"The FoKus mouthpiece is an Epiphany!"
" I had players tell me for years about how great this or that mouthpiece was.
I tried lots of different mouthpieces - Bach 1C, 3C, different Warburton's,
Bush etc., and they were all pretty much the same.
Then Lowell talked me into trying the FoKus L7 and bingo, my epiphany. This
mouthpiece really works as advertised.
Power, projection, edge, range. I'm sold!"
Eric Kallen-San Diego, CA
Hello FoKus
I bought the Fokus Cornet mouthpiece. I find it ideal for my needs. The cornet piece allows me to get the dark round sound with good core without the "whool" (ull på norsk) sound that deeper mouthpieces produce.
I can now maintain the upper register without effort.
It blends well with the cornet section in the brass band.
I also have the FoKus Flugel Horn mouthpiece which also plays very well.
Playing the Flugel Horn, Cornet and Trumpet is
made easier by using the FoKus line of mouthpieces.
Sincerely
Njål Inge Enger-Norway
Thank you FoKus!!
After many years of playing jazz trumpet using mouthpieces designed for an easier high register ( Bach 10 1/2C, Schilke 14A4A, Yamaha 11B4 ), I recently purchased a new trumpet that included a mouthpiece designed for a large, warm orchestral sound ( B&S 1 1/2).
Though not totally satisfactory for my current performance needs (big band jazz chair), the mouthpiece produced a very pleasant dark sound.
Since I was aware of FoKus Mouthpieces, having performed in trumpet sections with Lowell Stevenson, he suggested that I try some FoKus 1.5 pieces. With the second mouthpiece that I tried it was immediately evident that I'd found the sound I was looking for. The FoKus P1.5 produced a dark sound very suitable for jazz solos, a large sound allowing me to stay balanced with the "Kentonesque" trumpet sections, a very centered sound and a surprisingly open and easy-to-play upper register.
I've now been using the FoKus P1.5 for a month and I continue to be impressed with how well it satisfies my performance needs.
Robert Maddalena San Diego, CA
Dear Lowell,
You were absolutely right: the A7 is perfect for the piccolo!
The feeling is curious, it is easy to play (shallow cup), but the projection of the sound is fantastic!
Maybe I am used to sound a little more round in the piccolo, but can be fixed with a washer on the pistons.
On the high A of Brandenburg sounds crisp and powerful.
Thank you for everything.
Yours,
Pablo
Pablo Martinez Esparza
Pablo Nicasio Martínez Esparza
I'm trumpet teacher in "Jesús Guridi Conserbatorio" in
Vitoria-Gasteiz, in the Basque Country, SPAIN
Muchos "Mahalos" Lowell,
Got them on the 8th
Played a gig on Sat. OMG, my "sound back"
monitor was too loud, can you believe that??
No cord on the mic and I still could hear
myself bouncing off the back wall!!!!
I don’t know what you did to your mouthpieces
but, I’m keeping them a secret..............
For now anyway, but not too worry,
as soon as I let the other guys try it,
if they ask, you maybe getting more orders for them.
Haven’t put the "intensifier" on, doesn’t fit,
mouthpiece is shorter then my Schilke. 10A4a,
which by the way is what I was looking for,
for the past 4 years, a shorter length mouthpiece
seems my Benge CG is getting a little old,
just like the player (yikes!), so intonation was
sharp last night I pushed in a 1/4 inch,
Oh ya' baby, and that's just the L7.............
can't wait to try the A7 this week and gig
again on the weekend, so excited!!!
Thanks Lowell once again,
Sorry I didn't find your products till just recently,
would have saved me from purchasing all
the other brands (you have no idea how much?!?!)
Till next time,
Aloha,
Mark "doggie" Silva
P.S. how’s the "all around" and "symphonic" pieces, hummmmm...................
Hi my name is Jef Derderian. I live in California and I
recently
bought one of your Symphonic3 mouthpieces. Yesterday I tried out
for a county honor band and I got 1st chair for the high school
honor band as a freshman and I just wanted to say thank you because
the Symphonic3 mouthpiece is definitely one of the leading factors
that helped me get 1st chair because of the fine craftsmanship of it
and the tone quality I got was big and beautiful. So thank you and
God bless.
Jef Derderian Dinuba, CA
OK, so here's the upshot.
I'm playing with a P 1.5 after all. Why? The SOUND and the SUPPORT. The
combination is quite unusual, in my experience. I've had mouthpieces with
this kind of huge, resonant timbre, but I'm usually not able to play this
size with them above the staff. With yours, I play evenly and without
pressure across my playable range, with support and ARTICULATION. I doubt
that it gets any better than this. For me, at least.
