Arrived home yesterday to find a nice shiny new Sparx 4 cornet mouthpiece waiting for me.
I don't claim to be the finest cornet player in the world ever, or an expert in the realms of all things mouthpiecey. Rather, I'm a standard player who works hard, and my opinions should be taken from that point of view.
Having started with a VB7C, and played that for several years, about 5 years ago I switched to a DW4. After some work with this, I found an improvement in the sound I was making, and settled on a deep, broad sound that I found pleasing, and was happy with.
When I saw the arrival of the Sparx range, I decided to go for it and get one - as I'd be unlikely to come across any in general circulation. The mouthpieces are produced in Canada for Brass Band playing. So I ordered a Sparx 4 cornet mouthpiece to try out. As I said, it arrived yesterday, and I had my first blow through at rehearsal this morning.
On first impressions, it seemed long and heavy. There's a booster-like solidity to it about the backbore. It also has a slightly wider rim than the DW. It's also a deal shallower, having a standard depth, instead of the deep cup DW4. I would describe the cup shape as V though - certainly nothing as round as a VB
On playing it through a rehearsal - I found it to have a softer rim bite than the DW. Also the shallower cup made some difference to my sound, but not unpleasently so. The higher register was easier, although the very low wasn't as full. I also found it to be easy to play - not being as tired after rehersal as normal (although I will need more sessions to test this)
Overall, a super mouthpiece - great across the range, and good for intonation (it plays fine no matter how you bend the note) I won't be giving up my DW4 completely, for some pieces I might need the extra breadth of tone, but I'll be using the Sparx a lot.
Also comes in 2 and 3 sizes, being wider, and also in a "DV" mode (deep V)
Very good service from Canada. Only thing is it's not cheap ($90+$10 shipping) No idea what that is in sterling.
Would recommend it
www.sparxmusic.com
I don't claim to be the finest cornet player in the world ever, or an expert in the realms of all things mouthpiecey. Rather, I'm a standard player who works hard, and my opinions should be taken from that point of view.
Having started with a VB7C, and played that for several years, about 5 years ago I switched to a DW4. After some work with this, I found an improvement in the sound I was making, and settled on a deep, broad sound that I found pleasing, and was happy with.
When I saw the arrival of the Sparx range, I decided to go for it and get one - as I'd be unlikely to come across any in general circulation. The mouthpieces are produced in Canada for Brass Band playing. So I ordered a Sparx 4 cornet mouthpiece to try out. As I said, it arrived yesterday, and I had my first blow through at rehearsal this morning.
On first impressions, it seemed long and heavy. There's a booster-like solidity to it about the backbore. It also has a slightly wider rim than the DW. It's also a deal shallower, having a standard depth, instead of the deep cup DW4. I would describe the cup shape as V though - certainly nothing as round as a VB
On playing it through a rehearsal - I found it to have a softer rim bite than the DW. Also the shallower cup made some difference to my sound, but not unpleasently so. The higher register was easier, although the very low wasn't as full. I also found it to be easy to play - not being as tired after rehersal as normal (although I will need more sessions to test this)
Overall, a super mouthpiece - great across the range, and good for intonation (it plays fine no matter how you bend the note) I won't be giving up my DW4 completely, for some pieces I might need the extra breadth of tone, but I'll be using the Sparx a lot.
Also comes in 2 and 3 sizes, being wider, and also in a "DV" mode (deep V)
Very good service from Canada. Only thing is it's not cheap ($90+$10 shipping) No idea what that is in sterling.
Would recommend it
www.sparxmusic.com
