Page 1 of 1

European and Standard shanks, what's the difference

Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2014 10:17 pm
by Bacon
Okay I was wondering about the difference between standard and European shank for tubas, I was interested in a European shank Mouthpiece but I don't know if it will work with my high school's cervenies

Re: European and Standard shanks, what's the difference

Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2014 2:05 pm
by ppalan
Here's some information that might be helpful;
Roger Lewis wrote: The "proper measurement" for determining the shank size is:
When measured at the very tip of the mouthpiece stem an American shank should be around .520"
A European shank mouthpiece should be about .538"

But there really is no "standard" on mouthpiece stems as the PT mouthpieces usually come in at about .530".

Ideally, according to some famous people out there, there should be a gap of about 3/16" between where the mouthpiece ends and the leadpipe begins inside the receiver. You may need to use a dental tool to find where the leadpipe connects to the receiver.

...
and a link to the entire thread with comments from some very knowledgeable folks:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=53370&p=456442&hili ... nt#p456442

If your Cerveny was built for a Euro shank mouthpiece then an American shank mouthpiece will go very far into the receiver. If it was built for an American shank mouthpiece then a Euro shank mouthpiece will not go in very far. I think the mouthpiece should fit in about 1-1/8" to 1-1/4". Using a mouthpiece that does not fit properly could have a negative effect on the pitch of the instrument as well as on other aspects of playing. I'm not a repair tech so if there are inaccuracies here I hope one of the experts on this board will provide the correct info.

...hope this helps
Pete

Re: European and Standard shanks, what's the difference

Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2014 6:24 pm
by Bacon
Thank you very much this helps me out alot