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My Martin has a small receiver, which is perfect for the small shank Denis Wick mouthpieces.

Would be nice if some kind of adapter existed so that I could use an American shank mouthpiece as well.

Does anything like that exist?

Thanks @YorkNumber3 !

Any idea where I could find one?

I think I recall Dillon music selling such a thing?

possible caveat of the adapter: it will play flatter

It might be cheaper to have a repairman swap out the receiver to a normal American one.

There's the Dillon AGR too, but I don't think you'd want to go there due to it costing more than the tuba.

They're in the Harris/Teller (jobber/wholesale) catalog, but - yes - it will play flatter and (likely) screwy...or screwier.

YorkNumber3 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 03, 2023 12:47 pm

bloke wrote: ↑Tue Jan 03, 2023 11:55 am They're in the Harris/Teller (jobber/wholesale) catalog, but - yes - it will play flatter and (likely) screwy...or screwier.

No kidding?

HT sells an adapter that allows the use of an American shank tuba mouthpiece in a bass trombone/small tuba shank receiver?

Totally surprised. Never noticed this.

I thought I saw it in the pink catalog, but either I misread the description or it's been omitted from the silver '23 catalog.

cjk wrote: ↑Tue Jan 03, 2023 10:52 am possible caveat of the adapter: it will play flatter

It might be cheaper to have a repairman swap out the receiver to a normal American one.

Down the road, I may swap out the entire valve section/leadpipe, so yes, that's an option.

There's the Dillon AGR too, but I don't think you'd want to go there due to it costing more than the tuba.

Thanks for the reminder.

bort2.0 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 03, 2023 2:02 pm

cjk wrote: ↑Tue Jan 03, 2023 10:52 am possible caveat of the adapter: it will play flatter

It might be cheaper to have a repairman swap out the receiver to a normal American one.

Down the road, I may swap out the entire valve section/leadpipe, so yes, that's an option.

There's the Dillon AGR too, but I don't think you'd want to go there due to it costing more than the tuba.

Thanks for the reminder.

re: reminder. Sorry. just wanted to point out the options. The AGR is an option, but it's pricey. I'd probably just have somebody swap out the receiver. Preferably an "almost free" salvaged receiver.

I do want to point out that an American shank tuba mouthpiece will just barely go into an old British or old American Eb receiver. It might be good enough as is? Or maybe not?

Brass instruments are - yet are not - "plumbing".

Any mouthpiece adapter that accommodates a LARGER shank mouthpiece than that for which the instrument is designed is going to - necessarily - involve a "roller-coaster" bore (which will create noticeable effects) at the very beginning of the instrument.

I could create a diagram to demonstrate this, but - if someone thinks about it for just a minute or two - I believe they can figure this out on their own.

IIRC, I remember reading somebody (maybe Dan Schulz in Indiana?) using a properly tapered reamer (Jarno something or other) to make (evidently thick enough) old Eb receivers into American shank receivers.

cjk wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 9:07 am IIRC, I remember reading somebody (maybe Dan Schulz in Indiana?) using a properly tapered reamer (Jarno something or other) to make (evidently thick enough) old Eb receivers into American shank receivers.

I own a #4 a #5, and use both of them fairly often for quite a few things. One of the things I use them for most often is to correct goofy receivers on European rotary tubas where the receiver is actually made out of the flared mouthpipe tube and the taper isn't quite right. Typical - but not consistent - candidates are communist East German instruments and RM instruments.

Cutting out a couple of thousandths from a portion of that tapered tubing isn't going to risk going through the tubing, because those tubes are always at least 19/1000ths of an inch thick, and it's a ton less invasive than unsoldering the nickel overpart, annealing the tapered end, using a mouthpiece (etc.) to correct the taper, and then reinstalling the overpart.

Jarno is a single taper which starts at zero and widens by 1/20th for every additional inch of length. A #4 Jarno reamer begins at .4", a #5 simply begins at .5" and so on.

The drawback to buying one to do a single task is that they are not cheap. I believe I would actually define their cost as expensive.

When I had my Besson New Standard BBb 3-valve comp, I looked for a similar item. A smaller-to-larger adapter simply does not exist. If you don't like the smaller receiver, you have five choices:
1) continue using a Wick no-letter mouthpiece;
2) change or modify the receiver;
3) use something like one of bloke's Imperial small shanks ordered directly from bloke;
4) have a shop turn down the mouthpiece shank;
5) custom order a small shank mouthpiece from any number of other manufacturers or vendors.

iiipopes wrote: ↑Fri Jan 06, 2023 10:11 am ...
A smaller-to-larger adapter simply does not exist.
....

This isn't true. I have one. It's not for sale. It obviously makes the instrument longer (therefore flatter), but it does exist.

Does it work great and is it a good solution? probably not. It's pretty much a straight sousaphone bit with an American shank receiver on one side and a British shank on the other.

Pretty sure I got it from Dillon Music around 8 years ago (2015).

cjk wrote: ↑Fri Jan 06, 2023 10:25 am

iiipopes wrote: ↑Fri Jan 06, 2023 10:11 am ...
A smaller-to-larger adapter simply does not exist.
....

This isn't true. I have one. It's not for sale. It obviously makes the instrument longer (therefore flatter), but it does exist.

Does it work great and is it a good solution? probably not. It's pretty much a straight sousaphone bit with an American shank receiver on one side and a British shank on the other.

Pretty sure I got it from Dillon Music around 8 years ago (2015).

It must be a one-off or custom manufacture. Yes, if you extend the taper of any conical tube functioning as an adapter long enough, you can make anything fit anywhere. But there is nothing commercially available or otherwise, like you say, but without making it so long that it gets close to the limit of viability, and will affect the setting of your main tuning slide, and may have a negative impact on the intonation of the instrument.

Hell...I could make one...but I don't want to...because (ref: cjk) I think it would be crap.

' best thing (again: Jarno #5) is probably to cut the receiver out to something midway between bass trombone shank (small/old British tuba) size and tuba standard shank size...

...unless there's ABSOLUTELY NO INTEREST in using a small shank mpc. with it, and - in that case - ream the s_ _ _ out of that mf, or replace it.

Besides Denis Wick, and the blokepiece, which other mouthpieces are available off-the-shelf with this shank size?

I don't mind the Wick too much, but it's not exactly my favorite rim profile.

I'm in for the long haul with the Martin, so I might as well get comfortable...! (Unless Mrs. Bort hits it big in Vegas this weekend!)