Model MT Cup

A modern, purpose-build mouthpiece for Alexander Mainz Wagner Tubas, commissioned by players of the Met Opera.

After working with our standard mouthpiece line, our friends at the Met openly wondered if a mouthpiece could address some of the challenges with their Wagner Tubas.  As nice as they were by Wagner tuba standards they played with some funky intonation and a challenging out-of-control feeling.

I rented a set of Alex tubas and got to work.  The first task was taming the inaccurate octaves of the F tuba, with open F having 20 cent wide octaves between the 2nd and 8th partials but low C being 30 cents narrow.  Balancing prominence with cup depth I was able to bring that back in line.

The next item was to figure out how to let them be efficient and in control in the lower register.  On regular Alexanders I traditionally specify a narrow back bore to balance their larger leadpipe openings, but on these a very wide back bore gave the flexibility to put the pitch where it needed to be without the aid of the right hand in the bell.  The tricky bit was finding the balance of secure slots but allowing the pitch flexibility needed.

Then it was all down to balancing the bore size itself.  Too big and the Bb tuba lacked efficiency and felt dull.  Too small and the F tuba couldn't growl out those nasty Die Frau ohne Schatten passages like it needs to. A #14 with all the above parameters got the job done and these are now generally available!

#14 bore, deep cup with an extended blank.