Posts made by Newell Post

Delrin (plastic) works well for some people with metal allergies, but they're not cheap. Maybe the college knows of a source where you can borrow one to try.

https://store.wedgemouthpiece.com/665mv-trumpet-top-plastic/

It was the Zimmerman telegram that finally convinced the USA into enter WWI. The USA had gone to great lengths to avoid war up until that point.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimmermann_Telegram

@IrishTrumpeter The significant thing about the 7C is the shape of the rim. The inner lip of the rim is very "sharp" while the outer rim is heavily rounded. Some people think this makes it easier to lip between notes. The cup size is about average or maybe slightly smaller than average. The combination of the rim shape and the cup size might be making it easier for you to hit and hold those notes. The 7C is the standard mouthpiece often given to beginners for the reasons above. Some advanced players continue using it if it works for them. Other advancing players switch to something like the 3C which has a slightly larger cup and a flatter rim. The larger cup helps with tone and the flatter rim helps with endurance. If you want to try a "smaller" mouthpiece, one of the most common ones is the 10.5C. It has a fairly flat rim. Vincent Bach himself said the 10.5C was the perfect mouthpiece for C-trumpet or "anyone with weak lips."

And now for something a little different.....

https://goldcountry.craigslist.org/msg/d/nevada-city-unique-multi-instrament/7182908020.html

@BigDub Iowa. Nobody hates Iowa.

@Rapier232 Great story, Rapier232. But when you do eventually get to come visit the USA, just remember that Texas isn't well, you know, quite representative of the whole country. Let's just say it that way. And, oh yeah, visit in the wintertime. Coming from London, you won't be acclimated to Texas summers. And, oh yeah #2, buy travel insurance and medical evacuation insurance. You don't want to get sick in Texas and try to get treated with NHS coverage.

@BigDub I swear on a stack of bibles that I am good personal friends with the professor of forensic pathology who said the last one.

@Vulgano-Brother "You're gonna need a bigger trumpet", to paraphrase "Jaws."

Senior political appointees serve at the pleasure of the president. This includes cabinet secretaries, assistant secretaries, etc. Career civil servants do not.

Costco "office glasses" work great for me. They are "blended bifocals" with middle-distance prescription uppers and reading-distance prescription lowers.

Everclear is 75.5% FWIW. I was using it as hand sanitizer when the stores were all sold out.

@GeorgeB You know, I had a set of those "Sound Creation High Speed" springs lying around in my spare parts box that I bought a few years ago and never used. I put them in and couldn't tell much difference between them and a new set of Bach OEM springs. I have a "Pro Constellation" C trumpet I bought from a guy that has VERY stiff springs. I don't what those things are, but you really need to mash those valves. They are very fast and very reliable, but you gotta really muscle them.

@grune Thanks, grune. It's a Bach Mercedes, which uses the Strad valve block, so the pistons are monel. If the oil doesn't continue to address the problem, I'll take it to the tech to check the tolerances, assuming the shop ever re-opens.

@administrator The Monette costs about $10K. The artsy-fartsy decoration accounts for the rest.

@grune Yes, we are living in a golden age. I love the vintage horns, but the modern ones are more consistent and more reliable. You also have many more choices today in terms of materials, geometry, and many other variables. And trumpets are cheap compared to many other instruments. When you can buy a slightly used top of the line, professional trumpet for about $1,500, that's a golden age. If you really want to spend $10K on a trumpet, you can. But you don't need to.

So, here's a recent valve oil story. And the answer is........ Monster Oil "Smoother (Our Thickest)."

A while ago I bought a Bach Mercedes from a guy, just for a backup horn and because it was cheap. The serial number dates it to about 1980. It has a few dings, but no major dents. The silver plate is 99% and the valves have excellent compression.

The first thing I did when I got it was (of course) a thorough cleaning. After that cleaning, it had two small problems: the first and third slides were very sticky and the first and second valves would hang up slightly on the upstroke. I polished the slides with Flitz and I also polished the pistons and casings VERY slightly first with Flitz and then with toothpaste.

After a second VERY thorough cleaning, the slides were perfect, but the valves still balked once in the while. (They felt perfect when first picking up the horn. But after playing for a while, as the horn warmed up, the valves would still balk on the upstroke once in a while.) Hetman #1 and #2 didn't seem to make any difference.

Next, I replaced the valve guides, valve springs, felts, and even the valve stems with new Bach OEM parts and did a third very thorough cleaning. This time I tried all 3 Hetman oils and still had occasional valve upstroke problems. At this point, I thought: "OK. That exhausts my bag of tricks. It has to go to the tech. But, oh wait. The shop is closed due to COVID-19. It will need to wait for a while. No problem. I have other horns."

But, since I'm mostly stuck at home, I thought I would try some of the Monster Oil "Smoother" I have sitting around for vintage horns, just as an experiment. I wiped everything off and applied the oil. When inserting the pistons in the casings, I made sure to rotate the pistons in the casings 3 or 4 turns before locking them in, just to make sure the oil coated all 360 degrees. And what do you know? It worked. At least so far, after about a week of playing: no valve hang ups.

I don't really have a good explanation for this. If the valves were too tight, you would expect the thinner/light oils to work better. But the heavier Monster Oil seems to be the answer for this horn, for whatever reason.

Torpedo cases are very sturdy and well made, in my experience. They do a great job of protecting your horn. But they are not the best when it comes to storing all of the "incidental" stuff that goes along with trumpet playing... mutes, sheet music, pencils, clothes pins, water bottle, trumpet stand, mute holder, spare eyeglasses, tissues, etc. etc. I like Protec for well made, inexpensive cases that can also hold all of the detritus.

@Dr-GO Oh. 4 valves. That explains it.

Well, there's always....

1. Pearl Jam
2. Guns and Roses
3. Stone Temple Pilots
4. Queen
5. The Doors
6. Led Zeppelin
7. Radiohead
8. Smashing Pumpkins
9. Alice in Chains
10. Cat Stevens (or almost any band named after an animal)
11. Blind Melon
12. Rolling Stones
13. Sex Pistols
14. The Police
15. The Beatles (spelling....)