So, even though I'm not getting a reaction from the Kelly, I've decided I will use it for my warm-ups and such and have ordered a silver plated 80G used from WWBW. Talking to some other brass players, they all agree that the old giardinelli rims (new old stock, roughly 30 years old) I own have a higher nickel content in the plating than modern platings. I guess the new plating is made up of more silver and less reactive metals. So, hopefully I will not react as much to the new silver alloy. If nothing else, since I'm switching to the giardinelli anyway for working on etudes, I might as well have one that I tried and liked even better!

Another observation about the all Lexan mouthpiece, though very smooth, warm and flexible, it is somewhat tiring to play. My only thought is the lack of mass. Hmmm... thoughts?

OK, here's my final entry on this thread (unless of course you've got questions Valerie) I got the Laskey 80G. This is definitely going to be my mouthpiece, and there really is something about the contour of the rim. This is the widest ID mouthpiece I've ever played on and it feels great. I can get enough lip in there to vibrate but the bite and contour seem to make it feel narrower. I've never had a great upper end, more of a 2nd/4th horn player, but this really allows me to comfortably play Bb and feel good about the tone. The mid/low end on this is fluid and speaks like crazy. Now, onto the allergy side of things. The plating on the Laskey is very high quality. It is lustrous like sterling silver and very smooth, which I suspect is a combination of both very high manufacture expectations and high silver content plating. I do not react as quickly to this mouthpiece, but after about 1.25 hours I was getting a ring and a prickly full feeling that made the lips feel stiff. Puffy, where as the Lexan gave me none of this, but does not perform nearly as well as the Laskey.

Sounds like you've found your mouthpiece, especially if you can play for 1.25 hours before getting that puffy lip thing. I've heard others say that Lasky was really good for not causing the puffiness in the lips. I've tried Lasky's before & didn't like them, but then I haven't tried that many. Maybe I should try a few more.

Thanks so much for keeping us posted. This thread has been very interesting to me. I keep a running section on my blog about lip swelling. I would love for you to summarize your experiences and either email them to me so I can put them on my blog article or email them to be directly so I can post them there. My blog address is: http://beforhorn.blogspot.com/ (do a search for "lip swelling" in the little window on the right) My email address is: ValerieW78 "at" Gmail "dot" com

Valerie, when I've got time to sit for more than 15 minutes I'll do just that.

A short & sweet recap of what you've tried, settled on & concluded would be sufficient. Three or four sentences might be enough. A lot of horn players have this same problem. Everyone little bit of information helps.

A good format would be:

I've had a lip swelling problem for some time that seems related to _______. After experimenting with X,Y & Z; I've concluded that _____ & blank is the best solution for dealing with my problem.

Thanks.

Val