Posts made by Newell Post

We played it at my band last week.

Thanks, all. Yeah, I usually travel with my Dillon pocket trumpet wrapped up in a towel and stuffed into the suitcase. I have a mini practice mute that fits the small bell and works well. It's all, well, sort of OK, but could be better.

Anybody have any experience with the Carol mini trumpet? It looks a little smaller than the pocket.

OK, so next September, I need to make a trip that will have me away from home for 3 weeks. Part of the time will be in France, so it means lots of planes, trains, and automobiles. I always travel light, and I don't want to haul around more than the minimum. What I really want is a plastic pocket trumpet about the size of the Carol Brass mini trumpet just to use for embouchure exercise.
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I have an inexpensive pocket trumpet (Dillon), but it is still a little larger and heavier than ideal. I also have a plastic cornet (Tromba). It is lighter, but still larger than ideal to stuff in a suitcase. (And the valves are horrible.) I know about buzzing and various exercisers, but a horn I can actually play always works better for me. I don't care about what it sounds like, I just want embouchure exercise.

Has anybody ever seen a very small plastic pocket trumpet (just for travel) that takes a standard mouthpiece?

Thanks.

@bigdub The water droplets are very good.

@ssmith1226 I like polyurethane glue. (Gorilla Glue) You need to clamp it for a while and it can ooze out, but it sticks great.

@furcifer Also note that most HS students don't have the experience to effectively differentiate between pro-level horns. Bach is the safe, if uninspired, choice for most HS students wanting to progress. At the college level, many players have the ability to differentiate and decide on the best horn for them: maybe Bach, maybe something else.

@newell-post More Bondo. That's what it really needs.

Bach Mercedes currently on eBay. "It was owned by William "Dutch" Walters who was a member of the Tommy & Jimmy Dorsey Band around 1918 before they split, and Tommy created his own band. Dutch & the Dorsey brothers were childhood friends." Only $450. Just a little more solder, electrical tape, and JB Weld, and it would be perfect.

@barliman2001 Cool. Thanks, Barliman. That wrap looks a little like some of the Puje horns.

@rowuk I was wondering if it might be a Buescher. It would make sense for a Chicago music store to get their "house brand" inventory from a maker nearby, like Buescher.

I haven't been able to find any photos of Buescher horns with those proportions and that wrap near the third valve. However, Olds did wraps somewhat like that on a few models. But the wrap gives it an elegant appearance: longer than most cornets and shorter than most trumpets, but nicely proportioned.

It's certainly in good condition, whatever it is!

@newell-post Sorry. Correct that. If you look closely, the main slide just loops around without entering the third valve.

Note how the third valve appears to have two slides coming off of it? That is why the horn looks short.

With no valves depressed, the air probably goes through the slide with the water key, but not the other slide. (The slide with the water key is probably the main tuning slide.) With the third valve depressed, the air probably loops through both slides.

I'm not a Conn person, but it seems like Conn experimented with some strange valve slide configurations like that. It might be a "house brand" Conn of some kind, but I will defer to the Conn experts present.

I'm a DIY-er also. But I'm fortunate enough to be able to take the more valuable horns to the pros when necessary. I only try major things on "project" horns of little value and I only do simple, routine things on the more valuable horns. This guy was mentioned above, but he has a very good series of videos on YouTube.....

There are also many other good tutorials on YouTube.

My most recent project has been lapping the valves on my Bach Mercedes. Before I started, that horn had the stickiest, balkiest valves of any horn I ever played. If that was really a Strad valve block before it went into the Mercedes, it must have been a "second" or reject block. I still don't have the valves the way I want, but they are much better than when I started. To avoid over-lapping, I only do a little hand-lapping and then clean it out thoroughly, play for a few days, and repeat. Nothing appears to be bent or warped. A pro could probably have gotten it right in one operation instead of several trial-end-error sessions, like me. But what the heck. I enjoy it and the horn is only a backup and practice instrument.

BTW, if something blocks air when valves are not depressed, how do you know for sure it is the third valve? Does the horn block air with the third valve up and pass air OK with the third valve down? That would be really weird.

Some might think this brutal, but here goes....

When I have an old horn that has been stored for a long time or one of uncertain provenance, I flush it out -- and I mean flush it out -- with one of these plumbing things hooked to the garden hose. But MAKE SURE all of the slides are held firmly in place somehow. It can blow out even loose-ish slides. Hold the horn firmly -- really firmly -- and press the valves one at a time. That will circulate water under pressure through all tubes and flush out almost anything smaller than a small dog. Then make sure all of the pistons are installed in the right casing and with the right orientation. If that doesn't work, abandon all hope.

...at my Mom's house in Kansas City for the holidays. (She's 99.) I leave my old Getzen Severinsen here at Mom's house and use it for practice when I am here. Bach Strad is my daily driver, but every time I come to Mom's and play the old Severinsen for a few days, I remember how good those Getzen valves are and how facile that old thing feels.

It's easy to install Bach valves backwards. Not so with Getzen. That was one of the things I always liked about Getzen.

@_mark_ Try.... https://www.ferreestoolsinc.com/ But the items you are seeking are pretty esoteric.

@j-jericho Our band did that one right before COVID. What great fun. English tunes tend to be tasty and elegant while American ones tend to be more exuberant. Both are great as long as the two different styles don't get commingled.