Mouthpiece March Madness!

[WilliamLang]

Hi all!

I've been hosting my own little tournament of mouthpieces for fun this month, as a play on the D1 Basketball Brackets. Just about done with the first round - been sharing one minute short videos on my instagram and youtube with each having a poll attached, and will probably continue through the end of the month.

So, again, this is just for fun! I've been learning about mouthpieces in order to better help people find their own personal fit for while. I'm not looking to find the "best" mouthpiece - just see what others like the most from an audio/video representation. It's also to highlight the process of comparison, so that other people can see what it might look like to honestly evaluate if they've never had the opportunity to go through the process.

You can find the bracket (honestly I'm working on a higher quality version for the next round) and links to all the previous videos on my website: https://www.williamlang.org/mouthpiece ... s-2025.php

If anyone is interested, the full line up of mouthpiece is below, and all "seeding" and byes are done purely on vibes along. Bolded mouthpieces in Round 1 have already advanced as well

Round 1
Griego 7F vs. LI Brass Eon
Shires New Class 5MD vs Shires Vintage 4G
Ultimate Brass Knight Templar vs. Greg Black Futuro
Parke Friedman 1000-680-1 B 4G vs. Greigo 5F
Laskey 57MD vs. Shilke 52D
Bousfield S vs. Griego 5 Deco
Willie's Custom Steiner 5S vs. Lindberg 4CL (current round!)

Mouthpieces receiving byes:
LI Brass 550 E
LI Brass Chimera 675
Laskey Rejano 56 IB
Momo 52E*
Hammond Witser
Greg Black Mazzio
Doug Elliot 104 XT G*
Griego 1D
Laskey Alessi 60SYMPH

[nateaff]

It's quite a testament to your playing that you sound great on every mouthpiece you play, even though some are no doubt completely different from what you usually play.

I for one play like garbage on 90% of unfamiliar mouthpieces.

[WilliamLang]

We're now in the Elite Eight as of today!

This has been a fun project, and I'm leaning a lot about how people relate to sound through a recorded and social media. There were some surprising to me results in the first few rounds, and people listening live tended to go against the online results more often than not, which has been fascinating.

The remaining pieces:
LI Brass EON vs. Shires Vintage 4G
Momo 52E* vs. Hammond Witser
Griego 5F vs. Laskey 57MD
Griego 1D vs. Laskey-Alessi 60SYMPH

You can find daily videos with voting on my YouTube page under the shorts (low attention span, right?) and also on my Instagram for anyone that follows.

Here's today's video:
https://youtu.be/xiInrtI8S1k?si=T5BNBsrxwnGhuLol

I generally update my webpage everyday with a full archive as well:
https://www.williamlang.org/mouthpiece- ... s-2025.php

[Savio]

You always sound very good on all mouthpieces but in my ears best on the Hammond.

Leif

[WilliamLang]

So we're in the finals!

Hammond Witser vs. Laskey-Alessi 60SYMPH

I decided to make this a four part finals to represent various aspects of playing - if you're interested please feel free to check it out!

https://www.williamlang.org/mouthpiece- ... s-2025.php

Thanks to all that participated or came along for the ride! It was a fun little project, and I learned some interested stuff while doing it.

[Savio]

When listening to take 3 it's obvious where the difference is. William, what do you think your self? And what do you think about a regular Bach 5g?

[WilliamLang]

I have noticed that a lot of the "battles" would have gone differently in front of a live audience - there seems to be a significant difference in what people listen for on recordings vs. what they listen to live. Also - my instagram is locked, and is mostly industry people and trombone students, while my youtube is open to the public at large. There was a larger preference from the more general public for mouthpieces that had strong articulation and "punch" vs. a more rounded and classically american based orchestral sound. I think the Witser did the best job of splitting the difference.

[Retrobone]

Hi. How would the specs/ feel of the Hammond Witser compare to the 11ml? Presuming you've tried or own an 11ml of course...

[WilliamLang]

So the specs for a Hammond Wister are: a Shilke 51 rim on a Bach 5G cup, with a .271 backbone, which I believe would make it a little smaller than the 11ml.

[harrisonreed]

There was a larger preference from the more general public for mouthpieces that had strong articulation and "punch" vs. a more rounded and classically american based orchestral sound.

But we trombonists will continue to ignore the general public, gosh darn it! What do they know?!