Thanks for designing this beast. It's awesome!
Allan Kamfonik
I got the FoKus LEAD 3/25 holed, mouthpiece on Tuesday, and thank you again. I had the chance to test it last weekend on 2 concerts. One with a Soul-Funk Rock Band and yesterday unplugged with a Big Band.
My results: Generally: Very good mouthpiece, as you described very powerful, no problem to play the two concerts without having practiced with it before.
For me: Throat size #25 is perfect.
Rim and cup geometry are perfect.
Rim diameter is a bit too small for me. I need a bit more room for extreme upper register playing.
Sound is a bit too bright for my sound concept; means back bore is a bit too narrow for me.
After this test and what I could read on your homepage I want to ask you: What do you think about an ARTIST 1.5 (because of the more open back bore) with #25 throat. (I meant that this combination could be fine for me)
Am I right that rim and cup are the same as with the FoKus LEAD?
Looking forward reading your answer,
Best regards
Manfred Kinle,
Germany
Hello I got the FoKus ARTIST 1.5/25.
First test was quite positive. Though the difference in rim diameter between 3 and 1.5 is quite small it was exactly the change I needed. As I told you before I need a bit more room for my (not very small) lips for upper register playing, so, playing the range between High C and DHC is better now and as I can say so far, 1.5 is what I needed.
#25 Throat is perfect. Power and projection like crazy.
About my experiences with the slightly more open back bore, together with the bigger throat I can tell you after my next unplugged Big Band concert on August 29. So I also have a bit time to acclimate to it. I will mail you after that gig again. Because of the different rim sizes I can't make a statement about the difference between LEAD and ARTIST at the moment. But I will tell you whether the ARTIST hits my conception of big band lead and solo sound.
So far, thank you for your help, for making the ARTIST 1.5-#25 for me, for your words and for your quick mailing.
Best Regards
Manfred Kinle
Germany
Hi Lowell, yes, the sound and playing feel of the Artist 1.5/25 is very good. Great sound, power and open blowing. Very good slotting.
Cheers,
Manfred Kinle
Germany
"Lowell, I did try the mouthpieces. They're very good.
Thanks again. Keep up the sweet blowin"
www.markpenderband.com
www.myspace.com/markpenderband
www.youtube.com/markpender
My name is Francis Steckar. I am French. I play trumpet, live and work in Paris on a freelance basis. I have been playing lead at the Lido of Paris for eighteen years, a very demanding job and up to now I used a 7D Bach mouthpiece on a Schilke S32. That was before I discovered the new FoKus mouthpieces at the Feelings music shop one sunny afternoon. The miraculous mouthpiece which will allow you to play four octaves with a smile on your face doesn't exist, we all know that, but I have to admit the FoKus have a new approach to eliminate a lot of the problems that make our life dull and miserable at times. I chose the P7 model. With it I can play piano or fortissimo from low G to high G. I could do that before too but I had to produce a lot more power and the tone was not by a far cry as brilliant and so well balanced, all that with a sort of easiness unknown to me before, is this miraculous? unfortunately not, you still have to blow in that horn if you want something to come out of it but the extraordinary rim of the FoKus will considerably help you, and that is a sort of miracle for sure. I don't know that guy Stevenson the designer of this little marvel but let me tell you that my friends and I owe him a lot, thank you so much. Francis Steckar. Paris France
Hi Everyone, I got to spend an enjoyable 2 hours talking and playing trumpet with Lowell Stevenson yesterday in Andover, MN trying out his FoKus mouthpiece line. Here is my impression of Lowell and the FoKus. First off, Lowell is a hot player with a lot of trumpet knowledge who has studied with some of the legends in the trumpet world. He's also a pretty neat guy with a quick smile an easy laugh and some good stories. It's worth getting to know him. The mouthpieces look nice. It seems to me, and I may be wrong, that most of the weight is up near where the lips engage. It has a wide enough rim to give you lots of support, but not so much as to handcuff your chops. One word: Comfortable! I spent the first few minutes just finding my diameter size, which is based on common Bach sizes. His line has four. The 1.5, 3, 7, and 10.5. Each size has four different set ups with varying cups, throats, and back bore. The Principal for legit/orchestral, the All Around, the Artist for a more commercial sound, and the Lead. You get a very different sound with each one. The blow on the mouthpiece was pretty consistent from one to the other which made it easy to go back and forth. In our meeting I wasn't really warmed up, or in normal playing mode, but had a nice warm sound with the Principle on my Bb and a few nice high G's with some zip with the Artist. Both of them sounded good on my D trumpet as well. The P7 gave me a huge fat sound almost like a C trumpet; the A7 gave me a piccolo like sound. Very different sounds from one horn, both very good. I guess that was Lowell's idea from the beginning. He has a simplistic approach that I think people will find refreshing. There's no razzle dazzle, no screwing and unscrewing, no parts to lose. Just find your size, pick your genre and go. Everything blows the same. This is a quality product that I think will generate quite a following. Way to go Lowell! David Figge Minnesota
I had been using a Bach 3C and play a
Schilke B6. I bought and now use a FoKus A3 with my Schilke. I play horn in
blues-jazz groups which have mostly electric guitars, etc.
