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Here's a rare pair of mouthpieces:



On the left, stamped WILHELM MONKE--KÖLN. Diameter is about 33mm, standard shank... Medium deep.

On the right, a large Alexander mouthpiece. Diameter is nearly 36mm(!), deep, and seems like a normal-ish Euro shank.

Haven't tried them yet, low hopes for either as users, but thought they still would be interesting share.

Bonus shot; apparently I have 5 Alexander mouthpieces now, of varying sizes and conditions.


I hate collecting things, but obscure mouthpieces seem to have gripped me...

I've always liked those rings on Alex mouthpieces...easily identified, yes?

I keep a small handful of reference mouthpiece that are not played.
- both sizes of Conn Hb's
- a HbII
- a particularly remarkably nice-playing old M-W mpc.

I have a couple of goofy things:
- Mirafone "F"
- teeny-tiny Olds 97
- a couple of junkers that [1] aren't very good in the first place, [2] are in bad shape...too bad to sell or even give away...

I sometimes have a Miraphone "C4", but usually end up giving them away or selling them.

Having seen mpc "collections" setting on tables in other tuba players houses was enough to discourage me from being a "collector".

As to those I use...Nearly every tuba or tuba-related instrument (no shorter than F) has its own mpc...The rim profiles are all the same, but the cups, back-bores, and embouchure openings vary from lower-32mm to mid-33mm.

bloke wrote: ↑Wed Jul 14, 2021 8:29 am Nearly every tuba or tuba-related instrument (no shorter than F) has its own mpc.

I really like the versatility/interchangeability of the blokepieces and parts, and that has helped me settle on what currently works for each of my horns. BUT... I like having a mouthpiece for each tuba so I don't have to interchange parts on the fly or go to the job without a mouthpiece because I left some iteration of what I need stuck in a different horn at home. And for extra protection against personal dumbassery, I keep a purple kellyberg in the car.

Doc (who needs another Imperial cup and shank)

bloke wrote: ↑Wed Jul 14, 2021 8:29 amHaving seen mpc "collections" setting on tables in other tuba players houses was enough to discourage me from being a "collector".

At least, Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars roll in a straight line...

bort2.0 wrote: ↑Tue Jul 13, 2021 4:59 pm Here's a rare pair of mouthpieces:

I finally got around to trying these today:

* The Monke is a small shank, and inserted all the way, with maybe 1/8" of the shank (or less) showing. Plays fine, not a huge mouthpiece. Not a user, but neat to have!
* The big Alexander is just enormous. I think the ID is nearly 36mm, by far the largest mouthpiece that I've tried to play. It's also the big big shank, so it just barely fits into my receiver. It's what you would expect out of a big mouthpiece -- a lot of fun, a lot of fundamental. I wanted to play more on it, but it was just too difficult with the mouthpiece teetering out of the end. I was worried it would fall out and drop on the ground, or onto my tuba.

Can an enormous Alexander shank be turned/worked to fit a normal receiver?

bort2.0 wrote: ↑Fri Jul 23, 2021 3:53 pm

bort2.0 wrote: ↑Tue Jul 13, 2021 4:59 pm Here's a rare pair of mouthpieces:

I finally got around to trying these today:

* The Monke is a small shank, and inserted all the way, with maybe 1/8" of the shank (or less) showing. Plays fine, not a huge mouthpiece. Not a user, but neat to have!
* The big Alexander is just enormous. I think the ID is nearly 36mm, by far the largest mouthpiece that I've tried to play. It's also the big big shank, so it just barely fits into my receiver. It's what you would expect out of a big mouthpiece -- a lot of fun, a lot of fundamental. I wanted to play more on it, but it was just too difficult with the mouthpiece teetering out of the end. I was worried it would fall out and drop on the ground, or onto my tuba.

Can an enormous Alexander shank be turned/worked to fit a normal receiver?

@bort2.0 if you have a set of calipers, can you measure the small end of the shank? (Of your big Alexander mouthpiece)? I’m interested to see how it compares to my big York’s BIG receiver and matching mouthpiece.

Think it's the same taper? I thought I might have read somewhere that some of these exotic shanks sizes aren't just a different section of the same taper.

How small a shank exterior can be made depends on how large the back bore is – particularly the exit bore.
Some of my back bores are only available down to certain shank sizes, because the interior and exterior measurements would overlap, otherwise.