So work today was super tiring, not really sure why but for some reason I just kept feeling exhausted.
Anyways enough about me, onto the horns I got a chance to work with today! :)
It was a pretty normal day in the shop at UNT today. I had two trumpet cleans on the docket and one as a polish so nothing super fancy. That was until I got a chance to look at one of the horns. I pulled it out of the case and it was a raw brass Bach Strad with a 37 bell from Elkhart, IN. This horn was gorgeous to say the least. Everything was in perfect condition, the brass was dirty but had that wonderful tarnish look to it; I just drooled over it for a while. Anyways while it was soaking in our tub I got a chance to look up the serial number: it was from 1976! Making it the perfect "vintage" Elkhart Strad.
Now a little background: I absolutely love vintage Bach's. There is something about them that few horn makers can get right nowadays. The horns have a smooth velvety sound with great articulation. All of the hardware is seamlessly flawless and the solder joints actually look like they were done by a professional. Unlike the crap that Bach is turning out now, back in the 70s Bach built a solid beast of a horn.
So I start my second clean in a very cheery mood and notice that the horn is a 1990s Bach Strad with a 37 bell. I chuckled honestly, it was like God was giving me a chance to see the difference time can make. This horn was it terrible shape so I had to actually put some effort into it. After putting it through our cleaning room and polishing it up all nice and shiny-like I began to compare the horns to see how much Bach has changed their "most popular" horn.
To start off I noticed that the 70s Bach had a 1 piece hand-hammered bell whereas the 90s Bach had a 1 piece pressure molded bell (no seam). And right off the bat I can tell you that this is a huge difference. Whereas pressure forming is more cost effective and way faster having a seamed bell that has been hammered and shaped gives the horn a more mello sound. The metal is put under a lot of stress while being formed and is thinner than being pressurized. This would add a nice sparkle to the horn.
Second up the valve cluster on the 70s horn was part nickle silver and the 90s was solid brass. This is simply put: Nickle is denser than Brass therefor the nickle silver with resonate at a lower frequency giving it a darker tone.
Next up would be general construction. The 70s horn was very clean on the inside. There was no excess solder or unaligned ports. It was "perfect". Where as it's younger brother had excess solder in every port. Some of the slides weren't parallel to themselves and I had to port all of the valves.
This was concerning in that while the newer horns are less likely to be in terrible shape down the road the craftsmanship is just sub par. Bach has a huge reputation that was begun with these 1907s horns and frankly the horns of today just don't cut it. Now I know that just because one horn was like this doesn't mean that they all are, but this shoddy work is a pattern I have noticed on many of the Bach's that float around this school.
"Always be what you can be, not what you are." Is a quote from Dr. Brian Bowman that I really enjoy because I think it really applies to this line of work. There is always room for improvement and our best is only achieved when we are in the presence of the Creator.
Anyway that is a different topic that I will talk about tomorrow. Back to the present. So overall my day was going great (besides the being tired thing.) I got some great pics of a very rare horn that played great and was just honestly the best horn I have seen in a very long time. The icing on the cake though was when the owner of the horn came in we started gabbing about how he got it and just traded some vintage horn stories. He left and said that he was glad to get this back cause he was getting tired of playing his backup horn: a 1930s Mount Vernon Bach Strad!!!
I about flipped when he pulled it from the case. The story about how he got it was hilarious. His dad traded a cornet for it in high school and didn't know what he had until he took it to a shop 20 years later!
Anyway that was just a great little anecdote about a great day in the shop. Pics of the 70s horn will be up soon. Stay tuned for some weekend edition.
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