Tottle & Son and Jet Tone Mouthpieces

asha'man

I've recently come across a some mouth Pieces from a good friend now retired. The brand is Tottle & Son that are two seperate cups sizes 3C-star and 5C-star. The word 'star' is the actual star symbol after the cup size and my friend mentioned that it's there for a reason but he cannot recall what. He bought these pieces from the Tottle shop in Boston back in the late 60's early 70's when he was attending college in Boston studying symphonic studies. Also included in the package of mouthpieces I'm getting is a Jet Tone Studio mouthpiece not sure on size though. Any ideas about these piece anyone?

To be honest, I prefer to stick to one size and I use a Kanstul made Burbank 10 that works great for me. I will more than likely end up selling these pieces soon after I get them. Also in the package are a few Bach model sizes 1 1/2C, 3C-FL, 5C, 7C, and 7CW.
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AC

asha'man · Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2012 10:01 am Post subject:

I was hoping someone here would have some sort of background or history on these Tottle mouthpieces.
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AC

Smokin Joe · Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2012 11:39 am Post subject:

The Tottle 3c Star I believe was the mouthpiece that Armando Ghitalla was playing when he was with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Tottle and Son's shop was I believe on St Botolph St. right near Symphony hall.

If I am wrong about this I'm sure someone will chime in.

Joe

asha'man · Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2012 11:49 am Post subject:

trpt2 · Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2012 3:46 pm Post subject: 3C*

Smokin Joe is right. Tottle was on St. Botolph St (thanks for remembering that ! I couldn't place the name!)
Ghitalla did indeed use the 3C* in the BSO, with a "K" backbore. I believe this stood for "Klupfeld" (forgive me if the spelling is incorrect...)
This backbore is absolutely huge! He also switched off with a Mt Vernon Bach 1 1/4 C cornet mouthpiece, with an adaptor.

Bob

trpt2 · Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2012 3:53 pm Post subject: 3c*

Sorry, I forgot to mention, that when "old man" tottle passed away, his nephew, Bill Mazzocha (sp?) took over the business, and changed at least the outside shape of the mouthpieces. I'm not sure when this occurred. I was at NEC from '77-79, and Bill was running the shop then. The older Tottle Mps. had quite a bit more mass to them than Bill's.

asha'man · Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2012 4:16 pm Post subject: Tottle Cups and Bore pictures.

Here is a picture of the mouthpieces I just recently acquired. The Tottles are on the bottom with the bore unscrewed.
http://www.trumpetmaster.com/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=5873&d=1332878600
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AC

Gene Crisafulli · New Member Joined: 03 Jan 2006 Posts: 3

trpt2 · Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2012 4:19 pm Post subject: tottle

those are indeed the older /original style. Made by the "old Man"

Bob

asha'man · Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2012 4:29 pm Post subject: Re: tottle

Brian Moon · Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2012 6:29 pm Post subject:

The tops could be 50's or 60's but are at least pre 1979 or 80. The style was changed sometime around then. The backbore is after that time. Made by Tottle's nephew, Bill Mazzocca.

Bill Tottle (junior) died in the 70's I just read somewhere someone claiming it was 1978 but it seems to me that it was earlier than that. According to my calculations it would have been 1975. The guy that I always heard referred to as "Old Man Tottle" was Bill Totttle senior who was from the era of Vincent Bach but it seems as the younger Tottle could have inherited the nickname also even though I only had heard of his father being called that.

I asked Ghitalla one time. "Is that the same mouthpiece?" He looked at me quizically and said "since when?" I said, "last summer." He laughed and said, "Oh, I thought you meant since two weeks ago." He had a slew of them.

The star series of rims have a sharper bite and the rim feels slightly wider and flatter to me than those without a star. The cup diameter has also felt bigger on the star series to me.

http://blog.osmun.com/about/

http://www.trumpetmaster.com/vb/f131/has-anyone-heard-william-tottle-43817.html
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Either is fine. My chops always feel great

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Andy Cooper · Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2012 7:17 pm Post subject:

The 3* was .673 I.D. "Similar to the Bach 1 1/2 C. This is a popular cup giving very quick response, strong projection and big brilliant tone. ...Best backbores are G, P, O, OX and 1."

