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Maybe this topic has been discussed over and over. I am not sure about how to search for it though. If discussed please point me to some relevant thread.

In the thread about European F tubas' low C response - something to try bloke told us some about the matter. However after some experimenting this lead me to the question about shank sizes. I am aware of the small shank, for old Booseys and such, like standard bass trombone shank and the, what I suppose is next size, normal shank which may be the type that is called American? Then there is the euro shank which is slightly larger. However, is there some other 'standard' type that is slightly larger than the small but not as large as the normal shank? If so, what is it called, and where to obtain mouthpieces with that shank? Or do I have to put a standard shank mouthpiece in a lathe to get it a bit smaller, alternatively with a reamer enlarge the mpc receiver on the instrument to getting standard shank mpcs to fit deeper? Which is most preferred, the reamer or the lathe?

In my mouthpieces, which all have screw-shanks and screw-rims, I can easily make whatever taper size you want. I have several sizes that are "standard" in my system.

A shank that goes in farther will feel sightly more open, pretty much the same effect as a bigger backbore. Too much becomes uncontrollable.

And the opposite for farther out - more resistance, about the same effect as a smaller backbore. Too much becomes stuffy.

Adjusting the existing receiver is more difficult but may make sense if it's close and you want it to accept standard pieces. I have chosen to do it by varying the shank size, because with my system you can use more than one shank on the exact same mouthpiece.

Doug Elliott wrote:In my mouthpieces, which all have screw-shanks and screw-rims, I can easily make whatever taper size you want. I have several sizes that are "standard" in my system.

A shank that goes in farther will feel sightly more open, pretty much the same effect as a bigger backbore. Too much becomes uncontrollable.

And the opposite for farther out - more resistance, about the same effect as a smaller backbore. Too much becomes stuffy.

Adjusting the existing receiver is more difficult but may make sense if it's close and you want it to accept standard pieces. I have chosen to do it by varying the shank size, because with my system you can use more than one shank on the exact same mouthpiece.

Very true...You want the gap between the mouthpiece and lead-pipe
to be as small as possible, but you do not want them to touch

I assume they all use Morse taper at ~.050" per inch (1 deg), so having
something machined for you shouldn't be that tricky

I would generally modify the mouthpiece before hitting the receiver with a reamer - especially if the "receiver" is actually part of the leadpipe. If you want to ream the receiver, have a couple spares if they are separate then you can easily and possibly cheaply undo a mistake. Best not to wreck a pipe as that can get expensive to replace. I would remove the receiver before opening it up to make sure you don't do damage.

Lectron wrote: You want the gap between the mouthpiece and lead-pipe
to be as small as possible, but you do not want them to touch

The word "Gap" is very much misused and misunderstood. Very few tubas have a receiver and leadpipe that are in a relationship where the mouthpiece could "touch the leadpipe." Trumpets are made that way, and a couple of trombones, but tuba receivers are oriented several different ways. Some have a smooth transition from the receiver into the leadpipe (the way almost all trombones are built) so there can be no "gap" at all. Many of them have what I call a "reverse gap" where the leadpipe starts at a bigger size than the end of the receiver. No gap there either unless the mouthpiece goes in too far and hangs over into the leadpipe, and that basically doesn't happen.

In any case, what's important is how it plays, not what it looks like inside. In some cases the fit can change the way it plays, and in some case it makes virtually no difference at all.

Lectron wrote: I assume they all use Morse taper at ~.050" per inch (1 deg), so having something machined for you shouldn't be that tricky

And as for the Morse taper, it would be nice if you could assume that all tubas had that in the receiver and all mouthpieces were made with that taper, but many (especially older) horns and mouthpieces are not even close to a Morse taper. I've even seen several tubas (I think all Meinl-Westons) that had NO taper at all in the receiver.

Well...I said assume

Measured two of my tubas...

Hard to tell tapering of course other than wear on the shank,
but thou it's smoothened, you can feel a 'step' 35mm in

If the receiver is tapered, that would conflict if the MP
was inserted more than 35mm