I'm looking around at getting a new mouthpiece for my birthday. I've got my eye on the UMI Christian Lindberg series but I'm not sure yet. That's not my question though...

How do you determine whether you need a small, medium, or large shank? If it helps, this mouthpiece would be for a King 608F.

Also any insight you have for mouthpiece selection would be appreciated.

Unless you have a European shank, there are only 2 shank size options for trombone mouthpieces. Large or small. Large shank would be for a symphony tenor or bass bone, and small would be for a, well, small bore.

As far as I know, the King 608F would use a small bore piece.

One piece of advice over all others for mouthpiece shopping. Try before you buy, play on it as much as you possibly can, and have someone else, preferably an experienced trombone player, listen to you on each mouthpiece you are thinking about. In the end, the only thing that matters is getting one that FEELS right and the tone SOUNDS GOOD. Nothing else matters. Ok, so 4 pieces of advice.

What Erik said, try many models. Your music store probably offers a trial period on instruments and mouthpiece so you can try each of them for a week or so. Just take your time and try every mouthpiece more than not enough. A good friend of mine who plays trumpet shopped for a new mouthpiece last year and well..he didn't try enough models, and he didn't try them for long enough so he picked one that he vaguely tought sounded better...and he just had to buy a new one on the advise of his new teacher because it was too big for him and he lacked stamina and his tone wasn't well centered.

About the Lindberg models, don't buy them before having tried them for an extensive period of time. They could be the best mouthpieces you have ever played on or the worst. Playing on them requires very strong lips (the rim is extremely narrow and rounded and the inner bite is really sharp). My opinion when I tried the Lindberg mouthpiece was that it really helped flexibility and high register, but it was tough on the chops and my tone was too bright, and somewhat airy.

I had a CL 4CL with my horn. I personally can't play on them very well, just because it has no rim on it. I used it for a little while but not enough to really set my chops to it, I had to go back to playing with a rimmed mouthpiece-where I am today. Thats just my preference. But as said, trying out the mouthpiece is the best way to do it.

Personally I like Shilke mouthpieces, I use a 43 for small bore and a 59 for large bore.
Don't get a Conn, they sound really bad.
If you get one with a rounded rin, than expect that you'll have to control your intonation more. With a edged rim, you can keep your tone in control easier but you can't lip things up or down as easily.
Deeper cups make bigger, more rounded sound, but require more air. narrowwer cups make plaing high notes easier, and big huge fate cus let you play pedals really easy.
Although keep trying mouthpieces and find one you like. Everyone has different preferances.

Actually, I have to disagree. Range has NOTHING to do with mouthpiece size. A change of mouthpiece size may effect your range in either direction, but only for a very small amount of time.

I play a Griego 3 on my large bore, which I also use a 1.5G for lower work, and on the jazz horn I have a Dennis Wick 5BS and (as a joke) a Jet Tone Urbie Green Custom piece.

Guess what? I have exactly the same range on all pieces. Yes, the 1.5 lets the pedals pop a bit better, but they are still there on the other pieces. Even the Jet Tone. And my upper register, while you would think would be the best and strongest on my Jet Tone, is actually the best and strongest on the Griego 3. Why? Because rim size has nothing to do with range. It has to do with tone and color. Range is simply air speed combined with lip muscle work.

I agree but digress slightly from Erik. Erik is 98% absolutely correct!. The only part of the mouthpiece I think you should be concerned about in regards to you is the rim itself. I get my advanced students to use the same rim regardless of which treombone they are playing.

The rest of the mouthpiece needs to be specific to the instrument.(Yes, I know some of you will find this controversial) The mouthpiece is part of the instrument. The bore, back-bore, cup, etc all need to be designed around the instrument. As said earlier, some mouthpieces will help assist you in getting lower or higher notes easier (making them pop out easier). Some rims will also allow you to improve one way or the other; but only for a short period of time. Your range is your range.

I use different cups/underparts depnding on which instrument I am playing and depnding on where I want the little bit of extra help and flexibility. But my rim is always the same.

Match Underpart to the instrument.
Match the rim to you.

Yup yup yup! Which is why the extreme high end mouthpiece manufacturers ask you for your brand and model of instrument when purchasing. I'm dealing with that right now as I debate on just which Greg Black Alessi model I want.

my favorite is the Bach 6 1/2 Al
love it to death i learned on it, now I used it professionally