Making a STERLING SILVER Custom Trumpet Mouthpiece

Most trumpet mouthpieces are made out of brass and sometimes steel or other materials like plastic. Rarely are they made out of a precious metal like silver because of how expensive it is combined with how difficult it is to work with. In this video we show you a special mouthpiece we made for a client of ours who wanted his rim shape carved in solid sterling silver. It was a challenging project but the rim turned out perfect and the client was extremely happy with the result!
Learn more: bobreeves.com

[@arresonance]

So much respect for proper hand made mouthpieces!

[@bobreevesbrass]

Thank you so much, anrapa!

[@music-collective]

It is fascinating to me to watch this process. 👏

[@bobreevesbrass]

Thank you, Piotr!

[@stewartbrass]

Nice!

[@bobreevesbrass]

Thank you, Robb!

[@teammosin9999]

sweet!!

[@harrisonreed8718]

Is the mouthpiece held in some sort of morse taper adapter in the lathe chuck? If so, it doesn't work it's way out from lateral forces?

[@Garrett901]

Nice work!
Where do you obtain your sterling silver bar stock!

[@bobreevesbrass]

Thank you, Jeffrey! We either melt the sterling ourselves or use a precious metal supplier like Rio Grande or Pyromet.

[@marloncirculado3973]

You have m.piece for progress bugle?

[@joshwagner7193]

Was there a specific reason they went with sterling as a material? Was it sound? Feel? I know bronze rims or bronze underparts can make a difference after playing a few from Jeff Parke. I also play on Bach Sterling Silver Plus Bb and C trumpets.

[@bobreevesbrass]

Hi Josh, The sterling is about 25% denser than brass so you get the feeling of the extra weight without adding volume or thickness to the blank shape. The sterling rings more than the brass does adding colors to the sound.

[@joshwagner7193]

@@bobreevesbrass Great to know. Is this something you will be offering on other mouthpieces in the future?

[@bobreevesbrass]

@@joshwagner7193 Yes, we are making trumpet and trombone rims out of sterling silver. We've made a complete trombone mouthpiece out of sterling silver and are working on offering a full trumpet mouthpiece in the near future.

[@bradleyabraham6231]

What is the tool that you to make the bowl of the mouthpiece?

[@bobreevesbrass]

Thanks for your question! It's a form tool that makes that shape.

[@adammaas4259]

What brand of lathe do you use?

[@bobreevesbrass]

We have a few. Our original lathe is a Logan, but we also have 3 Hardinge lathes.