Piggy mouthpiece choice

[royjohn]

I'm enjoying my new-to-me Cerveny Piggy, which is prolly a '90's model. I've tried various mouthpieces in it without deciding any one is much better than the others...I've heard people call these tubas mouthpiece sensitive and I wonder what other people like to play in them.
royjohn
old guy, tuba newbie

[LeMark]

I used both a bach 7 and a sellmansberger symphony with mine

[arpthark]

Glad you found a Pig!

[TheDoctor]

I've owned 2, the last being pre-kranz or something (I'm not very good with piggy vintages); I remember that pig being mp responsive, and my favorite to use on it was a stofer geib in ensembles for velvety organ pipe-like low tuba noises

[bort2.0]

Glad you found a Pig!

Yeah!

How? Where? Seems like they're hard to find these days!

[MikeS]

A band mate of mine a while back sounded great using a Schilke Helleberg on his Piggy. I borrowed it a couple times and thought my Doug Elliott R cup worked well also.

[kingrob76]

I also used an Elliott R or P cup on mine and thought it worked great.

[the elephant]

Hey, Roy!

I used an old Doug Elliott I bought in 1994. It was his setup that was similar to a Conn Helleberg 120, but a tad larger in a few dimensions. I still play it, too.

• R cup
• 4N 132 rim
• R5E shank

He no longer makes shanks with so many backbore/throat options, and I suspect the R5E was one of the ones that disappeared when the line was consolidated. That shank today would probably end up being an RCE or some such.

[royjohn]

arpthark wrote: ↑Sat Mar 25, 2023 9:47 pm
Glad you found a Pig!

bort wrote

Yeah!

How? Where? Seems like they're hard to find these days!

Couldn't find a Piggy in the East and was about to head out to see Chaz Warren's Piggy that he played for years at Disneyland, but a friend pointed out that there was one at Tuba Exchange...seems you don't see all the used items unless you go to the "Used" menu, which I had missed. The TE Piggy was more expensive than Chaz's, but the trip to California was going to take three days and a lot of airport-sitting, two motel nites and a rental car, so I eventually tried the TE horn and came home with it. The total outlay, considering the travel expenses I would have had to California, was about the same. Maxwell (the Piggy) takes a lot more air than Chairman Mao (the 410) and there are a few intonation challenges, most of which can be managed with alternate fingerings and lipping. The horn is lighter and more manageable for this 75 year old, I don't mind the bell being close to my head and I feel the colorful sound is wonderful. So I'm a pretty happy camper for now. It remains to be seen whether I'll catch bort's disease and have to have a different horn every year...or not.

I've tried everything from a Yamaha 65 to a Bobo Symphonique to a Wick 1L in it and for now I am using mostly the Jim Self Yamaha. I don't have any of the mpcs that people have suggested...yet...LOL.
royjohn
tuba newbie