Bach 2C

[Pavlis007]

Does anyone please know why the Bach 2C is such a different mouthpiece than its other numbers?
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Zvolánek

[zaferis]

My understanding is that each Bach mouthpiece was orginally designed for specific players or with a specific target in mind. Vincent Bach made his own to start with, then his friends and co-workers asked to have ones made for them - naturally with variations. Then over the years experimentation and variations happened. So, thinking that there is some link, reason, or relationship for the Bach numbering system is incorrect.

In general the smaller the number the larger the diameter, but after that, rim shapes, cup depths, cup shapes, etc. are not related nor progressive.
Lots of variations to suite a wide variety of player wants.

https://www.bachbrass.com/application/files/4614/8521/7763/AV2BA901_Original_1889_web.pdf
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Freelance Performer/Educator
Adjunct Professor
Bach Trumpet Endorsing Artist
Retired Air Force Bandsman

[Crazy Finn]

I feel like I write this post for every Bach mouthpiece thread. Here goes...

Bach mouthpiece catalog and numbering gives people the impression that it's a complete system, an organized universe of increasing and decreasing sizes and depths that is consistent and graduated.

It is not.

Bach made custom mouthpieces for people. Most of the popular Bach sizes stared out as a personal piece for someone, probably back in the 1920's or 1930's. These didn't have number and letter designations.

At some point, Bach assigned letters and numbers to these various models and grouped them together roughly by diameter. For example the mouthpieces roughly the same diameter of what is now the "3C" was lumped together with other pieces of basically the same diameter. Then they were sorted by cup depth with the deepest getting the "A" letter and the shallowest getting the "E" designation. The 3C and the 3B and the 3E could have different rim profiles and cup shapes, and be basically fairly different mouthpieces. However, people see the lettering and think that the 3E is a shallow version of the 3C. It's not. Bach designed each piece separately, changing things to what he thought would be best for that piece or for what that customer wanted, not to make it consistent with the other ones in that number series.

Also, the "C" depth in the various "C" pieces are different, with the 3C being shallower than the 5C or the 7C. The letter depths are not consistent between the number series.

This ISN'T a criticism of these pieces. Individually, they can be good for what they are and work for people. However, it's misleading to think that it's a unified mouthpiece system.

The 2C and other "2" mouthpieces are not "in between" the 1 and 1 1/2 pieces and the 3 pieces. They are their own thing, different from the pieces labelled around it. They tend not to be as popular as the 1C, 1 1/2 C, or the 3C.

This is an extremely common misconception.
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LA Benge 3X Bb Trumpet
Selmer Radial Bb Trumpet
Yamaha 6335S Bb Trumpet
Besson 709 Bb Trumpet
Bach 184L Bb Cornet
Yamaha 731 Bb Flugelhorn

[nieuwguyski]

The entire Bach 2 series is a weird little island of mouthpiece design. They all have fairly extreme undercuts (aka very low "alpha angles") and deep cups. I played what I consider to be the least-extreme model, the 2 1/2C, for a number of years.

If all I wanted to do was play second or third in community orchestras and concert bands and Chet-Bakerish jazz solos I'd still be playing one.

This isn't to say they can't be used for pretty much everything by some players. My high-school band director played a Bach 2C and could play along with the jazz band on the Ferguson arrangement of "Hey Jude," nailing all the high Gs at the end, and also convincingly play all the Harry James solos with the local community big band.
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J. Notso Nieuwguyski