I recently started experimenting with making some trumpet calls, a call that I have not yet attempted to try to make. Of all of the trumpets that I have seen on here the mouthpieces are all made of either corian, buffalo horn, deer antler, ivory, or acrylic. Is wood not a good material for the mouthpieces? I only ask this because the first two trumpets that I made both had wood mouthpieces & both sounded kinda flat. The next two that I made had mouthpieces that I made out of acrylic & they provided a more crisp sound, although there were a few other variables involved as well. Any input is greatly appreciated.
Derrick.
I think the wood would absorb moisture and make the call swell or crack. Never tried to use a wood mouthpiece.
TRKYHTR
Depends on the wood. The first two I made had wood mouth pieces, but I used a dense wood and they sounded just fine. I heard one over the weekend with a wenge mouthpiece and it was awesome
Just pick your wood wisely, some woods are great for acoustics others notso much. Also remember your m.p. will be thin walled so it will not take much to crack it.
Just experiment, its how new ideas are developed.
I've never tried wood either. I'm kind of a clean freak and the thought of what grows in wood (mold) when it gets wet would keep me from ever using it even if it was the best.
CW
The short term use and the time it has to dry would not worry me about any bacteria.
Ivory, horn, antler is a natural material subject to the same mold and rot. And they have blood and more in there makeup.
And then there is the mouth call :newmascot:
A cane yelper has a wood m.p.
Thanks for the input guys. Maybe I'll continue to experiment with wood a little, but probably mostly just stick with acrylics. As soon as I can I'll try to get some pics of one of mine up on here as well as a video clip of me playing it for some constructive criticism as far as sound.
I've tried wood for mouth pieces on a few. After I drilled them I filled them with CA glue and let them dry, then re-drilled. I also sealed the outside with CA. I have done this with both Bocote and Cocobolo and have never had a problem. I wouldn't know where to get buffalo horn anyway. Can somebody tell me ?
Here you go.
TRKYHTR
http://www.guitarpartsandmore.com/
Penn state industries has buff horn also
Thanks for the link, I'll have to order some and try it.
Thanks again for the input guys. I started to make another trumpet today out of oak, basically just experimenting with different variables. All of the trumpets that I have made so far had a tenon on the mouthpiece that would fit into a hole that I had drilled into the call barrel, but this one I am going to try to fit the mouthpiece to the barrel using a bottleneck piece of 8mm mauser brass. Also this next one is drilled out using 8 different sized drill bits compared to the four that all of my previous calls had been drilled out with, as well as having a mouthpiece made of deer antler.
Please post pics when you get them done, we all want to see 'em.