Any bass trombonists use AR Resonance pieces?

[WGWTR180]

I noticed in a current ABQ pic that John Rojak is using an AR Resonance mouthpiece. Anyone else actively using one on bass trombone? Tenor trombonists can chime in too.

[muschem]

I have several AR pieces for both tenor and bass. All of mine were custom designs, so I can't speak to the stock AR designs (I'm sure they're great, though). If you have a piece you want to template or use as a basis for an AR custom, Tony can do a 3d scan and go over the design with you. Tony is absolutely fantastic to work with, and I can't say enough good things about his customer service and attention to detail. I'm planning another order soon.

[WGWTR180]

I have several AR pieces for both tenor and bass. All of mine were custom designs, so I can't speak to the stock AR designs (I'm sure they're great, though). If you have a piece you want to template or use as a basis for an AR custom, Tony can do a 3d scan and go over the design with you. Tony is absolutely fantastic to work with, and I can't say enough good things about his customer service and attention to detail. I'm planning another order soon.

Interesting. So how different do your custom pieces play/sound than the original pieces that you had scanned?

[muschem]

I have several AR pieces for both tenor and bass. All of mine were custom designs, so I can't speak to the stock AR designs (I'm sure they're great, though). If you have a piece you want to template or use as a basis for an AR custom, Tony can do a 3d scan and go over the design with you. Tony is absolutely fantastic to work with, and I can't say enough good things about his customer service and attention to detail. I'm planning another order soon.

Interesting. So how different do your custom pieces play/sound than the original pieces that you had scanned?

I believe the rim and cup profiles are spot-on matches to the designs they were modeled from. There are a couple differences that I'd call out, though:

First, the scans capture the rim surface and inner cup down to the throat, but not the backbore. Tony has his own backbore designs, and they're honestly great. In every case where I compared the AR backbore to that of the inspiration piece a particular design was modeled from, I preferred the AR backbore. The trick is - which backbore to choose? There are different sets of options ranging from relatively tight to nice and open for each throat size - 6.0mm, 6.5mm, 7.2mm, 8.0mm. The way I approached this was to order backbores in all sizes, and find the right balance for the horn and leadpipe combination I prefer. That can get a bit expensive. Another way to go would be to discuss your goals and the best options with Tony - he has great insight into how his designs compare with other systems.

The other factor that made my customs play somewhat different as compared to the originals was material choice. AR Resonance offers a wide variety of materials for both the tops and the backbores, and each has its own characteristics. I suspected I had become somewhat sensitive to certain materials, so I wanted to explore titanium a bit for the tops. Everything has trade-offs, and I believe some of the particular characteristics of titanium have been discussed on other threads. My experience aligned pretty well with what I expected going in, and I did anticipate some differences compared to the silver-plated brass originals.

[WGWTR180]

Thanks Mike. I just received a very nice email from Tony full of information!