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Several mouthpiece makers catering to the North American market produce mouthpieces with a European shank. It is a topic a lot of horn players and teachers still seem somewhat unaware of, and is actually quite important to consider depending on the model of your horn.
Some horns will certainly play better with a mouthpiece that has a larger diameter shank. Which leads us to a question —
What is a European/Alexander shank?
A student looking at mouthpieces recently [2010!] pointed me to the text Laskey now has [UPDATE: had] in their website, which gives a good overview of the situation and what the shank change can do for you as a player.
With the increased number of German-made horns, The Laskey Company is now making many of our horn mouthpieces with J, G and F cups available in a larger shank. Players using Schmid, Hoyer horns, etc. now have Laskey mouthpieces made specifically for those instruments.
Because the shank is slightly larger in diameter, it will not go in as far as the standard shank.
This modification adds more “presence” to the sound, increases the quality of attack and improves intonation and response….
If you are presently playing a horn with a larger receiver (Schmid, Hoyer, Alexander, etc) you will find the changes we have made to be a significant improvement.
But what does that mean?
If you get down to it, there is not much difference between the actual European taper and the Morse taper used on American mouthpiece shanks. If your mouthpiece wobbles, it is either an issue with your specific mouthpiece shank, or an issue with the receiver (wear, or how it was made).
This is the key point: the way Alexander in particular makes their leadpipes really requires a mouthpiece with a type of larger diameter shank that could in fact be called an Alexander shank. They have made these horns a long time, and their horns (as with all other brands) can be variable, but I believe their current production horns will generally work well with what we would call a European shank mouthpiece.
Being very popular horns, there is a large market for mouthpieces that work well on their horns — and a market for horns that work well on the same mouthpieces that suit an Alexander. Other European makers clearly have their own takes on the topic of mouthpiece fit, but I really should highlight the point that
Just because your horn is European, it does not necessarily need a European shank (unless it is an Alexander!)
But it might. It depends on how your receiver was made, and, again, this can be surprisingly variable even in the same brand of horn over a period of time.
There are two ways to tell if you need a European shank. One way is visual, the other is by play testing. You should try both.
If you play a European horn where it looks like your mouthpiece might be fitting in too far compared to other horns, you should consider trying either a European made mouthpiece or a mouthpiece with a European shank.
Which gets to the other main point, play testing is always needed. The right mouthpiece will bring everything into focus like the horn maker intended — and the horn will certainly feel and play better.
What are you waiting for?
It can make a huge difference in some cases. And, as I have heard remarked several times (and have certainly experienced), a change to a better mouthpiece can make for a huge change in your outlook on everything.
Article updated significantly 2023
