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Thread: Modified the weight of my Demondrae mouthpiece

  1. #11
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Hidden Valley, AZ
    Posts
    1,034
    When electroplating metals, one needs to go up the 'noble' metal scale. Gold is at the top.

    For example when plating steel, one needs to go first to Copper, then Nickle or another metal.

    When plating brass one can go right to silver, but for Gold the Silver has to be done beforehand.

    In the jewelry trade, this is known as vermeil.

  2. The medium weight Demondrae has arrived. There definitely is a sweet spot for mouthpiece weight. The weight seems to add stability (especially noticeable in the higher range). To much weight reduces "openness" though.

    This medium weight (again created by Ken Titmus) seems to fit me best. For my ears the lighter weight is (almost) too open, resulting in a overly brilliant sound in the high range. Also the slots became really wide on the light one.

    The Medium weight mpc reduces some of the brightness, but is not as heavy as the original where coloring of the sound is more difficult.

    I'll play both mouthpieces for a while before I settle on one. But first impressions are that the medium weight fits me best.


    Weights of the mouthpieces are:

    Original: 201 grams
    Medium: 175 grams
    Light: 151 grams

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	DT.jpg 
Views:	25 
Size:	1.11 MB 
ID:	9528
    Euphonium: Adams E3 Custom Series (SS Bell)
    Trombone: Benge 175F


  3. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by John Morgan View Post
    Now that is really interesting. I have a silver and a gold Demondrae. Don't know what would happen to the gold, except I suppose you would have to get it plated again after the modification.

    What did you have to do to the silver piece? Anything after the removal?

    I use the silver Demondrae for my trombone. I suppose I could have that modified and see how I like it for both the trombone and euphonium. I live just an hour away from Ken Titmus, so that would be handy. I love my Demondrae piece, and I do wonder if I need or should pursue this.

    interesting that you use a Demondrae on Trombone. I’ve tried it, and I find that the large throat on that MP doesn’t work for me on trombone. My articulations are too floofy with that. So I had Warburton make me an ST-7 (same inner cup diameter) with Demondrae’s rim. I use that with a #2 backbore and it mates well with my Shires. Demondrae agrees that his piece isn’t optimal on trombone.

    Don

  4. #14
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Location
    Summerfield, Florida Sturgis, SD (summers)
    Posts
    1,867
    Quote Originally Posted by djwpe View Post
    interesting that you use a Demondrae on Trombone. I’ve tried it, and I find that the large throat on that MP doesn’t work for me on trombone. My articulations are too floofy with that. So I had Warburton make me an ST-7 (same inner cup diameter) with Demondrae’s rim. I use that with a #2 backbore and it mates well with my Shires. Demondrae agrees that his piece isn’t optimal on trombone.

    Don
    Using the Demondrae on trombone was a total fluke for me. I had that piece with me at the 2019 ITEC and was playing some euphoniums in the Adams/ACB room. When Miel pops up with their new trombone, the Adams TB-1. So I played that with the only mouthpiece I had, my silver Demondrae. I liked it! Not just a little, a bunch. The low register was the absolute best I have played on any trombone. The F section of the TB-1 is very free blowing. The low Eb is just exactly like the F above it without the trigger. Same timbre, same everything, except it is a different note. I played it for a long while. Then I came back the next day to do it again, and I liked it just as much. I ended up buying that exact trombone from Miel/ACB at the end of the conference.

    When I got home, I tried the TB-1 trombone with all of my trombone mouthpieces. I liked the Demondrae mp the best. I had an Edwards Alessi model at home and I liked the Adams better, so I sold the Alessi model. That trombone never quite worked out for me, no matter how hard I tried. But the Adams TB-1 with the standard Demondrae mouthpiece is an absolute great fit for me. How handy to use the exact same mouthpiece for euphonium and trombone. Those are the two instruments that I spend virtually all my playing time on.

