This paper presents a theoretical approach to describe the characteristics of vibration transmission in the waveguide with varying cross-section. The waveguide considered in this paper has a tapered section in the middle of an axisymmetric stepped rod. The distributions of the vibration displacement and stress along the waveguide were derived and they were verified by comparing the theoretically-calculated results with those obtained by the finite-element analysis. The vibration magnification and the concentrated stress under forced vibration were calculated for this rod according to the taper length. The paper established a theoretical basement of designing waveguides for maximizing the vibration transmission under minimum stress concentration.