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I have a mouthpiece which is not in regular production. It has the smaller, American shank while the tuba I'd like to use it with is set up to take a larger, European shank. Is there a simple, cheap fix for this? I'm aware of the dillon adjustable gap system, and I realize that I can get a custom mouthpiece made if necessary. Is there another path that's cheap and easy (other than paper)?

Not really cheap or really easy, but if you're really attached to the mouthpiece, Dillon Music's custom mouthpiece guy Vladimir, can re-shank the existing mouthpiece to a Euro shank.

I have had this done twice...works great, looks great, and is a long term "real" fix.

You can do a couple of things, one pretty simple and without any permanent alteration and the other pretty simple but permanent.

1) Wrap the shank with some sort of tape. Experiment with tapes but using the clear, wide box sealing tape and taking about two wraps will usually make the shank about Euro size. If you have a caliper, you may find your American shank is @ .520" and the correct shank is @.540" at the very tip of the shank. If you have a Euro shank mouthpiece, insert it and mark where the receiver meets the mouthpiece shank then do the same with the American shank and wrap the American shank until the American shank mouthpiece has exactly the same amount of shank sticking in to the receiver. This is usually two wraps of tape. You can also use waterproof adhesive tape and probably use only one wrap.

2) Once you know the difference between the amount of shank sticking in to the receiver, cut off the end of the American shank and use the mouthpiece altered that way. I find that chamfering the inside (use a cartridge reloaders' chamfering tool) of the case makes a better sound. I have found that cutting off .6" to .625" is usually about right.

Method two allows a metal to metal contact while method one insulates the mouthpiece shank from the receiver. Insulating may affect response, slightly.

I have done everything mentioned so far, in this thread, and find any permanent solution is better than either of the two things I have mentioned but everything I have told you works. Really, as a rule, the more permanent the solution is the better it will work. Taping a mouthpiece shank is just a way to let you see how the correct shank might play.

tubalex wrote:I have a mouthpiece which is not in regular production. It has the smaller, American shank while the tuba I'd like to use it with is set up to take a larger, European shank. Is there a simple, cheap fix for this? I'm aware of the dillon adjustable gap system, and I realize that I can get a custom mouthpiece made if necessary. Is there another path that's cheap and easy (other than paper)?

Specifically what mouthpiece and horn are you talking about? Dillon's sells an American to Euro adapter. I have one, but it does not fit the very large receiver of my 2265. A typical Euro shank mouthpiece goes in around a inch and a half. Some American shank mouthpieces have long enough shanks that they "sorta" fit as well, but a lot of them bottom out.

Hi!

Can somebody confirm or deny that an alteration like sleeving a (too small shank) mouhtpiece would produce a better (soundquality-wise) result than wrapping tape 1-2 times round a mouthpiece shank.

Just tried the tape version on a tuba with big reciever and it plays better when the mouthpiece doesn't go so deep. Just wondering if a more advanced/sophisticated method would yield an even better result....


Thanks!


-J-