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Warning: a description of non-sanctioned mouthpiece use follows.

There is a local bluegrass music jam that I enjoy attending when I can. Good folk, no grandstanders, and always a couple of new tunes. There is no regular bass player so I sometimes bring a tuba. The participants have told me that having a solid bass line helps and they actually enjoy seeing me show up with it. This weekend I didn’t feel like schlepping a tuba along with my mandolin, so I took my euphonium equipped with my newly acquired Shallowberger.

I found it a delightful combination. The tone of the Shallowberger on the euph is round, full, and very characteristically “tubaish.” It’s like I would hope a French tuba would sound (except I rarely hear them sound that way). The sound and response are way better than what I would get from a bass trombone mouthpiece. The attacks are very crisp and I didn’t notice any problematic intonation issues.

I seem to recall Joe saying that he did not design this to be a “tenor tuba” mouthpiece. I’m not sure of this and didn’t feel like wading through a bunch of old posts, so please forgive me if I got that wrong. Anyway, for me at least, it is the best “tenor tuba” mouthpiece I have ever encountered. If Joe wants to confiscate it for non-sanctioned use he’s going to have to drive north and fight me for it- after I make him a nice supper, first.

Interesting.

I personally have had the best luck using oversized mouthpieces on euphonium when they were the same length as a trombone mouthpiece. I guess I'll have to try it out and see what my results are.

Really enjoying the Sellmansberg II in my Yamaha 621 F tuba clone. I am going to use this setup in some quintet gigs later this fall (will likely be doing an A-B-C test between this, my Eastman 4/4, and my Boosey & Hawkes 15" Eb, which is pretty similar, timbrally, to this instrument).

I feel like the Sellmansberg offers just a bit more bass frequency than the Imperial (and certainly the Solo), so it's like playing a tiny little C tuba.

@bloke , I love mine. They're easily the most nimble mouthpieces I've tried- and I've tried a bunch.

If I want my F tuba to just sound like a "tuba", that mouthpiece does the trick.

I just thought I would weigh in (at the weight of an Eastman Eb) and say that the Sellmansberg II has become my go-to mouthpiece for ensemble playing on my Eastman Eb. I still prefer the Imperial for solo work, but the Sell II gives the EBE enough extra low-end oomph to really fill out the quintet sound, supporting the other players but still allowing me to be as nimble as I'm currently able. The whole quintet sounds better since I switched.

It's also a fun mouthpiece for when I want to make my Eastman fulfill my sousaphone dreams on a trad jazz gig -- it's got a lot of headroom!

Incidentally, if you're ever considering making an Imperial out of brass, I think that would be a nice tone color for that mouthpiece profile too.

Thanks.

For me, it works pretty well on my compact Holton B-flat (York 4/4 size - slightly smaller than Eastman or new-style King B-flat).

I've also found that - If I absolutely want to kill all the characteristic F tuba resonance (and just get a "generic" tuba sound) - I works well on my F tuba, yet without screwing up the tuning.

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the "Shallowberger" one...
Every time I pick up the cimbasso now (each time: sort of forgetting...) I giggle, because it plays that instrument so amazingly well.
When I'm running through pieces that I'm scheduled to play (with that instrument) and peek over at the tuner, it's nearly always dead center...(and not because my ear is "amazing" (my ear is only "pretty good", because I work really hard at it), it's because the instrument and that mouthpiece are so well-matched.

Will there be another run of Shallowbergers made?

GC wrote: ↑Mon Oct 16, 2023 8:59 pm Will there be another run of Shallowbergers made?

Probably after a little while, but I think I might have a couple left.