Posts made by stumac

Great you have figured it out while you are still young, it took me until my early 70s, third trumpet in an amateur big band playing 3 and 4 hour dinner dances and being toast by the 3rd set.

Recalling what the old Soprano cornet player told me when I joined the Brass band in 1946 as an eight year old but did not understand at the time was "Hold her lightly and kiss her gently".

Watching Tine Helseth and other players seemingly effortless and learning to emulate them, now at approaching 82 I am playing a mix of 1st and 2nd parts in Big band playing longer, higher and with a much better sound, able to play 4, 45 minute sets without much fatigue.

I have stopped Free and Mouthpiece buzzing, I used to do a lot of each and have come to the conclusion they introduce unnecessary tension in the lips.

It is difficult to get the concept across in my experience, a lady that used to help us out at times in orchestra has given up playing because of chop problems playing with a lot of tension and pressure, when trying to explain to her what I am doing now she thought I had stumbled upon something but did not think it would help her.

Another friend, an average player buzzing his lips and mouthpiece before a rehearsal when asked why he was doing this as I felt it is counter productive I was firmly put in my place with "Better players than you buzz their lips and mouthpiece".

I see far too many players fighting themselves and the instrument and being content to remain so.

Regards, Stuart.

I have checked my 80A the wheel spindle has a groove about 1/8" from the bottom, with the slide disengaged adjust the wheel until the groove is level with the bottom of the bearing tube, start the thread on the slide at this point and the slide will fully close.

Regards, Stuart.

Sounds like you have an out of balance between the 2 sides of the adjusting screw, remove the screw altogether and check the slide goes all the way in smoothly and not something stopping it.

If ok then reassemble starting both ends at the same time, this should fix it, if not then measure the difference in length of exposed thread each side of the wheel, engage the longer side by the difference before engaging the other side.

Regards, Stuart.

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.

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

Regards, Stuart.

It is a little early for them down here yet.

Regards, Stuart.

Except for the 3rd horn where I started in 1946, only plays the off beats and when I get them in orchestra I feel I have not progressed.

Regards, Stuart.

Been there and done that!

George I have started a chat with you as one 80 year old to another, perhaps I can give you some pointers that have fixed me.

Regards, Stuart.

25 years ago I was having trumpet lessons from a retired brass teacher whose principle instrument was horn, he did not have any horn students, in a fit of mental abberation I bought a horn and had him teach me, joined a community symphony orchestra where the horn section was a girl playing an Alto Saxophone and a friend playing an Eb Tenor horn neither fitted in.

Eventually a couple of horn players joined I convinced the Eb player to go back to trumpet that was his prime instrument. After the concert tomorrow I will change to trumpet to balance the brass a little more, we will then have 5 Horns and 4 trumpets having lost 2 in the last year.

Sunday I have a 2 hour gig playing 2nd trumpet in the Big Band I have played in for 20+ years.

Regards, Stuart.

@tjcombo said in A little humour:

@SSmith1226 That was bonzer Sport! A grouse effort for a Septic!

Translation: bonzer = good, sport = mate , friend, grouse = (a small ground dwelling bird), great, excellent, Septic = cockney rhyming slang, septic tank = yank (american).

I have a 1938 Leica 2 with 3 lenses, extension tubes and variable viewfinder that a friend gave me, it was one of the few things the family managed to bring with them on escaping from Czechoslovia during WW2. Also 2 Leicaflex SL that were my parents with prime lenses from 21mm to 560mm. these work extremely well on my Sony A7 with adaptors.

Regards, Stuart.

In addition to the Bass Clarinet I see 2 trumpets with tuners on them.

Regards, Stuart.

In my youth I knew a family whose name was Mueller, the grandmother came to Australia before WW1, born in Germany in the 1870s, she pronounced her name as Miller, she would correct anyone that pronounced it any other way.

Regards, Stuart.

I have never done a direct comparison, I will when I get home from holiday next week, can compare Bach Mt Vernon Large bore with a Bach Model 38 Medium bore.

However without some standards of measurements the results can be only subjective.

Regards, Stuart.

About 30 years ago I was playing trumpet in a community concert band, we had an excess of trumpets and no horns.

The MD asked me to look at a couple of secondhand horns in a music shop, not that I knew anything about horns, one was a beaten up Amarti, the other a French Selmer in excellent condition and reasonably priced,

I n a moment of insanity I bought the Selmer, then found a teacher for lessons, I played that horn in the concert band for 15 years until I moved away.

1990 I was invited by a friend to join a community symphony orchestra where the horn section was a Eb tenor horn and an Alto Sax playing transposed parts, at that time I was playing trumpet in an amateur Big Band.

Currently still playing in both groups, Trumpet on thursday nights and Horn on saturday mornings. For a while I found some difficulty with the change of fingering from one to the other, eventually no problem.

Playing 2nd horn a lot of the time I am an octave lower than the 1st, she marks my part where she wants me to go up to give her a rest and she is half my age.

Regards, Stuart

I was a bit disappointed with that stand, with a trumpet on each of the folding legs it felt unstable, I filled the fixed leg with lead shot, improved the stability but made it a lot heavier.

A good idea of Niner, I will do something similar to mine. I use one of the posts which I shortened and attached to the bottom of my music stand,

Regards, Stuart.

It seems to me that the basic layout of the trumpet has not changed in 130 years, we have the modern piston valve trumpet originated in the1890s I think and refined to the pre WW2 Besson that most modern instruments are based on, and the European rotary design.

R and D and retooling are a very expensive process for a company making a product that they have a market for with no guarantee of acceptance.

Lots of variables to the basic design, light and heavy weight, different leadpipe and bell tapers, straight or stepped bores, no and position of braces, diameter of bellrim etc but all of the common layout.

This is one of the reasons I have put my money up for a Jerome Wiss 6/20 trumpet, he has gone outside the conventional design, I will not have it until later in the year, looking forward to it and will write an extensive report on it.

Regards, Stuart.

@ROWUK said in Best ebay description I have seen in a long time!:

Yep, the shiniest trumpet - for the first 6 months. The problem with heavy trumpets is that unless they are really well tuned, the honeymoon is over after 8 weeks.
Very true, I have a Taylor Chicago 46 Magnum Max, at just over 4 lbs the heaviest horn I own, played it at a couple of gigs and a week long music camp, Got it out last week and found I could not hold it up for more than 30 seconds.

Regards, Stuart.

@ROWUK said in Is a $280 New Bach Stradivarius Trumpet too good to be true?:

Kodak learned the hard way what happens when the market and the product no longer match. The digital revolution blew them out of the water. How many manufacturers of instruments are now dead. Why are they dead?

This reminds me of a talk I gave to the Victorian Leica Society about 20 years on aspects of photography I was persuing at that time and equipment I had built, I concluded my talk by holding a page from a magazine advertising the first Kodak Digital Camera with Docking station, when I said "this is the future of photography", I was greeted with laughter and derision.

The reasons for the demise of many trumpet makers I think are many, lack of skilled workforce, rising costs of labour, shrinking market, takeovers by corperate raiders and others.
Just some thoughts.

Regards, Stuart.