Posted by Joe S. on November 20, 1999 at 01:36:17:
In Reply to: Shank question posted by Tim C on November 19, 1999 at 09:45:20:
Mr. Elliot knows mountains more than I do about mouthpiece shanks. I do instinctively believe (to agree with what he said, I think) that you do not want the small end of a mouthpiece protruding past the smallest point of the receiver venturi, and ideally you also don't want for there to be a gap between the outside of the small end of the mouthpiece and the receiving area. This can sometimes cause "whistling" noises.
"European" I wasn't familiar with -- I had always thought that small difference was just variation between manufacturers (It seems like Schilke and "European" are right at the same size - just a wee bit fatter, but the same taper as Bach, etc.) -- I learned something here from Mr Elliot.
"ENGLISH" I had heard of -- those goofy old Besson mouthpieces that fit those big old "garbage can" BBb compensators' receivers. Is Besson still making any tubas with that funny "English" receiver? Denis Wick (Boosey/Besson distributed) certainly doesn't put that shank on his tuba mouthpieces...Of course, he is interested in actually SELLING them, I'm sure.
Occasionally, one runs across an old "kaiser" tuba (a big old Alex, for example) with a super-huge receiver. Is there any "official" (or unofficial) name for that shank size? I have also occasionally run across that size on other tubas -- once even on a York Eb sousa that actually still had the huge-shanked York mouthpiece with it.
Sorry for answering questions with my own questions.