Best posts made by stumac

Dr Mark,
unfortunately no Cassowarys inhabit where I live in Aus, Bunyip urine is the best deterrent here.

Regards, Stuart.

The balance is extremely good with the thumb and forefinger each side of the valve block under the bell. With Dupoitrans contraction in both hands I normally hold a conventional horn underneath the valve block, with this one I can use the conventional hold.

Notice there is no pinkie hook or water key, my hand condition does not allow use of a hook and having played French horn for many years I can manage without a water key.

At 2lb 7oz it is not a lightweight horn.

Regards, Stuart.

As a retired electronic engineer with radio communication experience I realized that the trumpet has similar characteristics as a radio frequency transmission line.

Regardless of buzzing or or just blowing air through a trumpet mouthpiece the resultant sound waveform as seen by an audio spectrum analyzer contains a whole mix of frequencies in the audible range. Applying this to the trumpet we have this mix traveling forward through the length at the speed of sound ~ 1200 ft/second. Some of this wave traveling forward will be reflected from the change in impedance of the tube in the region of the bell and will interfere with the forward traveling wave creating a new standing wave the frequency of which will depend on the length of tube and energy level of the reflected wave,

When a peak of the reflected wave reaches the lips coinciding with a trough in the forward wave the lips will close momentarily and then reopen by the air flow, according to Benade this takes around 3 cycles for the standing wave to stabilize.

An easy demonstration is to just blow air into the trumpet with the mouthpiece attached with relaxed lips and open aperture, while keeping the air flowing slowly close the aperture, a point will be reached when the standing wave will develop and the trumpet will sound.

References,

A Textbook of Sound Edwin H. Barton

Fundamentals of Musical Acoustics Arthur H. Benade

Music, Physics and Engineering Harry F Olson

Basic Physics Vol 3 Sound and Light Martin and Connor.

Regards, Stuart.
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Mouthpieces I have modified have been free machining (leaded brass) with a lead content up to 3%, I have them silver plated. Raw brass gives an unpleasant taste.

A search of the British Medical Journal found only one report of assumed Brass Poisoning from brass workers from a foundry prior to WW1.

A mouthpiece I modified for a friend in a hurry and did not have time to get it plated, she painted the top with nail polish to match her fingernails.

Regards, Stuart.

https://horn-u-copia.net/library.shtml

Boosey and Hawkes Compensating System gives an excellent description of the theory of why 3 valve instruments need extended slides.

I can attest the Wiss is the most in tune trumpet I have, I have not had a chance to play it in a group as our Orchestra and Band have been shut down since mid March.

Regards, Stuart.

@trumpetlearner For my home cleaning I use a dilute CLR, one liter bottle in about 15 liters of water, this does a pretty good job, for heavy corrosion several soakings may be needed with a brushing between each. I usually immerse for about 1/2 hour, although I have inadvertantly left slides in overnight with seemingly no effect. White vinegar is also good, used straight, I once did a test by immersing one leg of a slide in a glass of white vinegar and left it for 24 nours, other a slight green tinge of the vinegar and the leg coming out clean I could not detect any other change.. I asked a repair man that I have a very good relations with what he used, he used a mixture of Phosphoric and Citric acids he could not tell me the concentration, just added to water till he thought it was enough. Regards, Stuart.

I envy people that work in wood, my woodworking skills start and end with chainsaw and axe for firewood.

Regards, Stuart.

I have been doing my own visual alignments for some years, I use a No 0 dental mirror ($4) and a single led Book light ($2), the second thing I do on a secondhand horn after a good cleaning.

2 examples come to mind, a Bach 1964 Mt Vernon Large bore purchased from a local shop on consignment from the estate of the original owner, it had been serviced by the shop, cleaned and new felts fitted.On getting it home I did not feel it lived up to the hype the Mt Vernons receive. Checking the valve alignment all valves werre out in the up position, rectifing this made a great player, all my friends that have tried it want it.

Purchased a 1941 York Custom from an on line dealer I had several transactions with, it arrived with a note saying "I hope you are happy with it, it does not play very well", this was an understatement, there was no note center at all! The valves were a long way out of alignment, rectifyng made it playable but I was not happy with it, the notes now centered but the tone was dull and lifeless, it had at one stage had the leadpipe bent and straightened not very well, the rear brace resoldered with an excess of solder, on heating up to remove the excess solder the brace let go with a loud pop as the tension was released, plays much better now.

One of these days I will dismantle the whole horn and reassemble stress free.

Valve alignment in most cases is a compromise, I have measured the difference in the spacing of the input and output ports of valves and found only 4 trumpets that I feel are within good engineering tolerance 0.002", coincidently they are my best players, 1949 Olds Super Recording Eclipse and Taylor with Bauerfine valves and 2020 Jerome Wiss 6/20.

Regards, Stuart.

@barliman2001. I also have a liking for the older horns, for Orchestra I us.e my Selmer Radials, Bb, C, D and Eb. For Bigband, Selmer B700L that my mother gave me for my 50th birthday in 1988. Another favorite is a Buffet Crampon Balanced made by Ernst Modl. I have not played many modern horns, I did like a Kuhnl and Hoyer, don't remember what model. My Favorite that eclipses all others is my Jerome Wiss 6/20, an absolute amazing horn that I have had for 12months. This is the last horn I will purchase. Regards, Stuart.

"The difference between one mouthpiece and another is about 3 weeks" Merv Simpson former Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

Thanks Bob, I have not had much experience with heavy caps, my Eclipse and Selmer Concept TT both came with light and heavy caps, on the Eclipse they did nothing, the Selmer dampened the higher harmonics to the extent it felt dull to me. I have a Taylor Magnum Max at 4lbs a very heavy horn that came with a Harrelson kit, fitting the original caps and buttons the response and sound is more to my liking. The best after market device I have found is Ivan's (Trumpetplus) "Resonance Enhancers" . I have fitted them to my Radials and my iteration of them to my other trumpets, in every case they have made a significant improvement. Regards, Stuart.

@bobmiller1969 said in Selmer Trumpet Bell Tapers?:

all

Some years ago I measured the tapers of my Selmer Bells using different sized washers mounted on a rod and measuring how far they went in.

I measured with three sizes and recorded the results, if I can find them they may be of interest to you.

1946 Grand Prix, 1950s Balanced, 1975 B700L, 2000 Concept TT, Ferron-Selmer C, Radial Bb, Radial 99C.

Regards, Stuart.

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.

@dr-go WOW!!! great glisses.

Regards, Stuart.

I did notice this when I blew a few notes on a 1941 York Custom that I had not played for some time, thinking I do not remember it being this bad I put it down intending to investigate later. Mystery solved.

Regards, Stuart.

@trumpetsplus Congratulations Ivan on the new venture. your new website is not recognized by Google, I get taken to Prof.Dr Matthias Bertsch alias Dr Trumpet. Regards, Stuart.

No prices given. but if I have to ask the price I cannot afford it. Regards, Stuart.