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How To Remove a Stuck Mouthpiece

If your mouthpiece gets stuck you could try to remove it by hand first. I find that if you give the mouthpiece a tug and twist at the same time it can often come free (but do it the way I show you in the video). You have to be careful not to use too much pressure as you don't want to damage your trumpet. You could try some penetrating oil where the mouthpiece enters the trumpet and some hot and cold water. Sometimes giving the mouthpiece (not the rim)  and the mouthpiece receiver (the part of the trumpet that the mouthpiece goes in) lots of small taps with a rawhide mallet can help loosen it. If all that fails, some music shops or teachers will have a mouthpiece puller and will remove it for you for free or for a minimal fee. I suggest you watch the short video clip below as I will show you some of these techniques.

In this video I will show you how to remove a stuck mouthpiece.

Mouthpieces on trumpets and other brass instruments can often get stuck. It is quite easily done. All it takes is to accidentally knock your instrument by the mouthpiece and it could get completely jammed in. This is why you shouldn't pat the mouthpiece in to the trumpet. Though it does give a satisfying sound you can get your mouthpiece stuck. The real pain about getting your mouthpiece stuck is that you won't be able to clean it and the trumpet won't fit in its case.

Using a mouthpiece puller.

Mouthpiece pullers are easy to use and are available to buy on Amazon. They are a very useful tool to own especially if you teach or conduct a band. Kids, and sometimes adults, often get there mouthpiece stuck and this is the tool for the job! I show you how to use one at the end of the video

As you can see from the picture the mouthpiece slots into the puller which has two adjustable "teeth" which can be tightened to grip against the "lip" of mouthpiece receiver. You then tighten the two large screws clockwise to start pulling the mouthpiece out. It is important that you tighten these screws as evenly as possible or the mouthpiece puller itself could become jammed or cross threaded. I've always been able to remove a stuck mouthpiece with my puller, and I have removed a lot! On the stubborn ones I give the puller a tap with a rawhide mallet to help the mouthpiece out while the puller is under tension. I am then able to turn the scews on the puller a little more, and then repeat until the mouthpiece pops out.

Don't use pliers to remove the mouthpiece

Here is a picture of a mouthpiece from a trumpet I had to repair. It was stuck and somebody tried to remove it with a pair of pliers. Mouthpieces are made of brass, which is a soft metal, and you can see the deep scratches that the pliers have left. This mouthpiece was worth £40 new and now it's ruined. The trumpet which this mouthpiece was stuck in became slightly twisted under the tension of the pliers. A solder joint had been forced loose and the valves jammed after the pipes had been twisted into the the valve casing. I managed to fix this trumpet successfully but it would have been much easier and cheaper to remove the mouthpiece properly in the first place.

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