The CHI Brass James Gourlay Signature Tuba Mouthpiece is based on a custom mouthpiece that internationally renowned tuba soloist, conductor, and educator James Gourlay has used for decades. Rather than beginning with a new design, this signature model brings a trusted, long-established part of Maestro Gourlay’s playing equipment into the CHI Brass collection.
Designed primarily with the EEb tuba in mind, the James Gourlay Signature features a heavyweight shell that adds mass to the mouthpiece, helping produce a centered, stable sound with exceptional depth, resonance, and projection.
The mouthpiece combines a generous 32.74 mm cup diameter with an 8.00 mm throat, producing a broad, resonant sound while maintaining the clarity, response, and flexibility demanded by the modern professional player.
The heavyweight construction provides substantial tonal weight and presence for ensemble playing while retaining the immediacy, control, and flexibility needed for solo and chamber performance. Its balanced proportions encourage an even response throughout the registers, with a full, authoritative low register and a clear, singing upper range.
Like all CHI Brass Signature mouthpieces, the James Gourlay Signature receives our resonance-enhancing treatment, designed to further enhance the natural resonance, tonal color, and response of the mouthpiece.
The model features a special 0.518″ shank, making it a perfect fit for compensating tubas and other small-receiver instruments. This smaller shank allows the mouthpiece to seat properly in these receivers while preserving the design and playing characteristics of Maestro Gourlay’s original custom mouthpiece.
The result is more than a signature model—it is the continuation of a mouthpiece concept that has been part of James Gourlay’s playing for decades, now faithfully produced by CHI Brass in a heavyweight design for today’s tuba players.
James Gourlay is internationally recognized as one of the leading figures in the tuba world, with a distinguished career as a soloist, orchestral musician, conductor, educator, and brass band musician.
His collaboration with CHI Brass has included contributing to the development of the CHI Brass EEb Bass 1 and BBb Bass 1. The James Gourlay Signature Tuba Mouthpiece takes that relationship a step further by making available a design based on the custom mouthpiece that Maestro Gourlay himself has relied upon for decades.
It represents a rare opportunity for players to experience a mouthpiece concept refined not simply through development and testing, but through decades of professional use at the highest levels of tuba performance.
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