Posts made by barliman2001

@GeorgeB said in Christmas Services:

@barliman2001
Now that was one really interesting situation. Playing in the cold is definitely no fun. But I'm sure you did well, sir.

As to playing in the cold - one Austrian oompah band a few years back bought several score of hand warmers (working with burning coal sticks inside) to zip tie to the valve blocks of instruments to avoid freezing (which is liable to happen at below zero temperatures). On one occasion, before a Christmas market gig, these hand warmers were lit and issued. Most of the guys directly zip tied them to the instruments and just carried the unwrapped instruments to the gig ( a few hundred yards down the road). One of the flugel players did not yet bother to fumble with the zip ties but just tossed the hand warmer into his gig bag. Half-way down to the gig, his bag was giving off smoke signals... the hand warmer had come undone and spilt the burningcoal inside, setting the lining on fire... when the guy investigated and opened up the bag, he was welcomed by a raging flame. The local fire brigade had a busy fifteen minutes putting the blazing bag out, and the insurance later refused to pay for the burnt-up flugel (an almost new gold-plated Votruba Professional worth around € 5,000) due to "culpable negligence".

@GeorgeB said in Christmas Services:

@barliman2001
Now that was one really interesting situation. Playing in the cold is definitely no fun. But I'm sure you did well, sir.

We did miserably. No doubt about it.

OK, first interim report. Played a Midnight Christmas service last night, as additional trumpet for a group consisting of a Lutheran parson and his seven daughters. The church we played in is rarely used - Christmas, Easter, and the occasional wedding - so the heating in the church had only been switched on an hour previous. No snow yet, but bloody cold. No rehearsal - just a list of numbers from the Lutheran Hymn book and its official Trombone Choir Arrangement book. The group - the parson, on a vintage Yamaha rotary. Daughter One on a rather decrepit Amati French horn. Daughter Two on a Cerveny rotary tenor horn, Daughter Three on a ramshackle Jupiter student bone, Daughter Four on an ancient Conn bellfront euphonium. Daughters Five and Six on no-name rotary baritone horns, and Daughter Seven, the youngest and smallest (age 13 and a half) on an enormous 1890s vintage Bb tuba. And, of course, the parson's wife on a pair of timps with half the tuning screws broken off.
We tuned up about 15 minutes before service. Then, there was a long wait because quite a few dignitaries had turned up (vice mayor, fire chief, police chief, President of the Lions Club, President of the Lutheran Women's League, the Catholic Priest with the President of the Parish Council) and were saying a few words as Christmas greetings. First tune was played an exact 40 minutes after tune-up, in a freezing church... we sounded like a fire truck with asthma. The cooling of the instruments had worked havoc with the tuning, and a few of the daughters just were unable to provide enough air for their instruments... In total, we played nine tunes and decided not to continue carolling after the service (as had been planned), as the tuba and one of the baritones had seized up due to cold...

Well, the Getzen Eterna picc escaped me, and Trent has agreed to find me one of his ACB Doubler piccs, so as soon as he accepts my money, I'll try it out and report.

Well, I think a Festivus song would not be in the spirit of the festival... unless you take all your grievances and make them into one long rap. Or you could use this...

@ACB said in Which picc?:

@barliman2001 Sorry for the delay I just got back from the Midwest Show and saw this note. This was not a confirmed sale (as you mention about transferring funds we did not have payment for this order... if we had a confirmed payment we would have held the horn) and we then had someone purchase it at a show. Unfortunately for us we have been burned so many times about people ordering an instrument and not paying losing out on other sales. Our company policy is that all horns are available until a fully confirmed payment has been made.

We offered an alternative option and obviously you are disappointed. I do see your side and would like to see if there's anything I can do to make this happen. Feel free to email us again and perhaps we can get you another demo. I will see if that's possible.

Respectfully,

Trent

Hi Trent,

hope I am not annoying you by taking up this thread again. But I feel that I judged your offer of the ACB Doubler picc hastily. I've just come across your 2017 video comparing the Scherzer with the ACB Doubler, and that has me convinced. Taking into account that obviously at the time, you were less at home with rotaries than with pistons, and that playing a Scherzer with the same mouthpiece as the ACB Doubler will have the Scherzer in difficulties because rotary piccs (and the Scherzer in particular) want something very special in mouthpieces, like a Breslmair G1, the sound of the ACB Doubler was really amazing. So I'm taking up your offer of the ACB Doubler picc, and I have put one into my online cart. Thank you.

@ACB said in Which picc?:

@barliman2001 Sorry for the delay I just got back from the Midwest Show and saw this note. This was not a confirmed sale (as you mention about transferring funds we did not have payment for this order... if we had a confirmed payment we would have held the horn) and we then had someone purchase it at a show. Unfortunately for us we have been burned so many times about people ordering an instrument and not paying losing out on other sales. Our company policy is that all horns are available until a fully confirmed payment has been made.

We offered an alternative option and obviously you are disappointed. I do see your side and would like to see if there's anything I can do to make this happen. Feel free to email us again and perhaps we can get you another demo. I will see if that's possible.

