Wick mouthpieces

[Mary Ann]

I ended up, so far, using a Wick 5 on the NStar; narrow enough for my face but not incredibly shallow, works quite well for bass tuba in brass band and quartet, both of which have a lot going on in the top half of the staff and above. Browsing the specs, I noted that the cups increase in both width and depth as the numbers go down, but in fairly small increments. Out of curiosity I bought a 4, which is just a tad wider and a tad deeper. I found it takes a tad more air, a tad more focus, is a tad harder to play high on and a tad easier to play low on. And produces a tad deeper tone quality. For some reason this fascinates me that Wicks have the precision this good; I'm kind of impressed with Wicks at this point in time. The 4 has found a home on the Hagen while the 5 still works best on the NStar for what I use it for. I tried a friend's 3 a couple years ago and found it too wide.

I've got some Typical Tuba Cups -- and they are all too wide, except for the JK 8C I have, but I find the Wicks to be easier to play and with possibly better tone with me playing them. I still am waiting on the JK 8E I ordered and will see what I think about that one, but I suspect the Wicks Will Win. I used the 7B when doing oom pah on the 183, and it was fine for that.

Everybody ends up with a box 'o cups.

[GC]

Good choices for your situation.

[donn]

I liked the Wick 5 I had. I appreciate that they make a little broader range of cup sizes that still manage to be real tuba mouthpieces - as Josef Klier does as well. I've been on a JK Exclusive "Classic" series, might be 4A, something like that, and I like it a little more than my plain Exclusive 5A. If you stick to one series, either Exclusive or Exclusive Classic, I believe the geometry is fairly consistent given the selected parameters. That isn't so much the case with Wick - my 2L's cup profile seemed different to me, than the 5.

I'd be interested to hear how the plating holds up, between the two makes. Wick's seemed awfully thin for me, years ago.

[Mary Ann]

The 5, I bought used and it is gold plated, definitely worn to not shiny any more. The 4 is silver and likely will last as long as I do.

[splat]

i have an old wick 1 that used to be gold plated. it’s worn off so now i add some clear nail polish every few weeks to keep my lips happy!

[2nd tenor]

I like the Wick range and now use a 2L on my EEb Tuba; for me the bigger cup energised the fourth valve range and gave a fuller quality to the sound, but YMMV. In my early Eb playing I used a Wick 5 on my three valve instrument, it worked just fine and the upper range above the stave was easier … but I rarely find need to go up there. In even earlier days I got by with a Bass Trombone piece (in a small shank receiver) and it worked fine too, it seems to me that Eb Tubas are very mouthpiece tolerant within the three valve range.

Play the biggest cup that you can manage, and the smallest that’ll do the job - and hope that there’s overlap between the two.

If a Wick 5 /5L fits your face best and sounds good to you then that’s the right one for you.

[Mary Ann]

i have an old wick 1 that used to be gold plated. it’s worn off so now i add some clear nail polish every few weeks to keep my lips happy!

That is a trick I have used too when I started reacting to silver.

[donn]

My Wick 5 alternated between coral lips, and blue. I learned to appreciate the skill of fingernail polish experts, as my freehand results were not so good. The best for me was to apply a ring shaped puddle on some waste plastic or something, and dip the rim.

[cktuba]

Or.... simply buy the silver plated version. I have no idea why DW doesn't silver plate initially before gold plating (like other manufacturers). But, it's a real problem.

[je]

I had no idea that Denis Wick omits silver under the gold plating. That's terrible! Guess who's retiring a gold-plated Denis Wick mouthpiece ASAP.

[donn]

It's news to me, too - but my Wick mouthpieces with the early plating wear were silver plated. Maybe it just seems like the gold has no silver under, because their silver is so thin. Again that was decades ago, different ownership etc.

[cktuba]

It may have changed. But years ago they did not silver plate initially. I had a gold plated 2L and after a few years ended up with a raw brass rim, before I knew that raw brass was harmful. I figured it out pretty quickly though. Do not play on raw brass.