I love the projection and range the FoKus ARTIST gives me.
Thank you,
Jim Zerbi
Kalamazoo, Michigan
I purchased and am using a FoKus "lead" mouth piece. I have been playing trumpet for over 40 years and this mouth piece delivered exactly what I have been looking for. It has brilliance and an extended range that is perfect for the rock & roll and jazz bands I enjoy playing with. I especially like the comfortable feel, which was one of the first things I noticed.
Greg K.-Minneapolis
I love my FoKus mouthpiece.
I met up with Lowell at the Mid West Clinic and tried a bunch of his pieces. I found that the 1.5 Artist model was perfect for lead work for me. The way the rim is shaped, very very sharp, helps with the shallow cup and it even barks in the lower register. I switched from a Monette BL2 to the FoKus A1.5. As Clarke would say “A new mouthpiece should feel like an old pair of shoes.”
Thanks a bunch Chris-Chicago, IL.
I have two FoKus mouthpieces - the Lead 3 and Principal 7 - for use in band and orchestra respectively. Both of them are excellent mouthpieces. The L3 is very easy to play, gives me a nice bright sound, and is great for the high register. The P7 takes a little more work but softens my sound and is just right for orchestra work. I strongly recommend them. Mike P. Nagoya, Japan
The FoKus I tried is perfect for the kind of stuff I am turning out. Samuel-Fairbanks, AK
I'm trying one of Lowell's FoKus line...a 10.5 Lead piece. Everything he states about the piece is true. Nice crisp, full sound, easy upper register, etc. It's the FIRST piece that I've tried that has an undercut that gives you more lip room and at the same time doesn't "cut" me when using more pressure. TO ME...the way it feels on MY chops...is that the highpoint of the rim is a little more towards the center of the rim and, even though the rim gives a nice, comfortable cushion feel, the surface area of the rim "gently" slopes downward from this highpoint towards the cup giving a feeling of a softer bite. However you still get crisp articulation and attacks. All in all a VERY nice mouthpiece! BW
Hi Lowell,
Of course you can use what I said on your site! I meant every word of it! It's a VERY nice, comfortable piece with a great sound...what more could anyone ask for in a mouthpiece!!!
Thanks, Butch Warnke
The FoKus S-3 mouthpiece came yesterday and I spent some time with it after dinner. What a delight! It's quite different from the Schilke 14 that I normally use, both in size and especially in the timbre it gives to the trumpet. The cup has a larger volume but it felt quite comfortable and easy to control. The largest Schilke I have is a 15C4 but the S-3 cup volume is larger than that one also. I played back and forth between the 15C4 and the S-3 comparing their characteristics for about 1/2 hour. After that, my regular Schilke 14 felt way too small and cramped! It's quite remarkable to me how different the 15C4 and S-3 are from each other although I like them both. I'd say that the S-3 responds more easily, especially in the lowest register, and that it slots with less effort and care than the 15C4. I'd say it has a brighter sound. Octave half- valve glissandos up and down were very smooth and somewhat easier to control with the S-3. I ventured up to high C without much difficulty but didn't try to push beyond that because I hadn't played for over a week and my lip felt stiff. The largest differences were in the timbre and the projection (as I sensed it from behind the horn). Strangely, I couldn't really say which timbre I preferred. I liked them both, sort of like a comparison between well-aged French burgundy and a fine California chardonnay. I'm really looking forward to working with the S-3 more systematically. It's quite clear to me that the combination's of cup depth and volume, shape, back bore, etc., you've established have resulted in a lovely mouthpiece style that's distinctive and worthwhile. GOOD JOB! Harland Epps Santa Cruz, CA
Thanks for
shipping the mouthpiece out so quickly! It arrived early yesterday afternoon,
I warmed up on it and it felt and sounded so good that I decided to play it on
a dance job last night. It felt very comfortable on my chops for the entire 3
1/2 hrs. and the projection was fantastic (I could hear my sound bouncing off
the back of the hall!). My only problem was overshooting a few notes. It seems
to take less effort to get the job done than my other piece.
