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What are the biggest differences between a large shank and intermediate shank euphonium (in both the physics and simply how it plays and sounds)? I'm asking because I'm looking at the 2900 and I'm curious about the differences. Right now I play a 642.

Thanks,

Christian

Euphoniums that have a large shank offer a greater range of available mouthpieces. There are not that many small shank mouthpieces available for modern euphs eg if you fancied a Denis Wick Stephen Mead model, you would have to buy a Baritone Horn version. I have owned two different Jupiter euphoniums in the past, a 570 and a 470. The 570 comes with a large shank and the 470 a small shank. I couldn' tell any difference at all between the two in any aspect. For some reason a Yamaha 321 has a small shank, and my King 2280 a large. For intermediate level horns, the King has a way bigger, darker sound than the 321, but it also has a larger bore than the Yamaha (and is a way better horn all round) so maybe it's not a fair comparison in terms of shank effect.

Just to be clear, the Willson 2900 has a 'Euro' or medium shank mpc receiver not small sized. It's between large and small. It might be a bit more difficult finding a Euro shank mpc, but they're available. Wick marks those with 'M' for medium. There are a lot of very fine players playing with a Euro shank.

euphomate wrote:Euphoniums that have a large shank offer a greater range of available mouthpieces. There are not that many small shank mouthpieces available for modern euphs

Um ... medium shank is not the same thing as small shank. Willson 2900s and pre-1974 B&H/Bessons use the medium, aka Euro, shank.

Christian,

The biggest difference I perceive between a medium and a large shank is in resistance (back pressure), the volume of air necessary to fill up the horn, and the size of the sound.

My experience is that large shank euphs require more air. When I switched from a medium shank Imperial to a large shank New Standard, it took me a good 3 months to learn to manage my air so I could reach the end of phrases and still maintain a full, resonant sound through the end of the phrase. For a while, I also lost a few notes at the top of my range because I had been using back pressure to support my embouchure in the upper register. From behind the bell, I perceive the sound I get from a med shank euph to be sweeter and more compact than from a large shank.

Of course, YMMV, but that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Incidentally, the 2900BT (BT = bass trombone = large shank) is now available in the US.

All gaps are just mental.

The large-shank Willson lacks the projection of the Eu

Amilcare wrote:The large-shank Willson lacks the projection of the Eu

Dude, you realize this thread is over 3 years old, don't you?

(AOBTW, you're wrong.)

mclaugh wrote:

Amilcare wrote:The large-shank Willson lacks the projection of the Eu

Dude, you realize this thread is over 3 years old, don't you?

(AOBTW, you're wrong.)

Dang! Three years and they still haven't 'standardized' these MP shanks?!?!

TubaTinker wrote:

mclaugh wrote:

Amilcare wrote:The large-shank Willson lacks the projection of the Eu

Dude, you realize this thread is over 3 years old, don't you?

(AOBTW, you're wrong.)

Dang! Three years and they still haven't 'standardized' these MP shanks?!?!

"The nice thing about standards is that you have so many to choose from."