Originally Posted by
preston
If I am still playing flat with a small shank mouthpiece, does this mean I'll have about the same results with a medium shank one?
Preston
Think of how much difference there is in the overall length of the horn when you change from a small shank to medium shank (and even to a large shank) because of the difference in seating depth. Do the math and calculate what the pitch difference would be. Not a lot -- if you can even hear it. One thing you can do to test this is to wrap some Teflon tape around your small shank until it seats out further (approximately as it would if it were medium shank), and see what the result is. In some instruments you will get a larger difference based on the shape and size of the mouthpiece bowl (and rim) than with changing the seating depth.
Also keep in mind that there are two things of concern here: pitch and intonation. Even if you get an open horn pitched "correctly" by shortening or lengthening it (e.g., by increasing length of main tuning slide), it doesn't automatically follow that the valve sections will also be in tune (or may be put in tune by pulling the tuning slides). So the resulting horn may still play out of tune on many notes. Each of those tuning slides may need to be shortened/lengthened. This is particularly the case, for example, with the second valve slide which is already so short that it has little "tune-ability" built into it.
Gary Merrill
Wessex EEb Bass tuba (DW 3XL or 2XL)
Mack Brass Compensating Euph (DE N106, Euph J, J9 euph)
Amati Oval Euph (DE 104, Euph J, J6 euph)
1924 Buescher 3-valve Eb tuba (with std US receiver), Kelly 25
Schiller American Heritage 7B clone bass trombone (DE LB K/K10/112/14 Lexan, Brass Ark MV50R)
1947 Olds "Standard" trombone (Olds #3)