The Mix-and-match Trumpet Kit: 49,252 Trumpets Can Be Yours [anxiety]

Indirectly this is about trumpeter’s performance anxiety. At least I think it is, but only indirectly. Directly, first I tell a little about my history with trumpets. Then I explain my set-up, or what was my set-up for a couple of decades. And then I introduce the mix-and-match trumpet kit, one that allows you to build just the right trumpet for you.
My trumpet history
I’ve been playing trumpet for 60 years. During that time I’ve owned nine Bb trumpets; four are gone, leaving me with five – I also have a flugelhorn and a piccolo trumpet, which we can set aside for the purposes of this post. Sometime in the 1978 or 1980 I purchased a Schilke X3, which remained my main horn until sometime in the first decade of this century when I purchase a used Calicchio 3/9 Solo Copper, which then became my main horn. However, sometime in the mid-1980s I joined The Out of Control Rhythm and Blues Band. After playing with the band for several months, a year, I forget just how long, I decided I needed a trumpet more suited to that kind of playing. I wanted a horn that had a slightly brighter sound and that gave me more support over a long gig. So I purchased a Besson Meha, I forget which model, but it had a medium-large bore while my Schilke had a large bore. It also had a tighter bell – we’ll get to the meaning of those terms in the next section.
If you heard me play those two horns side by side, the Schilke and the Besson, I doubt that you would hear much, if any difference, in their sound. I hear a little, ever so little. But then my hearing’s finely tuned to the sound of the trumpet. But it is also possible that I’m hearing a difference that isn’t really there. The two trumpets also feel different to blow, just a little, but enough to matter over the course of a four or five hour gig. That difference, presumably, is caused by the difference in bore, 0.463 inches vs. 0.460, and bell. I suppose we could add the Calicchio into the mix, giving us yet another variable, for the tubing is copper, rather than brass.
And we haven’t even gotten into the mouthpieces, which is a whole new can of worms. I’ve owned, say, twenty mouthpieces over that period and still have most of them. But I do 80% of my playing on one of them, say, 18% over two others, and the last 2% across the remaining lot.
I suspect that some of these differences actually matter, but some don’t. And we don’t know how to distinguish them. Some trumpet players are equipment freaks, ever on the lookout for the perfect mouthpiece, or, at a considerably higher price point, the perfect horn. Others are more casual, making do with whatever horn and mouthpiece they’ve got. I’m near the casual end of the spectrum. I suspect the difference between the two ends of the spectrum is psychological, but just what the psychology is, I don't know. But it likely has something to do with anxiety.
All of this is by way of background to the topic that prompted this post, the possibility of purchasing, not just a trumpet and a mouthpiece or three, but the possibility of purchasing a kit of parts from which you assemble over 500 different possible horn/mouthpiece combinations. But you aren’t going to try them ALL, are you? Aside from the time it would take, how would you keep track of them?
First I take a look at my set-up then we look at the mix-and-match.
My Schilke X3 plus mouthpieces
While I do most of my playing these days on my Calicchio, I don’t have a photo handy, so let’s look at my Schilke:

At the time I purchased it, Schilke offered about a dozen different top of the line trumpets. They differ according to the size of the bore as measured at the valve block: Medium 0.450inches; Medium Large 0.460; Large 0.463 and Extra Large 0.468. The X3 is a large-bore horn. And they differ in the degree of taper leading to the bell flare. The X3 has the most open taper; Schilke offered two tighter tapers. Finally the horn is gold-plated. It was plated in silver when I bought it; I had it gold plated because I like the color and the gold doesn’t oxidize. Some, however, believe that gold plating gives the horn a warmer sound. Are they hearing with their eyes?
For the most part, when you purchase a trumpet, that’s what you buy, except for the mouthpiece, which is separate. There are no mix-and-match options. I will also note, that while most manufacturers offer a range of professional model trumpets, they offer only one, or perhaps two, student model. That, I suspect, is because only a very skilled trumpet player cares about or can even detect that relative small differences that distinguish the pro models.
Here’s four of the mouthpieces I own:

