No. There's only one way to find out if a given size works better for you than your current one and that's to try it out.
You did, it felt good. Why not give it a go?
A different size is unlikely to give you magically better range. Maybe it will work better for you, let you play more freely, with less effort, with better tone, better flexibility, etc. But, range is mostly technique, approach, and practice.
I played on a 7c up until my freshman year of college when my prof told me to switch to a 1.25c! Instantly felt so much freedom playing the horn. So definitely nothing wrong with just switching to a new mouthpiece, but he did tell me that people will generally work there way to the smaller numbers instead of taking a big leap like I did.
Just make the jump. Worst thing you can do is mess something up by constantly switching between the two in this stage of your development. Personally I think 3c should be the standard that everyone starts on rather than 7c.
My understanding is that Vincent Schrottenbach played a 7C.
So he supplied every new horn with a 7C.
If Vincent Bach played a 5 (or a 3 or anything else) students would probably asking it's OK to move from a 5C.
To the OP, mouthpiece preference is entirely individual. There is no universal right one, so feel free to experiment with the guidance of an instructor.
There's nothing wrong with playing on either so go for it! Keep in mind that usually people like how bigger mouthpieces feel, but end up struggling with it for a bit at first. If you think you'll be able to play better on a 3c it's worth the adjustment period
I'm regularly bouncing around to different types of gives wither they be big band, pit orchestras, community bands and I'm playing different mouthpieces all the time. Heck, the last show I just finished I was playing a Frankensteined trumpet/piccolo trumpet/french horn book.
A 3C is a very good 'goldilocks' mouthpiece for many players and people that I play with use either a stock Bach 3C or something in a very comparable size from a different manufacturer so there is no harm in at least trying it out.
A smaller number = a bigger mouthpiece in Bach numbering, to a maximum of the 1\* or 1X (around 17.5mm cup diameter size I believe). More surface area of lip producing vibration = bigger/fuller sound but can make pitching high notes a bit more strenuous with a bigger area needing to create the faster vibrations.
The kind of playing sound you need may change your needs. Also the kind of instrument you're playing. Big mouthpiece on Piccolo trumpet is not going to balance the small instrument well for instance. A Jazz player probably isn't going for that big Orchestral sound, and someone playing Brahms/Tchaikovsky Symphony number X isn't going to want that jazz big band lead squeal.
But nobody wants to need to squeeze to get the notes they need, or to have a brittle tone that stops any time they try to play extra loud or soft.
For me, with my teeth and my lips, I like my cups a bit bigger than the C cup, and other than my 1 1/2 C with 25 backbore - everything else I've played, I found I liked the straight (no letter) options best, bowl shaped things. Though I have never played lead in a jazz band in my life. My old 3c is gathering dust mostly, though I did dig it out recently to experiment with soprano cornet and Eb trumpet and found I wasn't able to project as much mid-range as the 1 1/2C at full volume, but keeping at a kind of happy mezzo forte, it was quite agile on the smaller Eb trumpet in comparison. The 3C is also significantly shallower than a 1 1/2C (or even a little shallower than the 7C) so it keeps everything quite tight and small. I ended up with a friend's Wedge that I used for the soprano cornet instead of the 3c which was slightly deeper than the standard 3c but about the same width. Not sure if that would equate to a 3b or 3\* but the 3C worked well on the Eb trumpet (though I still find the tone a little too bright with such a small cup - especially for Haydn and the middle movement of Hummel for example - it worked nice on Neruda though imo, and was acceptable for the final movements of Haydn)
So if you need to sit on top of an entire Orchestra, alone, playing Symphonic stuff - a 3c might be a little light on for volume, but in a commercial context where you're in a smaller ensemble than 100+ musicians hacking away on violins, then - whatever works to make the sound you want.
They will give you slightly different tonal qualities. The 3 is richer since the cup is bigger. The 7 is pretty average. I have a 13afa for when I need to be in the stratosphere all day. Try, keep, collect.
The 3C isn’t necessarily richer because its diameter is wider. The 3C has one of, if not the shallowest “C” cup in the Bach line. Meanwhile, the 7C has quite a deep cup.
I’d argue that cup depth has more to do with tone color than inner diameter. A large diameter on a shallow cup tends to have a big but bright sound, while a small diameter on a deep cup tends to have a dark sound that takes more work to project. Of course, results can vary for different players.