Thanks again for the great mouthpiece and equally great service. I'm looking
forward to trying out some of your other 1 1/2 models. Take care,
K.O. Salem, OR
Hello there,
Lowell Stevenson graciously sent me two of his new "FoKus" mouthpieces to try
out. Since I normally play a Mount Vernon Bach 1 (now sold as the Bach 1X), we
decided that his largest 1.5 diameter would be the appropriate one for me to
try. He sent me two versions, the "Principal" P-1.5 and the "Lead" L-1.5 to
try. Here are the results:
I like the "Principal" a lot and recommend it to one and all to try if they
are interested in having a good, big orchestral sound with just a touch more
brilliance in the tone then with a typical large Bach. I'm guessing it's got
about a 22 or 24 throat in it. And the backbore is nice and big - about a Bach
24 Symphonic or maybe similar to the backbore in Claude's CG Personal
mouthpiece.
I found the "Lead" mouthpiece to be totally unplayable for me. Way too shallow
for me - makes a 14A4A or a Bob Reeves 43S look deep! I literally could not
get a clear note out of it in any register. But I want to note that among
others, Mark Pender from the Conan O'Brian show says he likes the Lead
version, so obviously it can be played! I would probably find that the FoKus
"Artist" or "Symphonic" model would be the shallowest I could comfortably
play.
One should bear in mind that since "Grease" closed for the Summer on May 9th,
I have done all my practicing on a Mount Vernon Bach 1, so I'm not exactly in
a position to be playing and analyzing the shallowest mouthpieces made - had I
realized how shallow the "Lead" version is, I would have elected to try a
"Artist" model instead.
Lastly, I want to address quality control and consistency. As we all know,
this can be a problem with a certain name brand manufacturer of mouthpieces
these days. I recently came across a new Bach mouthpiece in a music store that
actually had the center hole (the throat) so far off center; you could easily
see the problem just by looking at it! There's no excuse for this in our
modern era of CAD/CAM manufacturing where measurements and tolerances can be
taken down to 1/10,000th of an inch.
I don't have any precision measuring instruments. But I have found that in 35
years of trumpet playing and measuring mouthpieces using my own crude methods,
what I found using things such as the Euro Cent piece (exactly 17mm across and
great for comparing inner cup diameters), pencils and larger coin currencies
used with business cards in various ways to measure cup depth and cup
diameter, and even the cutaneous sense of my finger tip to feel and compare
inner rim edges, has now been pretty closely confirmed with high tech things
such as the Kanstul Mouthpiece Comparator. For instance, I had always
suspected that the inner diameter of a Bach 7C was bigger than what Bach
maintained, and I had always thought that the Bach 1-1/2C was nearly identical
to the Schilke 14. Same thing with the Mount Vernon Bach 1 and the Schilke 19.
And sure enough, what my pencils, coins, business cards and fingertips led me
to believe, the Kanstul Comparator confirmed. So, all that said, I think my
crude little measuring techniques do have some merit. And THAT said, my
measuring techniques lead me to believe that Mr. Stevenson has created
mouthpieces with a good, high level of consistency. The rim on both the
"Principal" and the "Lead" were identical. Same rim contour, same rim
diameter, same rim thickness. This is important for the player who seeks a set
of mouthpieces to play various styles with various timbres. Of course, one can
go to the Custom shop and have a set of Screw Rims made. This guarantees one
will get the same rim - literally the same rim. But this is also very
expensive. Lowell's new FoKus mouthpieces allow the player to do the same for
a much lower price. With good consistency and quality control.
Do I sound like an advertisement? I don't mean to. And no, I won't be
switching to a FoKus mouthpiece as I'm in a position where I'm happy with what
I'm using and will go the screw rim route if say, I want to use a 1C cup with
my Mount Vernon 1 rim. But I'm also willing to spend hundreds of dollars not
only in paying to have the screw rims made, but also in searching the world
for the elusive early Bach mouthpieces that have the quality and size
consistency I desire. For anyone with (sensible) normal budget considerations,
I think the FoKus mouthpiece line represents a good choice.
Sincerely,
John Mohan
1st Trumpet - Last Trumpet (Only Trumpet) for the European Tour of "Grease"
2003/2004
Former 1st Trpt "West Side Story", "Cats", "Phantom of the Opera", "Evita",
Disney's "Hunchback of Notre Dame" (2nd trpt), etc.
14 Year Student of Claude Gordon
