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In my earlier article on European [Alexander] shank horn mouthpieces I noted that mouthpieces of this type have a larger shank and are designed to fit European make horns (and [UPDATE] more specifically to fit Alexander horns; they are not going to work well on every European brand!).
In the other article I quote the [old] Laskey website and their brief note on what this shank type will do for you on some models of horn.
This modification adds more “presence” to the sound, increases the quality of attack and improves intonation and response.
That all sounds good! I noted how this element made a huge difference on a horn I recently purchased, how on a standard shank mouthpiece the horn felt average only and how it played much better with the Euro shank.
Is there a way to test it without buying?
Let’s say though that you don’t have a European shank mouthpiece laying around to try out. How can you find out if it would be a good investment?
There is an easy way to tell; the paper trick. What you do is wrap a single layer of paper around the shank of your mouthpiece and put it in the horn with that paper adding just a bit more size to the shank. The first photo is of a European shank version of my mouthpiece, the second is of the standard shank version in the same horn, and the third is of that standard shank mouthpiece with paper added to get it up to the size of the European shank.
It will make a difference and using this trick recently in several lessons it was pretty impressive actually how much positive difference it can make on some horns.
Give it a try if you play a European instrument and are curious if it will help. It really might and can also potentially help an older US instrument with a worn receiver. There is no way to know though but by trying, and if you discover that you have been playing the wrong type of mouthpiece for your horn for years at least you can make the change now.