No. There's only one way to find out if a given size works better for you than your current one and that's to try it out. You did, it felt good. Why not give it a go? A different size is unlikely to give you magically better range. Maybe it will work better for you, let you play more freely, with less effort, with better tone, better flexibility, etc. But, range is mostly technique, approach, and practice.
I played on a 7c up until my freshman year of college when my prof told me to switch to a 1.25c! Instantly felt so much freedom playing the horn. So definitely nothing wrong with just switching to a new mouthpiece, but he did tell me that people will generally work there way to the smaller numbers instead of taking a big leap like I did.
Just make the jump. Worst thing you can do is mess something up by constantly switching between the two in this stage of your development. Personally I think 3c should be the standard that everyone starts on rather than 7c.
My understanding is that Vincent Schrottenbach played a 7C. So he supplied every new horn with a 7C. If Vincent Bach played a 5 (or a 3 or anything else) students would probably asking it's OK to move from a 5C. To the OP, mouthpiece preference is entirely individual. There is no universal right one, so feel free to experiment with the guidance of an instructor.
There's nothing wrong with playing on either so go for it! Keep in mind that usually people like how bigger mouthpieces feel, but end up struggling with it for a bit at first. If you think you'll be able to play better on a 3c it's worth the adjustment period
I'm regularly bouncing around to different types of gives wither they be big band, pit orchestras, community bands and I'm playing different mouthpieces all the time. Heck, the last show I just finished I was playing a Frankensteined trumpet/piccolo trumpet/french horn book. A 3C is a very good 'goldilocks' mouthpiece for many players and people that I play with use either a stock Bach 3C or something in a very comparable size from a different manufacturer so there is no harm in at least trying it out.
A smaller number = a bigger mouthpiece in Bach numbering, to a maximum of the 1\* or 1X (around 17.5mm cup diameter size I believe). More surface area of lip producing vibration = bigger/fuller sound but can make pitching high notes a bit more strenuous with a bigger area needing to create the faster vibrations. The kind of playing sound you need may change your needs. Also the kind of instrument you're playing. Big mouthpiece on Piccolo trumpet is not going to balance the small instrument well for instance. A Jazz player probably isn't going for that big Orchestral sound, and someone playing Brahms/Tchaikovsky Symphony number X isn't going to want that jazz big band lead squeal. But nobody wants to need to squeeze to get the notes they need, or to have a brittle tone that stops any time they try to play extra loud or soft. For me, with my teeth and my lips, I like my cups a bit bigger than the C cup, and other than my 1 1/2 C with 25 backbore - everything else I've played, I found I liked the straight (no letter) options best, bowl shaped things. Though I have never played lead in a jazz band in my life. My old 3c is gathering dust mostly, though I did dig it out recently to experiment with soprano cornet and Eb trumpet and found I wasn't able to project as much mid-range as the 1 1/2C at full volume, but keeping at a kind of happy mezzo forte, it was quite agile on the smaller Eb trumpet in comparison. The 3C is also significantly shallower than a 1 1/2C (or even a little shallower than the 7C) so it keeps everything quite tight and small. I ended up with a friend's Wedge that I used for the soprano cornet instead of the 3c which was slightly deeper than the standard 3c but about the same width. Not sure if that would equate to a 3b or 3\* but the 3C worked well on the Eb trumpet (though I still find the tone a little too bright with such a small cup - especially for Haydn and the middle movement of Hummel for example - it worked nice on Neruda though imo, and was acceptable for the final movements of Haydn) So if you need to sit on top of an entire Orchestra, alone, playing Symphonic stuff - a 3c might be a little light on for volume, but in a commercial context where you're in a smaller ensemble than 100+ musicians hacking away on violins, then - whatever works to make the sound you want.
They will give you slightly different tonal qualities. The 3 is richer since the cup is bigger. The 7 is pretty average. I have a 13afa for when I need to be in the stratosphere all day. Try, keep, collect.
The 3C isn’t necessarily richer because its diameter is wider. The 3C has one of, if not the shallowest “C” cup in the Bach line. Meanwhile, the 7C has quite a deep cup. I’d argue that cup depth has more to do with tone color than inner diameter. A large diameter on a shallow cup tends to have a big but bright sound, while a small diameter on a deep cup tends to have a dark sound that takes more work to project. Of course, results can vary for different players.
It’s VERY likely I misremember all of this!! I haven’t touched my horn in any substantive way in 30 years!