@J-Jericho said in Remember when butchers wore a blue and white striped apron?:
...Perhaps Dr. GO would care to comment, considering the finish on his Ambassador.
Yes, I did have my Ambassador beaded and I will give you a before and after comparison of the sound. But I must first give a description as to the condition before and after beading of this horn as well, as the sound was definitely positively influenced after this modification.
My Ambassador was given as a "hand me down" to my brother in 1973 when I went off to college and he was 4 years behind me, beginning high school with marching band ahead. My brother was not kind to that horn, and when I got it back from him many decades latter around 2005, it was a mess. The bell was severely bent (and angled to the right), several tuning slides were dented in, but it was still playable but sounded "thin".
I decided to give Tom Green this horn as a challenge, mostly for repair, and also to attach a third valve ring. When he got the horn, he asked me about the finish and I saw his website and loved his gold beading work, so I requested the beaded finish. When I got the horn back, it was first of all stunningly beautiful, but its sound... its sound... It was a rebirth. Rich, dark and full. Now was it the beading? Was it the repair of the bell (bell taper is so important to a horn;s sound), or was it a new bracing attachment of the third valve ring? Not sure, but whatever it was that Tom did to this horn resulted in nothing less then a magical sound. So I am sold on gold beading, and Tom Green's repairs!
