So it seems that it has been way too long since I last posted a blog on recent happening in the trumpet side of my world. To correct this fallacy I have decided that from hence forth I will be blogging once a week with past developments. So every Sunday in the afternoon be looking out.
Since it has been so long I pretty much forgotten everything I wanted to talk about so I will try to remember as I go along. I have some new pictures up of 2 projects that are currently in progress so that is where I will begin. If you look through the pictures I have posted to Picasa you will come across few pictures of a Bb Getzen Eterna cornet with a nice gold finish. Well a few months ago I decided that I wanted to to try converting it to play in C. In theory this is a simple process. Essentially you have to lose 12% of the tubing across the entire horn cutting tubing from all of the tuning slides, the bell and the lead pipe (leed pipe, not lead pipe). I however had no idea how much tubing to cut across the horn so I set out on a research project that I am still working on and will put up here once more significant data has been collected.
So after measuring different horn makers I decided that the best course of action was to cut the tubes to the length of Getzen C tubes. With some guidance from a colleague and a very old metal lathe I set to work. If you check the pictures that have recently been uploaded you will notice that I am not completely finished. I had the tubes the correct length but to put it bluntly what I was doing was guess and check work. Top that off with the fact that since I cut the tubing the bell wouldn't fit back on I was put off schedule by a few months.
Luckily I have a pretty good head on my shoulders for problem solving (thanks mom and dad) and decided to design my own brace. I based the design loosely on the Edwards Company's Joe Allesi brace design (Google it). And what came out was pretty great. I have some work to do to perfect the production of the brace but it is very stable and very sturdy as well as quite heavy giving the horn a darker sound. So after the few weeks it took to make that brace I had the horn back together and to my surprise it played in C! Although it was 20 cents flat. So that is why the horn is still in pieces I am fine tuning the tube lengths as well as planning out finishes (I'm thinking satin).
The other horn that was uploaded is a early 70's Olds Ambassador that was just a gem I found on eBay for about 40 bucks. It plays phenomenally and will be the first Bb trumpet that I convert into a C trumpet. Pictures will be coming as the process begins and continues.
Well that is all I have for right now. Seeing as I have been on an absence I might post another blog later tonight if I can think of anything else trumpet-y on my mind.
Until next time,
Daniel
