Karl Hammond Design Mouthpiece Unboxing

It’s been a while since I bought a new mouthpiece. In fact, I’m not even sure I ever HAVE bought a new mouthpiece. Since I just celebrated my birthday AND Karl Hammond Design was donating 25% of purchases to the Bluecoats, who am I to argue with the universe clearly telling me to drop some cash on a couple of shiny new mouthpieces?!?

First of all, I want to thank my friend and long time Bluecoats brass staff member Bob Higgins. I’ve known that the Bluecoats have played on Hammond Design mouthpieces for years, and I reached out to Bob for his opinion. In his words, Hammond Design mouthpieces are “always high quality, and matches expectation piece to piece”.

OK, I’m sold.

Bob also reached out to Patrick Geren on the Bloo brass staff, who recommended the 12XL size mouthpiece. Since I previously played on the Schilke 51D, which is a comparable size, this was a perfect recommendation.

Also, a big shout out to KHD’s customer service. The morning after I placed my order, they were calling me asking if I would like to have my initials engraved on my mouthpieces. This is along with the Bluecoats shield logo since I entered the code for the donation. This level of service, along with the high quality of the product, makes every penny I spent on these beauties worth it.

Now, let’s get a look at the mouthpieces. As I stated, I ordered two, a small shank mouthpiece for use with my G baritone bugles and trombone, and a large shank mouthpiece for use with my concert and G bugle euphoniums.

So, what should I play on these? I’d love something I can play on a 2-valve G baritone bugle and something I can play on a concert euphonium. Send me your recommendations!