Originally Posted by
bbocaner
Dave's right that it isn't inexpensive, though, unfortunately!
I've discovered that this depends on how you measure the expense.
If you compare the cost of one of Doug's mouthpieces to a number of other high-quality major brand (or even boutique brand) mouthpieces, then Doug's are "not inexpensive".
If you compare the cost of one of Doug's mouthpieces to the half-dozen mouthpieces you bought in a futile attempt to find "the one" before giving up and going to Doug, then Doug's turns out to be a bargain (or would have if you'd just started with it in that case).
Not that I don't have some non-DE mouthpieces that I like very much. But I've had probably two dozen that didn't work out for me, and I've not had one of Doug's that didn't. Still, most of us can't resist the lure of experimentation and adventure.
One thing that might be considered in this case is having Doug modify your existing favorite mouthpiece to take his screw shanks, and then just swapping shanks as needed. This is still "not inexpensive" -- but you have to evaluate the true cost as an increment relative to the alternatives, and the true benefit as a comparison to the results in the alternative cases. I have this approach for one of Doug's mouthpieces that I use on my Mac Brass euph (large shank) and my Amati oval euph (Euro medium shank).
Gary Merrill
Wessex EEb Bass tuba (DW 3XL or 2XL)
Mack Brass Compensating Euph (DE N106, Euph J, J9 euph)
Amati Oval Euph (DE 104, Euph J, J6 euph)
1924 Buescher 3-valve Eb tuba (with std US receiver), Kelly 25
Schiller American Heritage 7B clone bass trombone (DE LB K/K10/112/14 Lexan, Brass Ark MV50R)
1947 Olds "Standard" trombone (Olds #3)