Marching brass 1980s and early 1990s, DEG Music Products commissioned Willson Brass of Switzerland to design a Euphonium bugle, and their design used a medium shank mouthpiece that is not regularly seen in the United States. The contrabass bugle, or "contra", is the bugle equivalent of a marching tuba and its variants (the sousaphone and helicon). This bugle was designed in the 1960s. The original design for a contrabass called for an instrument in CC (the equivalent tubing length of a CC tuba), carried in front of the marcher like the higher voices. This was quickly replaced with a shoulder carried variant
Brass instrument Scratches are removed from the bell using abrasive-coated cloth. A few specialty instruments are made from wood. Instruments made mostly from plastic emerged in the 2010s as a cheaper and more robust alternative to brass. Plastic instruments could come in almost any colour. The sound plastic instruments produce is different from the one of brass, lacquer, gold or silver. While originally seen as a gimmick, these plastic models have found increasing popularity of the last decade and are now viewed as practice tools that make for more convenient travel as well as a cheaper option for beginning players. Brass instruments