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The Besson 983 Eb uses an American shank mouthpiece, correct?

Of course that should be “BESSON”!

I'm pretty sure American shank is correct. I have heard that most Besson 983's are a bit long and play flat, so anything larger than an American shank could make it worse, or maybe the horn has already been cut to take care of the pitch.

Yes. On my Besson 982 Sovereign I use either a Denis Wick 3L (large shank) or a Bach 24AW. Both fit fine. I see no reason why the 983 receiver would be any different. Not so with a Perantucci PT84. That mouthpiece only enters 3/4" into the receiver of the Besson, so I don't use it. My understanding is that mouthpiece receivers for Besson tubas have always been the standard American size, at least with the Sovereign series. The smaller receiver sizes died with the B & H Imperial versions as far as I'm aware.

Not all 983's are flat. A friend of mine uses tape on his main tuning slide to keep it from falling out, he has to pull it so far.

Mine just plays in tune with main slide all the way in. Late Imp/Early New Standard Eb with 981 leadpipe, 15" bell. Wick 2.5cc mp or PT36.

I have a pair of British 983s. I use a Dillon (I think) PS3 (Pat Sheridan helped design and used this mouthpiece for quite a while.) When the horns were at Dan Oberloh's shop he determined that the shanks should be turned down a bit so that they would go in to the receiver properly. I trusted his judgement and the mouthpieces now work better in the 983s. For what it's worth. Phil

I certainly have not problem with my 983 playing flat. However, my 983 came with two tuning slides, the longer of which is intended to be used all the way in. If for some reason a person had only this tuning slide, the horn might play flat in some circumstances.

My 983 is the German version, which may be slightly different than the horns made in the UK.

Regarding mouthpieces, I have a variety and they all fit the 983 fine (except for a Dennis Wick 3, which is made for a small shank horn), so I don't think there is anything unusual about the 983 receiver.

Hup

What Doug Elliot said above.