They are, from left to right: 1) a Schilke 13B, goldplated, 2) a Vincent Bach 5MV, silverplate, 3) a Vincent Bach 1 ¼ C Megatone, and 4) a Claude Gordon Personal, silverplate. The model numbers indicate specific properties of the mouthpiece. I could go on and on about the differences between these mouthpieces but I’ll skip most of that. Concerning the most visible differences between those mouthpieces, some trumpet players believe that gold plating changes the sound produced by a mouthpiece; others find that gold feels smoother; and still others are allergic to silver and so need gold plating. Me, as with the horn itself, I like the color. Similarly the heaviness of the Megatone is supposed to produce a darker and more stable sound. Perhaps. But the weight changes the balance of the trumpet in my hands, and I like that.
The important point is that small differences DO matter, and the differences that matter most are inside the mouthpieces and so not visible in these photographs. They have to do with cup diameter and shape, rim shape, throat diameter, and back bore shape. Further, different mouthpieces are suited for different kinds of music. A trumpeter who plays with a symphony orchestra is likely to have both a different trumpet and a different mouthpiece from a trumpeter who plays in a salsa band, and so forth through a range of musical styles. FWIW, the 13B has been my main mouthpiece for several decades. The 5MV has a distinctly different sound from the others, a softer, mellower sound.
Harrelson MMXX (2020) Muse Modular Trumpet
In recent years Jason Harrelson has been perfecting the mix-and-match trumpet kit, though he will be happy to sell you an ordinary trumpet that is complete as-purchased.
His mix-and-match horn in the MMXX (2020) Muse Modular Trumpet. Here’s a Muse horn in one configuration:

When you buy a Muse horn, here’s what you get:

• 8 Modular leadpipe segments (12 currently available)
• 2 Modular mouthpiece receivers - engraving included on one receiver
• Unlimited Venturi Gap Receiver inserts
• 1 Modular tuning slide in Checkered or Smooth style A, D or R
• 1 Modular bell crook in Checkered or Smooth style D or R
• 2 Modular Bell flares - cylindrical only
• 3 Bell Choke inserts (.440, .450, .460)
• 11-piece 5MM Modular Mouthpiece Kit
• 3 fixed Ergonomic or Cylindrical finger rings
• 3 Modular finger buttons with inlays - choice of stone, shell or Dichrolam
• Third slide stop - Ball Spring or Screw
• Water keys - choice of Pollard or Saturn
• Valveset - Monel Pistons/Brass Casings
• 2 Sets of Bottom Caps - 1/4", 3/8", 1/2", 3/4" or 1" in solid or grooves variations
• Custom road case (holds two bells) included (upgrades available)

I’ve highlighted the mix-and-match components. Let’s calculate the number of possibilities. You only use one leadpipe, but you have a choice of eight. You only use one mouthpiece receiver, but you have a choice of two. I have no sense of the practical import of “Unlimited Venturi Gap Receiver inserts”, so let’s skip over them. Choose one bell flare, of two, and one bell choke, of three.
Let’s skip over the mouthpieces for a moment and go to those bottom caps. In the old days, when I bought my Schilke, there was only one kind of bottom valve cap. Now you can have them in various thickness of metal on the bottom, which changes their weight, of course. And that in turn is supposed to affect your sound. The Muse kit offers two sets of three. However, you don’t have to use them as full sets. You could pick one from one set and two from the other, and they can be on any of three values. That gives you 2*2*2 = 8 possibilities there. Here’s what we’ve got:

8 leadpipes * 2 receivers * 2 bells * 3 chokes * 8 caps = 768 horns

And we have not taken into account all those Venturi Gap inserts and all the possible mouthpieces that could be built with those eleven components. In this system, a mouthpiece contains six components, rim, body, throat, cup, nut, and backbore:

An eleven piece kit must therefore contain alternatives for some of the components. Let’s assume only one nut, but two alternatives for the other five. That gives us 2^5 possible mouth pieces, which is 64.
So we’ve got 64 mouthpieces for 768 horns for a total of 49, 252 possible complete trumpets. And remember, for some components, there are more possible variants than are included in a given kit. One kit, a zillion variations on a trumpet. That’s crazy, but oddly compelling.
I have no doubt that for any given player, some combinations of components are better than others. But how do you find the best three or four or thirteen and twenty eight best combinations? Does the best combination change according to time of day, the player’s mood, the humidity, and so forth?
This is overkill.
Yes, small differences make a difference. But it is not as though a trumpeter’s playing configuration is some one rigidly mixed thing that can be precisely matched. That configuration changes from day to day, or hour to hour, perhaps even minute. It’s fluid. The idea that it can be matched with the one-and-only proper trumpet makes no sense.
How much of the difference between my old set-up and the bewildering possibilities of the modular horn can be attributed to trumpeter’s performance anxiety?