    I have to admit, this is not the outcome I would have expected with the Demondrae mouthpiece on my tenor trombone. I may do a short video of that set up sometime down the road. I guess it is somewhat relevant to this forum as it is a euphonium mouthpiece being used on both a euphonium and trombone. Maybe I should play both instruments back-to-back on the same excerpt(s) with the Demondrae mouthpiece used exclusively for both.
    John Morgan
    The U.S. Army Band (Pershing's Own) 1971-1976
    Adams E3 Custom Series Euphonium, 1956 B&H Imperial Euphonium,
    1973 F. E. Olds & Son Studio Model T-31 Baritone
    Adams TB1 Tenor Trombone, Yamaha YBL-822G Bass Trombone
    Year Round Except Summer:
    Kingdom of the Sun (KOS) Concert Band, Ocala, FL (Euphonium)
    KOS Brass Quintet (Trombone, Euphonium)
    Summer Only:
    Rapid City Municipal Band, Rapid City, SD (Euphonium)
    Rapid City New Horizons Band (Euphonium)

  5. #15
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Location
    Netherlands
    Posts
    338
    Quote Originally Posted by DutchEupho View Post
    The medium weight Demondrae has arrived. There definitely is a sweet spot for mouthpiece weight. The weight seems to add stability (especially noticeable in the higher range). To much weight reduces "openness" though.

    This medium weight (again created by Ken Titmus) seems to fit me best. For my ears the lighter weight is (almost) too open, resulting in a overly brilliant sound in the high range. Also the slots became really wide on the light one.

    The Medium weight mpc reduces some of the brightness, but is not as heavy as the original where coloring of the sound is more difficult.

    I'll play both mouthpieces for a while before I settle on one. But first impressions are that the medium weight fits me best.


    Weights of the mouthpieces are:

    Original: 201 grams
    Medium: 175 grams
    Light: 151 grams

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	DT.jpg 
Views:	25 
Size:	1.11 MB 
ID:	9528
    Quite interesting that you kinda made an SM-series shape in the end for your medium weight version! I guess Denis Wick and Steven Mead were onto something one way or another back in the 90s with that kind of shape.

  6. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by John Morgan View Post
    Using the Demondrae on trombone was a total fluke for me. I had that piece with me at the 2019 ITEC and was playing some euphoniums in the Adams/ACB room. When Miel pops up with their new trombone, the Adams TB-1. So I played that with the only mouthpiece I had, my silver Demondrae. I liked it! Not just a little, a bunch. The low register was the absolute best I have played on any trombone. The F section of the TB-1 is very free blowing. The low Eb is just exactly like the F above it without the trigger. Same timbre, same everything, except it is a different note. I played it for a long while. Then I came back the next day to do it again, and I liked it just as much. I ended up buying that exact trombone from Miel/ACB at the end of the conference.

    When I got home, I tried the TB-1 trombone with all of my trombone mouthpieces. I liked the Demondrae mp the best. I had an Edwards Alessi model at home and I liked the Adams better, so I sold the Alessi model. That trombone never quite worked out for me, no matter how hard I tried. But the Adams TB-1 with the standard Demondrae mouthpiece is an absolute great fit for me. How handy to use the exact same mouthpiece for euphonium and trombone. Those are the two instruments that I spend virtually all my playing time on.

    I have to admit, this is not the outcome I would have expected with the Demondrae mouthpiece on my tenor trombone. I may do a short video of that set up sometime down the road. I guess it is somewhat relevant to this forum as it is a euphonium mouthpiece being used on both a euphonium and trombone. Maybe I should play both instruments back-to-back on the same excerpt(s) with the Demondrae mouthpiece used exclusively for both.
    My custom Warburton 7ST feels identical to my demondrae on my face, so it’s the same result. In fact, I like the rim shape so much, I had Greg Black replicate the shape for me on a 1-1/4 G for Bass trombone.

    Don

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