[Mary Ann]

Plating, as I understand it, is not difficult on something like a mouthpiece. I used to know Tom Greer (RIP) who made Moosewood horn mouthpieces. Once when I was at his house, he was silver plating one and had it suspended in a glass of water, maybe with a silver rod and hooked to a D battery or something like that -- not a sophisticated system at all. Seems to me that rather than tossing an expensive mouthpiece because the plating is worn, someone could do a little research and figure out how to replate it yourself. I have several feet of 99.99% silver wire all coiled up somewhere, that I used to make colloidal silver for a while. That kind of metal is available and I'm sure people here both know where to get it and how to plate a mouthpiece.

[donn]

I look forward to reading about it from more informed persons, but one thing even I know - silver plate doesn't normally apply directly to the brass mouthpiece stock, there's a copper "flash" (thin) plate first. That wears off instantly once the silver is gone, so for a good re-plate, you'd have to put the copper back on the brass. It doesn't make quite as much sense to put a copper flash on the remaining silver, but at home I guess that's what you'd have to do. The mouthpiece also has to be made very clean.

[Mary Ann]

So now I've gotten into one of my silly engineer-brain thought trains about mouth width vs optimal cup width. Kind of obvious that those with wider mouths will be able to play wider cups without getting lost in them, and might feel restricted with a narrow cup (although we horn players manage quite a range on horn cups; it's just about how skilled you are at focusing in that tiny space.)

[je]

My assumption, not informed by actual experience, was that depositing a layer of silver over the gold would have adhesion issues. If that turns out to be incorrect, I'll probably give over-plating a shot. Meanwhile I have a silver-plated SM9 on the way... coming from Europe since I couldn't find one in the US.

This past year a CNC toolroom lathe entered my life (in support of high school robotics; my hobbies lean heavily toward wood), and I can't help dreaming about experimenting with mouthpieces. But the lead exposure potential from free-turning brass has me waffling on whether to figure out silver plating, versus working through the additional challenges of turning stainless steel.

[TxTx]

Plating, as I understand it, is not difficult on something like a mouthpiece. I used to know Tom Greer (RIP) who made Moosewood horn mouthpieces. Once when I was at his house, he was silver plating one and had it suspended in a glass of water, maybe with a silver rod and hooked to a D battery or something like that -- not a sophisticated system at all. Seems to me that rather than tossing an expensive mouthpiece because the plating is worn, someone could do a little research and figure out how to replate it yourself. I have several feet of 99.99% silver wire all coiled up somewhere, that I used to make colloidal silver for a while. That kind of metal is available and I'm sure people here both know where to get it and how to plate a mouthpiece.

My late father did a lot of metalworking, sculpture, and jewelry, and I remember him electroplating stuff using a model train transformer with the thing to be plated in a liquid in a big pickle jar. The liquid would need to be some kind if electrolyte so it would conduct. In a quick look at the internet tonight I saw white vinegar mentioned. I also recall him using copper sulfate solution to copper plate things.

[Mary Ann]

The tap water in Phoenix is so hard that it almost qualifies as an electrolyte. Tucson too -- courtesy of the open trough called the Central Arizona Project.

[Pauvog1]

I played a Wick 5 once in Australia on a school band trip (school rented horns for us). I remember it being smaller, but not "bad" at all. I bet it makes a great fit on the N. Star. Glad that is working out! I have played a Wick tuba mouthpiece in about 15 years, but never hated their products. Just moved on to "other stuff".

[je]

I like the Wick range and now use a 2L on my EEb Tuba; for me the bigger cup energised the fourth valve range and gave a fuller quality to the sound, but YMMV.

This comment gave me an excuse to try a 2L as part of a broad search for mouthpieces that work well with my new Eb tuba (Yamaha YEB-632IIS). To my surprise, although the 3SL works well as a solo mouthpiece (beat only by the Robert Tucci RT-64), the 3L does *not* resonate very well, yet the 2L is among the best I tried, beat only by the Robert Tucci RT-65 and Sellmansberger Imperial (#1 rim), which remain in a dead heat for first place.