Mouthpieces Theo Wanne Essentials

[mizmar]

Delivered by Train?

I never asked the van drivers name.

 

[Ivan]

I never asked the van drivers name.

you'd've felt a love supreme

 

[mizmar]

😢

😄

 

[mizmar]

I'm thinking of copying this for the Alto...

Well, finally it arrived.
I did had to hoof up the mountain to pick it up from the post offices as the box (I had added in a reed, new swab, C key pad etc) was too big... Even though the box was mostly good, fresh, German air and scrunched up brown paper (bonus!). An envelope would have done. Anyway...

Totally different baffle to the tenor. I've no idea what that means ... But it'll annoy @Ivan
I'm wondering if the ring is there to stop the (3D printed) neck blowing apart if someone presses it too hard on the cork?

Anyway, haven't had time to play much but it does produce notes, which is nice.

 

[hedgehog]

I have a Theo Wanne Slant Sig 2 hard rubber tenor mouthpiece . It also has that golden band. I know I saw a piece somewhere, years ago, with a crack in that area. Maybe Theo Wanne put it on all their HR pieces, for safety's sake? Looks nice, anyway.

I ordered an Essentials Jazz tenor mouthpiece. It arrived about a week ago and I've played it a few hours. It and the Slant Sig are 7*. I'm an intermediate player at best but I find the Slant Sig and Essentials Jazz play pretty closely. Bell notes speak a bit more easily with the Essentials and palm key intonation is better. The Slant Sig 2 projects more. But there's not a lot of difference.

The surface of the Essentials is pebbly. I thought that would feel strange, but no, it doesn't. The surface in the baffle area has grooves. In photos it looks like ridges, but no, it's grooves.

 

[mizmar]

The surface in the baffle area has grooves.

Yeah - put a photo above of the Tenor Jazz - I thought it interesting that the Alto is smooth with a big drop-off... But I have no idea of this game

 

[greenstripe]

I'm sure that the metal ring was originally to stop hard rubber splitting, however it's now a TW design signature as it also appears on their composite and metal mouthpieces. I think it's a nice aesthetic touch if nothing else.

As an observation (I'm no mouthpiece expert or even a decent player) If you look at the Theo Wanne range, the appearance of a piece with the same name is often a completely different design between alto, tenor and soprano etc.

According to the blurb: the grooves or 'shark gills' as TW calls them are to speed up the airflow over the baffle by use of boundary layer effect.

 

[Ivan]

But it'll annoy @Ivan

😠

 

[Pete Thomas]

I'm sure that the metal ring was originally to stop hard rubber splitting,

Hard rubber mouthpieces have been fine for at least a century with no shank ring. We put a ring on the hard rubber PPT because it was a slimline mouthpiece and was therefore deemed necessary. It was not aesthetic as my original design was without bit Morgan thought it was needed.

 

[Paul_Dennis]

I think the origin of the metal ring goes back to Cannonball Adderley. I understand he had a Meyer where the shank split and it was repaired with a metal ring to give added strength. It now seems to be an aesthetic now, though as Pete says is also necessary for the PPT slimline mouthpiece.

 

[skeller047]

I think the metal ring repair predates Cannonball’s - though I have no proof. It’s very common to find Brilhart Ebolin and Tonalin mouthpieces with these banded shanks as they were very prone to splitting. These were produced starting in the early 1940’s and continuing theough the ‘60s. Theo Wanne’s history of Brilhart pieces notes that some were additionally made in England by ROC, starting in the early 1950’s. These were made with shank bands in place, implying that this repair was well known.