The Holton VD Mouthpiece

This post could also be subtitled “How Not to Market a Mouthpiece.” With the information I have at hand I can’t pin down the date but at some point in I would guess the 1960s Holton had Farkas expand beyond what became the MC mouthpiece (which was based on the original Schilke FARKAS MODEL) to produce a full line of mouthpieces. By the time I was buying mouthpieces and starting to save literature on the horn in the late 1970s the line had six distinct models; SC (shallow cup), MC (medium cup), MDC (medium deep cup), DC (deep cup), VDC (very deep cup), and XDC (extra deep cup). These are all available to this day, with the MC and MDC being I am sure good steady sellers for Holton for many years.

But the mouthpieces produced in this expanded line were introduced with slightly different model designations than those used today. For example the largest two models were the VD and XD models, illustrated here. The lettering is a little hard to see in the photo, but the VD mouthpieces are on the right. I have a pair of each.

Farkas had some experience in marketing so it is really curious in particular that they ever marketed a VD mouthpiece. When I show these to students they often get a chuckle. For those reading this who are not native speakers of English, this link will give you the reason why selling a VD mouthpiece was especially odd. The change to the VDC was a great move.

These two models in the classic and modern versions I find actually work pretty well on natural horn. But on modern horn I don’t know of any player who actually is a fan of these particular models. They are based on very deep designs similar to nineteenth century and Viennese designs, and are really off at an extreme end in a size range few players use today. But they make a great “poor man’s” authentic natural horn mouthpiece and, in the case of the VD mouthpiece, a conversation piece.