French Taper Flugel Mouthpiece??

supportlivejazz · Heavyweight Member Joined: 05 Jan 2003 Posts: 3757

I have come upon a Schilke 14F4 flugel mouthpiece and I believe it has the Couesnon / French taper shank. Does anyone know the dimensions of this configuration at the top and bottom of the shank so I can measure and determine what it is? It does not fit my Getzen Eterna Flugel. Thanks.
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supportlivejazz · Heavyweight Member Joined: 05 Jan 2003 Posts: 3757

Nobody has measurement of a French taper flugel mp? HELP. Thanks.
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Conn 6B
1940s Blessing Artist
Olds LA Special Model Cornet

"I'm not apologizing, I am what I am. There'll be no compromising, I don't give a damn."

improver · Heavyweight Member Joined: 14 Mar 2004 Posts: 1464

Its very simple. If the shank is round with no taper its French. Its very apparent.

GordonH · Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 10:00 am Post subject:

French taper is not a taper at all, its cylindrical.
There is no uniformity, in fact the french taper mouthpiece supplied with my flugel did not actually fit properly.

Also, if you have a French taper instrument and it has ever had a normal flugel mouthpice force fitted then French taper mouthpices will not fit it properly, ever.

I had to have one custom made in he end by sending my leadopipe to the mouthpiece maker. Apparently he went through a few blanks before geting the fit totally correct.
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Yammie · Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 10:16 am Post subject: French taper

French taper is cylindrical for the bottom-most portion of the shank, but has a slight shoulder, or gentle taper, roughly 3/4 to 1" from the end. This shoulder is what prevents the mouthpiece from sliding too far into the flugelhorn.

As far as I know, there are 4 modern flugelhorn tapers. French, which is the only one that is not a gradual taper from the end of the mouthpiece, Bach, Conn Vintage One, and Yamaha. They have other terms (like Morse, which is either Bach or Conn Vintage One but I forget which), but these are the 4 distinct shank shapes used in modern flugelhorns. Why there are 4 different ones, I have no idea!
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6340S, Connstellation 36B, 38B, 38A, and 28A, Couesnon flugel, Blackburn C, Kanstul/Besson 920 picc, and a HUGE pile of Messina Covers gig bags

johnmarkpainter · Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2007 10:46 am Post subject:

I have a Stock Couesnon mouthpiece from around 1970.
It has a straight shank until just where the mpc would stop when inserted into the Horn.
The shoulder is almost right in the middle of the length of the whole mpc.

jmp

Arpeggio · Veteran Member Joined: 24 Aug 2006 Posts: 153

My Schilke 14F4 with French taper is clearly far less tapered than any trumpet or cornet piece when you look at it. In fact, you wouldn't be certain that it's tapered at all when you see it beside a trumpet or cornet piece. In my experience, that's been a good way to tell a French taper -- if it looks untapered, it's French.

As for measurements on this piece, the diameter at the very leading tip of the shank measures 0.380 inch and the diameter increases up to 0.408 inch at very end of the smooth, undecorated part of the shank that's closest to you when you play. The smooth, undecorated part is the portion that goes into the horn -- it measures 1.350 in length. Without my glasses, anyway!

How do you like the 14F4? Any others you prefer?