Rudy Muck

[slidehamptons]

Very happy to have joined this forum. I am an adult beginner looking at trombone mouthpieces and trying to make sense of the Rudy Muck company. RM mouthpieces are available from certain vendors but their website seems to indicate that they are not around anymore. Furthermore, the company that was licensed to make them appears to be gone as well.

Who makes Rudy Muck mpcs and are they still well regarded? Also, how do you interpret their sizes?

[BGuttman]

I had a Rudy Muck mouthpiece that came with a 1925 Olds that I rescued from a basement. It was marked 23 and was about the size of a Bach 12C.

Apparently Rudy Muck made mouthpieces in the 1920s and they were well regarded by the jazz musicians of the day. I know of 3 sizes: 21, 23, and 25. All were rather small by today's standards. My Rudy wound up going to another player who had a trombone with a Rudy in the case stolen. He liked the small mouthpiece.

I have seen much more recent Rudy Muck mouthpieces with a very different blank from mine that appeared to be made a couple of decades ago. I have no idea how good or bad they were/are. I'm pretty sure this later maker stopped. I suspect there isn't much demand for such small mouthpieces today.

[slidehamptons]

Thank you Bruce. I'm curious as to who is making them and where. By your description I'm guessing they are/were more comfortable because they are small. I actually thought they were more comfortable because they are larger. I found an old thread here where they are discussed for an older player who had embouchure issues.

[Doug Elliott]

Small on the inside, large on the outside.
I have a copy of an original Rudy Muck catalog, and several mouthpieces from different eras. The mouthpiece specs don't match what the catalog says.

[slidehamptons]

> The mouthpiece specs don't match what the catalog says.

Well that is really interesting. I think I will forget about the Rudy Mucks and try a 6-1/2AL and Yamaha 48. Thank you!

[JohnL]

RM mouthpieces are available from certain vendors but their website seems to indicate that they are not around anymore. Furthermore, the company that was licensed to make them appears to be gone as well.

You mean this website?
https://rudymuck.info/index.html

Yeah, that one seems to have been semi-abandoned for about 10 years or so; honestly, it looks more like a "loyalist" site (similar to my own Olds site or Contempora Corner) than anything official.

I checked the US Patent Office databases and found two cancelled trademarks for Rudy Mück and no patents, so there doesn't seem to any sort of intellectual property restrictions on either the name or the design. Not sure who is making them these days.

They're pretty much a special-purpose mouthpiece; used by players who play high and loud for long periods of time. Stuff like this:


I don't think anyone uses them for general-purpose playing.

I suspect they're more common in the trumpet world, but hey, they're trumpet players.

[harrisonreed]

I suspect those guys use them for general purpose playing!

Wowowow

[BGuttman]

My Rudy had a rather wide rim, smallish cup, and looked like it had been bored out. As a dedicated Bach 4 size (4C on small bore, 4G on large bore) player it was definitely paperweight grade for me. The guy I sold it to loved it.

[rudytbone]

I've a Rudy Muck 24 that came with my Olds Super. Like Doug Elliot said, big on outside, small on the inside. From mouthpiece charts I've seen, comparable to a Bach 22. It certainly feels that.