The 5* was .663 I.D. Same rim contour and cup style- just smaller - best backbores are G, P, O, and 1. (Sort of in the Bach 2 1/2 to 3C range)

Rim contour shape is listed as "Low Camber" Bachish

The "High Camber" models (no star) are rounder - more like a Schilke or
Marcinkiewicz

Hope this helps -

royjohn · Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2012 8:18 pm Post subject:

I can't tell much about the mpcs the OP asked about, but I do know a little more to the Tottle story, as I have a couple of Tottles and D'Orios. Found this info here somewhere on TH, but I am not good enough with the search function to find it again --- indeed, if it can be found that way.

Tottle did bring his son into the business, but after he died the son could not make a go of it . . . . the story here was that personal issues intervened [drugs], but IDK whether this is true. D'Orio did take over and he did make mpcs to the old Tottle dimensions. I think he also added some of his own. A few years ago, maybe only two or three, he got out of the business --- I think this was due to age and ill health. He did have a website while active and there ought to be a way to access it through one of the Internet archive systems but IDK how to do that. I have a D'Orio cup and it fits the Tottle backbore I have, so he used the same thread system. These do not fit standard Warburton threads, as I just checked my Warburton backbore in my D'Orio cup and it just wanders around in there, the threads on the D-Orio/Tottle are much bigger.

I have a couple of tops and a G backbore and also a P [piccolo] backbore. The 1B on the P backbore is my favorite for the D/Eb trumpet and I'm thinking it is going to work great for a picc when I graduate to that, which I hope will be soon. I hope to try out a picc soon, but that's another whole story.

If I can find the old D'Orio website, I'll post the link here later. I'm still on the lookout for old Tottle or D'Orio cups and backbores that might work with what I have.

Hope this is of some help to someone.
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royjohn
Trumpets: 1928 Holton Llewellyn Model, 1957 Holton 51LB, 2010 Custom C by Bill Jones, 2011 Custom D/Eb by Bill Jones
Flugels: 1975 Olds Superstar, 1970's Elkhardt, 1970's Getzen 4 valve
Cornet: 1970's Yamaha YCR-233S . . . and others . . .

Brian Moon · Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2012 9:43 pm Post subject:

Please read the rest of the thread.

Bill Mazzocca was Tottle's nephew. He was not his son.

Even though the P backbore can work nicely on a piccolo; the P stands for Paella, not piccolo. Nat Paella was a Boston free lancer.
_________________
Either is fine. My chops always feel great

ObamaCare, a massive government takeover, a measure destroying jobs and the economy, a law designed to enslave the American people, an instrument of tyranny in the hands of criminal elitists.

Smokin Joe · Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2012 4:58 am Post subject:

I had Nat Paella as a trumpet teacher at Umass Lowell back in the mid 70's. He switched every pupil to the 3c star. He was upset with me when he figured out that I only played the 3c star at his lessons and a Bach 7c for everything else. lol

He was a good teacher and nice man.

Joe

Brian Moon · Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2012 5:03 am Post subject:

Did he use the 3C* when he played lead in shows?
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Either is fine. My chops always feel great

ObamaCare, a massive government takeover, a measure destroying jobs and the economy, a law designed to enslave the American people, an instrument of tyranny in the hands of criminal elitists.

MTS · Regular Member Joined: 03 Jun 2010 Posts: 41 Location: NH

I believe Tottle senior was the innovator of the tunable bell conversions for trumpet as well as the removable shank mpc. Correct me if I'm wrong.

A tall lanky quiet spoken gentleman.

MTS · Regular Member Joined: 03 Jun 2010 Posts: 41 Location: NH

Nat Paella did use the 3C* for lead in shows....he had a reliable G. Another
gentleman.

Irving · Heavyweight Member Joined: 11 Feb 2003 Posts: 1886

I have a Tottle 5C top that I would like to trade for a 3*. If anybody is interested, then please send me a PM.

asha'man · Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2012 11:11 am Post subject:

I should be getting all these mouthpieces by Friday. I will be very interested is checking out those Tottle mouthpieces. Someone here mentioned that the backbore was a later model made by the Nephew. How can you tell? These Tottle cups and backbore were all purchased at the same time in the late 60's.
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AC