Posts made by stumac

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.

Having horns with Stainless Steel (Bauerfine) Taylor and Eclipse, Monel Selmer, Nickle Plate Selmer Cornet obvious valve recondition 1st valve, Bronze Boosey Solbron Holton Llewellen, if valves and casings are clean and free from deposits and lubricated all for me work well for me, no perceptible differences.

What is more important to me is alignment, the Eclipse Tsylor and 1949 Olds Super have the best alignment of all my horns, happen to be the best players, currently investigating aspects of alignment, will start a new thread when I have more data.

Regards, Stuart.

Jerome Wiss, a French maker who has completely redesigned the trumpet including the valve block with only 2 passages through the valves, in the up position the air goes through one port in one direction, in the down position the same port in the opposite direction, makes it all himself.

He came on TH three years ago announcing his new trumpet and was driven off by people who could not understand how it worked.

I ordered one beginning of April, delivery November/December.

Regards, Stuart.

My 1941 Super has a slight ring, as I do my own repairs I would fill the crack with low melting point silver solder (lead free).

I have a 1925 Besson trumpet awaiting restoration with a much bigger crack in the bell extending into the flare which I will repair with a higher melting point silver solder. The Besson Bell rings when flicked, it does not have the tone ring.

I am not a trained brass technician, a working lifetime in electronic and electrical instrument making and repair.

My feelings are to keep the horn, they are great instruments.

Regards, Stuart.

No bids, optomistic starting price.

Regards, Stuart.

The Vocabell is bright but it does not hold a candle to the Olds CHR.

I will bring mine in on thursday.

Regards, Stuart.

@N1684T said in An exercise in futility?:

I have considered buying a cheap Piccolo myself just to piddle with. Real ones are very expensive.....$100 gets you an Injun Special;)

If you do, I recommend fitting proper tapered receivers to the leadpipes so the mouthpiece fits properly.

Regards, Stuart.

The owner was very happy with it when returned, at least it was now playable, he never bought it to be a performance instrument, only to play about with.

Regards, Stuart.

Very much a bitza, Olds pinto bell, nickle top tuning slide receiver, too short, perhaps replaced leadpipe, different 2nd valve slide.

Regards, Stuart.

tj, having played at the last two Castlemaine festivals we did not apply this year as we felt they were loosing the plot by requiring bands to submit a quote as to how much the band would charge to perform.

Regards, Stuart.

About 20 years ago I obtained a Selmer G/F brand new when the former Selmer agent cleaned out their store, they had 2 trombones, 3 cornets, 3 Bb flugels, 1 Eb flugel, 1 Radial C trumpet 2 G/F Trumpets

Previously I had bought from them a B700 Bb trumpet and a C99 Radial trumpet all at a good price.

I have never performed on the G/F, several years ago I bought a Radial D and an Eb, have performed on both, last time Beethoven's Wellington' Victory.

Have not played an Easter service since we moved 10 years ago.

Regards, Stuart.

When I started work in 1956 at 17 my pay was 25 cents per hour, 3 months later I turned 18 and my pay doubled.

Regards, Stuart.

Administrators needed to run an orchestra?

This may seem to be the start of a joke, however I have been giving this some serious thought, following the trials and tribulations of the CSO I looked at their website and counted 101 musicians managed by 121 administrators.

Is this number really necessary?

Regards, Stuart.

I wonder how it compares with the Olds CHR,the brightest in my stable, similar shaped bell.

Regards, Stuart.

Spent about an hour on the beast today, washed the valves and swabbed the casings with solvent and removed the lapping compound, washed and brushed the inside.

Oiled the valves, greased the slides and reassembled, checked valve alignment, not bad, have seen much more costly horns worse. Valves quite smooth in operation, springs stronger than I like but ok.

Playing, with Blackburn leadpipes from behind not much different from my old Selmer, supplied Bb leadpipe ok, A pipe no. would suggest new leadpipes, perhaps this is a new project.

Supplied mouthpiece a strange double cup design, similar to old Selmer, does work but not my choice.

Was this an exercise in futility? I will see when I return it to its owner on Saturday.

Regards, Stuart.

A friend gave me his piccolo trumpet to see what I could do with it. (Oswal India, nuff sed)

Pulled stuck slides, easy enough, removed valves, casings numbered 1 2 3 4, Valves 2of numbered 1, other 2 no number,fun to sort out on reassembly, valves appear to have been greased, very sluggish.

2 leadpipes, assume Bb and A, both receivers just parallel tubing, Bb the mouthpiece goes into the start of the leadpipe and is firm, in A pipe does not reach leadpipe and wobbles.

This is as far as I have gone, the next step is to give it a good cleaning and then reassemble paying particular attention to valve alignment. I have Blackburn Bb and A pipes that will fit.

More to come.

Regards, Stuart.