Posted by John C on February 28, 1999 at 20:15:47:
In Reply to: Mouthpiece Damage posted by S.P. on February 28, 1999 at 19:13:30:
Basically, I believe it's turbulence.Obstructions to the air flow can't be good, especially at such a critical point on the horn.
If your shank is out of round you can round it out with the end of a needle nosed pliers or, better, an old French horn mouthpiece. Just wedge it in there and twist it until the shank is round again. There are also actual tools made for this but the horn mouthpiece thing works just as well, of course it'll chew up the french horn mouthpiece pretty bad.