I'm new to bass trombone but I've been playing tenor for 25 years. I recently bought a King 6B to get started on bass. It came with a Waburton 6B with #2 backbore (the mouthpiece shank screws on the cup/rim combo). I didn't really know what to make of that mouthpiece and I could not really tell if it is a large tenor piece or a bass piece. I bought a Marcinkiewicz 1.5G and started playing that - because 1.5G seems to be the default for beginner bass trombonists these days and it looked cool. It seems to work OK.

Today I looked a bit more into the Waburton and did some research on rim diameters, etc. I noticed that I really don't know what's going on with mouthpiece sizes, especially bass mouthpieces. Tending towards being a data driven person, this made me nervous :) The Waburton seems to be a proper bass mouthpiece, just with a smaller rim diameter, the cup is almost as deep as the 1.5G the backbore is even larger. One thing that surprised me though is how much variability there is in the specs of different 1.5G mouthpieces across different manufacturers. In the past I used to believe in "Bach equivalent sizes" but they don't really seem to exist.

On tenor I have settled on Doug Elliott LT mouthpices, I play a 102 rim and different cups / shanks to match the instrument (G Cup, G8 shank on large bore).

I guess my question is: Is the Marcinkiewicz 1.5G a decent starting point for the King 6B and a beginning bass player or should I look at something else? Nothing is broken but I want to make sure I am not making it artificially hard on myself :)

I'm not specifically familiar with the Marc. 1.5G but it should be a decent place for you to start.

And I have no idea what the Warburton is like.

I've found a longer shank Schilke 58 works pretty well for me in that horn (also coming from tenor as an occasional player). It's going to be a little smaller than a 1.5 variation but still a bass piece. YMMV.

I just got a Duo Gravis too. I've been playing tenor for a while, and dabbling in bass. I'm using a Curry 2.0 D or a DE MB 108 J8. If you're already using a DE, you could just get a DE for bass too.

The Marcinkiewicz 1.5g should be a really good mouthpiece for that horn too. The Schilke 58 is also a good suggestion. "1.5" is more of a philosophical measurement rather than a real physical measurement. To most people it's considered a middle-of-the-road kind of size. It is said that the DG was designed around the 1.5g size. That Warburton is a big tenor, maybe like a 4G. It would work in the DG, but it would wind up sounding like a tenor, not a bass.

The DG isn't really mouthpiece sensitive, but it will give you different results from different mouthpieces. I used a tenor piece, and it played like a tenor. The bigger the mouthpiece, the bigger the sound you can get. But you can still get the low notes with even a 2G. So what mouthpiece you select depends on what you want the horn to do and what you think your chops can handle.

I keep getting bigger with mine. Started with a King 29 then 2G, then moved to a Stork 1.5 now I’m using a Schilke 59. I do like the 59.

The Marcinkiewicz 1.5G is what used to be the GR (George Roberts) Model. It isn't designed after the Bach 1.5G, it was just an easy comparison for players looking for something in that size range once the GR name was no longer available.

The Marcinkiewicz are a great shank fit to the large bore King leadpipes. The Kings have a slightly larger receiver and most mouthpieces go too deep, causing pitch and response issues. The below photo is a Marcinkiewicz 11*BS in a 4B slide.



Cheers,

Graham Middleton

The Warburton you have should be the diameter of a Bach 3G (roughly) with their deep bass cup, which I imagine is going to be quite V-shaped (as the M, D and ST cups are). It might also work on euphonium...

A 4B top would be a better place to start for bass trombone playing in their (2-piece) lineup.

The 2 backbore is their middle of the road offering of 3, and not a bad start if you pursue an appropriate top for your chops. 1 is smaller and 3 is larger.

Warburton also has one-piece models with Bach like numbering available.

The instrument was designed in conjunction with Alan Raph who played a Bach 1 and 1/2G. Doesn't mean that you have to use that size however. I'd say that the Curry and Doug Elliot recommendations are a good place to start. But as you already have the Marc 1.5 I'd just go with that and see where it takes you. Whatever you chose stick with it for awhile.