 66C & Conn 6B to sound very warm and almost flugel-like if played softly. If pushed the horn will light up but the effect is MUCH less pronounced than with any Monette, any GR, or any Warburton I have played in the past.

My regular AR mouthpieces also sound more brilliant than the Zottola. I quite like the contrast between the ARs and the Zottola: the ARs are easier to move around, to articulate, to bend notes, and to adjust intonation but the Zottola locks in more and the sound is even warmer than with the ARs (and MUCH warmer than any Monette, GR, Warburton I have played).

Very nice sound for jazz and for the orchestra — my Zottola/Conn sound blended very nicely with our flugel player at low volumes.

Now here’s the question: is there any way to date a Zottola mouthpiece?
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Halflip
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 28, 2024 8:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Brassnose wrote:
Now here’s the question: is there any way to date a Zottola mouthpiece?

Well, to start out, buy it a box of candy and a nice bouquet of pink and yellow roses.

Getting serious for a moment, maybe Zottola's son might have some ideas. His Trumpet Herald userid is glennzottola. He posted to this thread back in 2011 (I'm not sure he's still active -- you could send him a PM).
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Brassnose
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 28, 2024 11:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

But contacting Glenn Zottola could be an idea. Let’s see.
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Irving
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 28, 2024 1:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just a few interesting facts about Zottola. It seems like they had been reissued by Dick Akright. I went to the Zottola factory, when Frank Zottola was still alive. It was located in Port Chester, New York. I remember that it looked like an old barn. Everything seemed to be made out of wood. I asked Mr. Zottola to modify a rim for me. He used to old system of making an impression of my rim onto a piece of lead, and then matching my rim to the impression. Not very exact, but that was in 1977, so no CNC lathes around back then.

Zottola touted his mouthpieces as being more efficient because of the stepped back bore that they had. It was like an old fashioned telescope when extended. I don't know if the remake was made this way. My teacher at the time mentioned that the idea was that the back bore created more compression,but he thought that the whole idea was ridiculous. Not to criticize a mouthpiece that I have never played, just conveying the thoughts of my teacher. Pilczuk (was that his name) made lead pipes in this fashion, but it seems like the idea of stepped designs didn't really catch on.
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peanuts56
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 28, 2024 7:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Brassnose wrote:
But contacting Glenn Zottola could be an idea. Let’s see.

Not sure about Glenn, but his brother Bob is on Facebook. Try contacting him there. I believe Bob is in Naples, Florida. Bob is around 85 and still playing out in that area last I heard. I studied with Bob in the mid 70's when he was living in Greewich, Ct. Excellent player and a nice guy.
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