TromboneChat

I play on a Yamaha 613h bass bone from the late 80`s and my mouthpiece is a Yamaha 58. Ive been playing bass for about 3 months now and would like to upgrade to something a little bit bigger. Any advice of a mouthpiece I should look into getting, I also know not all mouthpieces work well on Yamahas.

Why do you feel you need something bigger? The Yamaha 58 is a good size for a beginner. I would want you to stay on that size for at least a year.

There are larger sized mouthpieces, but many will reduce your upper range and your parts routinely can go to A4 (A, 3 lines above the bass staff). If you go to too large a mouthpiece you may discover that you can't play any notes above the bass staff in tune.

Now if your private teacher tells you it's time to go to a larger mouthpiece, by all means go to one. No private teacher? Get one. Much better than a mouthpiece you aren't ready for.

Not knowing anything about you, if you were to go larger, I would recommend borrowing or buying a used Bach 1 1/4G or Schilke 58, which should be a size larger than what you're currently on. Right now, the most important things is finding the correct rim diameter for your face. Then you can work on fine tuning a particular mouthpiece to yourself and to your horn.

My rule of thumb for bass trombone mouthpieces is that if you don't have either the range or stamina to play your Rochut/Tyrell/Kopprasch etc etudes in the regular tenor trombone octave, then you're probably over-geared. Obviously even for a pretty strong player it'll be harder to play those high etudes but it should at least be *possible*.

Take a good hard look at most bass trombone parts in your orchestra/concert band/big band, chances are you'll see as many or more ledger lines above the staff as below. Aim for the middle, that's where you'll do most of your playing anyway.

The Yamaha 59 is a bit bigger, and is also a great mouthpiece for that horn. A Faxx 1 1/2G might also work well, however the throat will be a bit smaller, while the cup and rim will be bigger. I played a 1 1/2G for at least the first year or so that I was playing bass trombone. It's a great starting point, as it isn't quite as open as the 58, and for many years was THE bass trombone mouthpiece.

I played on a Yamaha 613H back in the early Nineties when I believe they first came out and mine came with a Yamaha 59 , superb Bass Trombones with a great range and sound with that Heavy Gold Brass Bell. I tried all the varying mouthpiece combinations back then, and found the Denis Wick 0AL traditional worked great in all the ranges, I also found there was just the correct amount of resistance to help sustain long notes at mid volume. This mouthpiece is larger than the Yamaha 58 but is close to a 59.

58 = 26.87 Cup Dia - 7.25 Bore
DW = 27.40 Cup Dia - 7.50 Bore ( Barrel )

Definitely worth a try....... I still have that very Horn, it's in mint condition from 1990 if I recall.
The last show I used it on was the Broadway musical "Titanic", it worked really great on that, nice dark Conn sound.

Hope this helps.....

JohnOsterloh wrote: ↑Thu Mar 06, 2025 1:39 pm I play on a Yamaha 613h bass bone from the late 80`s and my mouthpiece is a Yamaha 58. Ive been playing bass for about 3 months now and would like to upgrade to something a little bit bigger. Any advice of a mouthpiece I should look into getting, I also know not all mouthpieces work well on Yamahas.

Strange thing about Yamaha is their mouthpieces seems to be like Schilke. But they are not. Actually the yamaha number is one size smaller than Schilke. So 59 Yamaha is like 58 Schilke. Or 1 1/2 size. 58 are like a 2g.

Leif

Thank you for all the replies, this helps a ton. I might stay on the mouthpiece for a little bit longer but I wanted something larger because my pedals are lacking. My middle and upper range is fine!

I can play pedals on any of my tenors with the equivalent of a Bach 4C mouthpiece. The size of your Yamaha 58 is not the limiting factor.

BGuttman wrote: ↑Sat Mar 08, 2025 3:50 pm I can play pedals on any of my tenors with the equivalent of a Bach 4C mouthpiece. The size of your Yamaha 58 is not the limiting factor.

Bruce, this is not helpful. I guarantee you can't play pedals the way a bass trombonist needs to on a 4C.

The Yamaha 58 is a very small bass trombone mouthpiece. Try a Yamaha 59.

GabrielRice wrote: ↑Sat Mar 08, 2025 4:31 pm

BGuttman wrote: ↑Sat Mar 08, 2025 3:50 pm I can play pedals on any of my tenors with the equivalent of a Bach 4C mouthpiece. The size of your Yamaha 58 is not the limiting factor.

Bruce, this is not helpful. I guarantee you can't play pedals the way a bass trombonist needs to on a 4C.

The Yamaha 58 is a very small bass trombone mouthpiece. Try a Yamaha 59.

I played bass trombone on a 1½G and a Marcinkiewicz 2 (GR) as well as my Doug Elliott setup. I had good pedals down to an F (didn't have to go any lower). I just don't buy going to a toilet bowl size mouthpiece to play pedals and losing control over anything above the bass staff. I've seen this with too many kids.

Also note that OP has not been on bass trombone that long. You can't become George Roberts in a few months.

Bruce: Notice how neither of us suggested a "toilet bowl-sized" mouthpiece, only options which are a step larger in size. He's getting good advice from this community. However, the "stick with the mouthpiece longer and just try harder" approach isn't always helpful. We know nothing about this person or their knowledge/skill level.

A Yamaha 59 is a good and logical choice. I used one for a little while on a Yamaha 613H and a Bach 50B3O.

I play bass trombone professionally and teach at the high school, college, graduate school level and beyond. The Yamaha 58 is an extremely small bass trombone mouthpiece.

He didn't say he couldn't play in the pedal register but that it's lacking, and it's entirely reasonable to go a step larger to a 59 to help with the project of playing bass trombone.