The Wessex Euphonium mouthpiece

[euphdude]

When I got my Wessex Dolce a while ago, it came with a very curious looking mouthpiece. I've played it on and off since I got it, and I think it is a very nice euphonium mouthpiece. A few random thoughts:

• It looks JUST like the Steven Mead Ultra series. If you didn't notice a slightly different hue to the gold plating from the very distinctive Wick gold, they would be indistinguishable from a distance of just a few feet in appearance.
• Wessex informed me that this is not a gold plated mouthpiece, but a gold titanium piece. It is very slippery and feels like gold to me.
• It is labeled as a 5G, but it feels like a Wick 4. It has a rather deep cup, similar to the Wick 4U.
• I think it is a better piece than the Ultra 4U or 4X. Richer tone than both. It blows similarly to the 4U.
• I prefer the freer blowing 4AL and Carbonaria to this piece however. If you want a slightly more centered sound, this might be just the ticket.
• In my Dolce, it rocks slightly even when firmly inserted into the instrument. None of my other mouthpieces do this...a receiver flaw perhaps or maybe some uneveness on the edge of the shank?

Overall, I'm very impressed with the mouthpiece. This isn't your typical paperweight mouthpiece that many manufacturers include with the instrument. I think it is a very legit euphonium mouthpiece.

[dsurkin]

A titanium mouthpiece? G & W sell titanium mouthpieces (which reportedly feel a bit like gold-plated brass), and the price is about $345. How can they afford to include that with a horn that retails for about $1,500? If they have a source for inexpensive titanium mouthpieces, I'd sure like to try one just to see what they're like.

[euphdude]

Yes, they described it as a gold titanium piece. I've never seen/played a G&W titanium piece before, but this has a finish unlike any I've seen. It has the slippery feel of gold, but it does not have the smooth mirror like look of the Wicks. The appearance is somewhere in between a polished look and a satin type of look. If these were manufactured in China, perhaps that is how they can include these with instruments that are already priced on the low side.

[CEBunker]

If it's a low cost Chinese mouthpiece, I would be cautious about using it. Heavy metal contamination could be possible.

[cognitofalcon]

Nah, I'm pretty sure Wessex wouldn't include garbage like that with their instruments.

[Jrpetty24]

Gold titanium may just refer to the plating. See here http://www.housermouthpiece.net/h-ko...m-coating.html
It could be something like this. I had a cheap mouthpiece a while ago that had a gold look alike finish on it and felt just as good, but did not last anywhere near as long.

[euphdude]

You might be right. This piece sure doesn't feel any lighter than the Ultra Wicks and titanium is supposedly much lighter

Gold titanium may just refer to the plating. See here http://www.housermouthpiece.net/h-ko...m-coating.html
It could be something like this. I had a cheap mouthpiece a while ago that had a gold look alike finish on it and felt just as good, but did not last anywhere near as long.

[jimdd]

I have had my Dolce for a month now and it came with a Wessex 4B. Polished gold finish, quite heavy. I have tried 4abl Heritage before we traded and now the 4al and its a tossup between the 4al and Wessex 4B. They both south great, I seem to have a better upper range with the 4B but not by much. The Heritage 4al is much, much lighter and feels smoother on the lips. The snob factor says I should use the 4al but I think I like the Wessex by a smitch.

Jim

You might be right. This piece sure doesn't feel any lighter than the Ultra Wicks and titanium is supposedly much lighter

[NealB]

My Wessex Dolce came with a similar sounding mouthpiece, although it was marked 4E. Jonathan from Wessex mentioned that it was indeed most similar to the SM4U. I liked it quite a bit and may yet switch back. I bought the Kadja mostly just out of curiosity. I stuck with it for the added comfort and endurance. My community band practices most weeks for two hours with no break so it helps with that, but my slotting is definitely better with the Wessex mouthpiece.

[Jonathantuba]

Let me clarify that the mouthpiece is titanium gold plated over brass. This has the feel of gold, but is much harder wearing.

Wessex now includes titanium gold plated mouthpieces with most of our horns, although silver is still usually available on request.

For the euphonium mouthpiece, like every aspects of Wessex we are continuously trying to improve, so there has been a couple of different ones included with the Dolce. We are presently developing a revolutionary new mouthpiece in collaboration with Dr Frederick Young (which I am visiting next week) to potentially include in the future and sell separately.

[bbocaner]

You can't really plate titanium onto anything, it's exceedingly difficult to do electroplating of titanium. Typically you are talking about a coating of vapor deposited titanium nitride. Same thing that you see on some gold-colored drill bits and such. The coating is much harder than real gold and has a very similar slick feel to real gold, so it is far superior to gold plating IMO.

[Driftingupward]

I have been using the 5G I got with my Wessex a few months ago and I kind of like it too. I measured it with some calipers and it is both larger and deeper than my Bach 4G that I used in my college days. It did get a chip in the lacquer right where my lip touches it so I'm thinking of going on a hunt for something else...

[DougElliott]

It did get a chip in the lacquer right where my lip touches it

The "superiority" of Titanium Nitride coating ends when you drop it and it dents. Brass is relatively soft and TiN is extremely hard, so it cracks and there's no way to repair it.