Best posts made by Trumpetsplus

@Dr-Mark said in Tuning Tendencies:

@Richard-III said in Tuning Tendencies:

Totally agree with the behind the bell and the actual sound being different. I've recorded many a practice and performance and listened back. Some instruments have issues to work around and others are just about perfect, with no slide use. Listen to some old recordings before there were slides and recording technology to correct tuning and they managed to play in tune. So why not now?

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That's a great question but I'm not knowledged enough in antique trumpets to answer. I know little to nothing about old horns. However, there are people on this site that can field this question. We have serious brass technicians and trumpet builders that can answer your question. Possibly trumpetsplus or flugelgirl can help.

Well this is an enormous subject, however we know several things: Older instruments were built with the valve slides deliberately long (flat), recording fidelity was not to the same standard as today, and we are talking about supremely talented players that could probably have made even a pTrumpet sound great!

This abstract describes a change in intended slide lengths between the 1930s and the 1960s.

@administrator Wagner tubas are fingered left handed like a french horn are are set up as double instruments F and Bb. These are fingered right handed and have only one set of valve slides that look to be Bb length. Judging from the bell size these are probably Kaiser Baritones.

Not a fan of recreational (part-time) trumpet players indulging in deliberately avoiding the resonance of their instrument. I have a colleague who bends notes so often in his public warmup that he is unable to start any note in tune. Blog on this coming up in the next week or so.

@OldSchoolEuph
As part of our initial design work for our Jaeger trumpets we bought dozens of trumpets, mainly from the 1920s to 1990s. Some went straight back again (thank you Dillon Music!), some were kept for a few months, some we still have. We visited factories and workshops in many parts of the world collecting experimental and production models. We were investigating what gave each model its specific response, and deciding whether or not we wanted that feature. Then we looked at exaggerating each feature we liked and dampening those we didn’t.

Those were the reasons for our collection.

And, from time to time, we sell some of these instruments that were helpful in our quest. At the moment we have a Getzen 900H and an Amati pocket we no longer need.

I would replace the hand slide tenon as well from a more current model. That way you can use more readily available parts.

I put up 4 short videos about these trumpets. Caveat: they are about the instrument not the player!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFIZFsBwI0s3pY-Hq0995JffFJqpSS5Wp

Don't know why your tech says by hit-or-miss. The majority of valves are monel and the experts have no difficulty plating them. Unusual for the piston to wear so much, normally the majority of the wear is in the casing. BAC in Kansas City bought all the Kanstul stock, they might have something. But you might want to get a clearer diagnosis and have the casings and piston dimensions mapped out before shelling out on a new piston.

@trumpetsplus In reply to the OP. Yes there is a timbre difference using valves; this helps me, when listening to recordings, identify what notes are being played - i.e. is it an A on a Bb trumpet or a G on a C trumpet.

About C trumpet intonation (mentioned earlier in this thread), pushing my barrow slightly, when I build a C trumpet I have slightly different length proportions before and after the valve block, plus some additional in-house decisions on the lead pipe. Jeff Christiana, when he was the big honcho for Bach trumpets was astounded at the playability and intonation of my C trumpets.

A new trumpet will have a difference in diameters, piston to casing, of around 0,015mm. At 0,04 you are looking at a refit. When the clearance is this great the wear is normally in the casing. That wear is not only egg timer shaped, greater at top and bottom, but also oval (greater sideways than front and back). The remedy is to hone the casings true and round, then plate the pistons up to the new diameter.

Worn valves on a trumpet normally cause plying issues before sticking issues.

A short blog I posted might be helpful
http://www.jaegerbrass.com/Blo/Entries/2020/3/play-the-notes---not-the-rests.html

One of the drawbacks of written musical notation is that the rests are often more visually predominant than the notes. One note might be followed by many rest symbols before the next note appears. Players often attach such importance to or are so overwhelmed by the rests that they play the following note(s) out of time.

My suggestion to overcome this is to imagine each note to be full length up to the next one. This will keep all the notes within their correct rhythmic framework. Once this is comfortable, shorten the notes to comply with their particular note values and play the passage in the correct rhythm. The rests will take care of themselves, they are only there to fill in the gaps

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@Kehaulani All of us are sensitive enough to notice. I have had rank beginners noticing incremental changes in design.

I didn't expect this to turn into a Resonance Enhancer page (Thanks Dale!), so I put up a short video demonstrating them on a Bach 37

@Kehaulani Sorry, not sure what you refer to by "do it to begin with". If it is about Rowuk's opinion that the Enhancers are similar to a particular bracing, I have found that, at least on my trumpets, that type of bracing is not optimal.

When we play in ensembles which include strings, either orchestral or guitar, we often end up playing in a zillion sharps. This may be why:
http://www.jaegerbrass.com/Blo/Entries/2019/11/difference-between-string-and-wind-instruments.html

Especially where you are, I would check out Cerveny.

If the gap is OK it just means the the receivers are different lengths. Nothing to get worked up about. Your current receiver is fine.

@Dr-GO What can I say? There was no quid pro quo!

@Kehaulani said in Company Timelines (Besson, Diston-Keefer, Frank Holton, Vincent Bach):

@OldSchool, I may have asked you before (age befuddlement), but is there a modern trumpet that is the same as a pre-WWII French Besson? And, now that a lot of time has passed, in comparison with modern horns (any brand), what are the advantages and disadvantages of the Besson? (if it exists)?

I apologize for butting in, but would like to make some points.

To make a trumpet "the same as a pre-WW11 French Besson" you would have to recreate the types of machinery used, the exact preparation of the brass alloy used, the exact methods used e.g. bending with lead. Even if you did duplicate the design right down to the valve geometry and port wall thickness etc.

Some major idiosyncrasies of the French Besson trumpet are:
angle of 2nd valve slide
valve casing elbows are "outside tubes" not "inside (bore diameter) tubes
relatively thin gauge

Plus some other details like the top valve cap is 2 pieces soldered together rather than 1 piece. All this makes a difference (better or worse - the player's choice).

Incidentally when Vincent Bach said that his trumpet was based on the French Besson, his trumpet had none of these features.

@Tobylou8 said in Trumpets Made ONLY by Their Maker:

@administrator said in Trumpets Made ONLY by Their Maker:

@ACB said in Trumpets Made ONLY by Their Maker:

@administrator fyi Harrelson uses Carol Valves and other foreign components to his horns.

Thank you @ACB , I was not aware. It makes financial sense to do so, but proves the point that less and less companies are "100% homemade." I mean, Toyota uses a BMW engine in their new Supra!

Quite a few Supra purist are none too happy about that! Toyota's reasoning was that "purist" wanted a straight 6 engine. Okay. Then "purist" would also want it to be a Toyota engine! Toyota didn't want to spend the money on R&D for a low volume car. Also, only available in an automatic transmission!!! Yep, I agree it will be a low volume car.

Not for large families!