Best posts made by Dale Proctor

If you have a round, tapered punch, just stick it in the end and gently press it in (using hand pressure only) until the end is round again. Do not tap it with a hammer, or you will flare the end and it won’t fit correctly any more.

"Brass bands are all very well in their place - outdoors and several miles away ." - Sir Thomas Beecham

I played an Easter service today in our church (Baptist) with a large double brass choir. I played the top line on both pieces, but I usually play 2nd part in the church orchestra. This was the call to worship:

This was the second hymn of the service - fanfare and melody on V.1, fanfare and descant on V.3:

Those old Conn trumpets have a sleeve over the leadpipe, so you’ll never see red rot on the outside of one. The only way to see it is by pulling the tuning slide out and looking inside the leadpipe for hard, crusty spots that are slightly elevated.

I refrained from commenting on this thread till now, and I think out of courtesy, I will say no more…

@kehaulani said in Trumpet playing Christmas marathon is over!:

Is that a 38-B?

It’s a 1960 6B Victor. Same architecture as the Connstellation with the wide wrap and large bell flare, but less the slide stops, trigger, and some of the nickel plating.

@Richard-III said in Old vintage maintenance.Conn:

In 60 years of playing, I've never seen red rot. Some of my horns are well over a hundred years old. I don't swab or put oil down the lead pipe. I rarely give my horns a bath. If they get gunky, I'll then do the bath thing.

So that brings up a question, how common really is it for those of you that have had the problem?

I’ve never owned an instrument that developed red rot, and I’ve played a couple of them for 40 years now, and a third one for 20 years. And, I am pretty lax about cleaning them as often as I should. Maybe the brass used was resistant to it, but I suspect a large part of the red rot problem is just a high level of acidity in the owner’s saliva, with a lack of horn cleanliness just being a contributing factor. We’ve all seen people whose hands quickly eat through the exterior finish on a trumpet and then attack the brass underneath, while other people don’t have that problem. I’d guess it’s the same thing with saliva - some peoples’ saliva corrodes brass, and others’ saliva doesn’t.

I own a couple instruments that do have red rot, but they already had it when I bought them. The rot is an aesthetic blemish right now, but I’ll probably be 6 feet under before there are actually any holes in the leadpipes.

If the horn isn’t stopped up and it’s very difficult to play, your water key(s) may be leaking badly. Of course, if you haven’t touched a horn in 60 years, it’s probably you. Taking a break from playing for that long is like starting over.

@GeorgeB

Thanks, George. Yep, I’m a pretty good sight reader, and you nailed it - if it’s printed out, I can make a good stab at playing it, but music with nothing but chord changes written are beyond my ability. When a solo like that crops up, all I can do is some basic ornamentation of the main theme of the song. Playing by ear is a definite no-go, too. I suppose it has to do with all my past “legit” musical experience and never really being involved much with any kind of improv (and I don’t think my brain is wired correctly to do it, anyway). I’m just happy to do what I can and hopefully contribute to music making wherever I’m playing. It’s been an interesting ride so far...

I just finished playing a 3-hour dress rehearsal, five 2-hour concerts, two 1-hour concerts, and a church service over the past 5 days. 1st part on everything except for 2nd part on Rutter’s Gloria. That, and 10 to 15 other pieces (many of them pretty demanding) every concert. Man , what a blow…I began to worry if I’d make it through the whole thing since I basically took 2020 off, didn’t play much in 2021, and have been trying to get back into shape this year. Rutter Gloria 10 times in 5 days…lol

So, what have all of you been playing/rehearsing for the holidays?

I have a couple…a 1969 L-12 flugelhorn with a GR/Melk leadpipe and a 1977 A-11E Eb/D trumpet.

YESSSSSS (8 letter minimum post length)

Have any of you noticed that when you pick up a horn you haven’t played in months, it doesn’t seem to play as well as it should? Sort of unresponsive, maybe the tone is a little lacking, etc.? After you play it a bit, it seems to improve, and then if you keep playing another day or two, it seems back to “normal”? Does moisture have anything to do with it, or do you think it’s just a lack of recent familiarity with the horn (even though you’ve played it a lot in the past) that makes it seem sub par?

@flugelgirl

I came down with something the 2nd day after my marathon gig was over, and am still not well. I suppose I caught it being around all those people for 5 days in a row. Luckily, I don’t have anything to play for till after New Year’s Day. Hope you have a fast recovery!

@Curlydoc

I took a few glamour shots of my 1890 F. Besson London Nouveau Etoile model A/Bb/C cornet today. It’s a neat old instrument, and plays surprisingly well to be 130 years old. It’s listed on the Galpin Society of 19th century Besson instruments known to exist. The surviving company books list this one as shipped to Carl Fischer, New York, in December 1890.

@stumac said in Dry instrument vs Wet instrument:

This morning I played my1931 King Silver Tone trumpet for the first time in over 12months, the valves were free and smooth, I did not oil them (shame) and found as Dale the tone was dull and lifeless, after about 10 minutes of playing the tone was much improved and sounded more like me. I will try it again tomorrow after playing my usual horns.

I have not noticed this on any of my other horns that get played on a regular basis.

Regards,Stuart.

Thanks for the confirmation, Stuart.

@ROWUK said in Dry instrument vs Wet instrument:

Moisture! The speed of sound in moist air is different than in dry and in the microcosmos of the trumpet, that is a big deal. Intonation and targets change.
Granted, if one has minimal chops, other issues may mask the effect.
A „moist“ instrument is different than just running water through it first (although that does help some).

This is such a fundamental thing for me that I will not risk playing a gig on a dry trumpet (even although it is only dry for the first 10 minutes or so). When testing trumpets, the first 10 minutes do not count.

Thank you for the info and confirmation, sir!

@tmd

No, I still have it. I’ve flirted a few times with selling it, but no takers…

I’ll be using this field trumpet to sound Taps. A real musical instrument made by Kanstul, this one pitched in Bb. I use a Bach 6BM trumpet mouthpiece in it, which I found to give good intonation and a nice tone. I keep it in an old American-wrap cornet case. Practice mute is for warming up a bit in the car at the cemetery before a military burial.

There’s an active duty military family that live across the street, and they plan on stepping outside to listen. Just today, I found out their oldest son, who is 10, has recently begun taking trumpet lessons, so he will probably have a special interest in it.