Respectfully,

Trent

Well, seems there are differences in the US and Europe what is considered "an agreed sale". It's difficult enough buying from the States, what with some sellers not even considering non-US customers. But that's just how the world is, and we'll leave it at that. All the best, and have a Merry Christmas.

@administrator said in Which picc?:

Well, since this is public now, I'll put in my input.

I think @ACB has a fairly reasonable policy. They are a for-profit business, and nothing really is "yours" until you have put all the money down. Some companies offer layaway for a portion of the sales price.

I'm sorry it didn't work for you, @barliman2001. Hopefully, you'll find a good horn of equal or greater value.

As for piccolo, if I had money for one, I'd go buy a Scherzer 8111 (Silver, with the left-hand tuning trigger) and call it a day.

Good idea, admin. If you had read all the posts, you would have seen that I HAD a Scherzer and have done with rotaries for ever. What I wanted was a reasonably non-expensive horn as an add-on to my main high trumpet, the Selmer G. In Europe, the moment a contract is agreed upon, the object in question is automatically reserved for a certain period or until payment is made. And I had made it quite clear that I was willing to pay, only due to differences in US and European payment modalities needed advice as to how to pay. And during that short interval (we're talking hours, not days) the horn was sold - even though I had got an e-mail that the horn was still in my online shopping cart. Oh well, shit happens. It's only a bit aggravating because I had now bid on a Getzen Eterna on e-bay, and was highest bidder at something like $1500, and during the last five minutes, while I was fast asleep (at four a.m. European time), someone sneaked in and won it... which leaves me with a definite date on which to use a picc - 25 January - and no picc in sight. Probably will have to transcribe all the music for the G and then work my way around all the sharps (in one piece it will land me with 6 sharps...)

"My mother-in-law used to live just a stone's throw away." -
"Why did she move?" -
"I think I hit her too often."

@Dr-GO said in SEASON'S GREETINGS:

Barliman2001, may you too have a Merry Merry. AND if you are in Dayton Ohio on the 24th, come join us in the one seat have left at the table. I am taking my entire wife's family (farmers) out to the Golden Lamb Inn (Oldest Inn in Ohio - 7 Presidents have slept there, and Sammuel Clemens) for Holiday Dinner. It's all on me.

Thank you, Gary, for that kind invitation. Unfortunately, Dayton is a bit far from Vienna (too far anyway for a short day trip by car!), otherwise I would take you up on that offer. We'll be cosily at home before a roaring fire, and on the 28th, all the family will turn up for a belated Christmas gathering and my famous Honey-Roast Duck with an Italian herb and chestnut filling, with red cabbage in wine and home-made potato dumplings - I've pre-ordered three plump ducks as we will be that many people! But as soon as I get myself back into some kind of physical shape, I'll be sitting on your doorstep.

Many of us will be very busy indeed during the last days before Christmas; so I take this opportunity to wish everyone a very happy festive season, whether you celebrate Christmas, Chanukka, the Return of the Missing Asteroid, the Feast of the Burnt Turkey or the Feast of Nothing at all. May all of you return to tell us about how you spent your time, and whether you had a Good Time or a Bad Time. And should you have a bad time, please remember that here on TB, at least one Global Moderator will be on duty, listening to your concerns and ready with advice if wanted or needed. Bye, 2019.

A Catholic priest, a Lutheran parson and a Rabbi were discussing how to handle the distribution of the collection between themselves and the Lord (as the priest put it). He said, "I always draw a circle around me, throw all the money in the air, and I keep what's outside the circle." - "Good method," says the Lutheran. "I use it myself. But I keep everything that's inside the circle." - "Why draw circles?", says the Rabbi. "The Good Lord is all-powerful, he does not need such puny devices. For me, it's quite simple. I throw all the money up to the Lord, and He returns to me whatever He deems appropriate for my needs."

Another parson, before handing round the collection basket, told the congregation, "By this time, I'm well set up in buttons, can you provide some needles and thread today?"

When the plate was handed round, a Scottish parson said, "Well, I don't mind you putting in buttons - but please provide your own buttons and don't tear them off the pew cushions!"

There is a Heaven for old and decrepit dollar bills... When a one-dollar bill and a fiver came there, they were admitted instantly. Then, a 100 dollar bill arrived at the gate, the Guardian Angel told it, "You can't come in here - I never saw you in Church!"

@Dr-GO On the brink... hovering...

Last week, I lost nine pounds.
Luckily, I found them again in the cookie jar.

A guy is travelling in a taxi and wants the driver to stop at a KFCs. So he taps the driver on the shoulder. The cabman brakes the taxi hard, jumps out of the cab and runs away, screaming. After about five minutes, the cabbie returns, shamefaced, and explains: "You know, sir, I'm only helping out a friend. My day job is driving the coroner's van..."

A guy is lying in a hospital ward. In comes a man in a white coat and starts fiddling about with a measuring tape. "Wh-why a-are you m-m-measuring me, Doctor?" the patient asks, faintly. - "Doctor? I'm not the doctor, I'm the joiner..."