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dstpt
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rufflicks
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Joined: 14 Mar 2011
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Location: Mesa AZ
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Andy Del
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Joined: 30 Jun 2005
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Location: sunny Sydney, Australia
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 Posted: Wed Jul 12, 2017 10:48 am Post subject: |
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The Thein is a rather amazing instrument, but not what you'd take to a jazz gig... big, thick sound, and great intonation.
Cheers
Andy
_________________
so many horns, so few good notes... |
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dstpt
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| Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2017 9:50 am Post subject: |
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Thanks, Jon and Andy....
Last edited by dstpt on Thu Mar 08, 2018 3:34 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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snichols
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Joined: 12 Apr 2010
Posts: 586
Location: Virginia
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| Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2017 9:58 am Post subject: |
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| dstpt wrote: | Thanks, Jon and Andy. I have played a Getzen 4v flugel for the past few years and before that a Yamaha 631. For years I've wanted a flugel that has the feature of a tuning slide, so that I could put a trigger on it. The Marcinkiewicz design is unique, or I guess I should say “was” unique, since they stopped production of instruments this past Dec. (2016). Too bad for supporters of their products. (Good for you, Jon, and K.O. at Stomvi-USA, I know...one less competitor.) Thein has a tuning slide only on their 4v rotary flugelhorn. According to an email I received this week from them, that horn has a 6-month wait and is $7000/7500 (lacquer/silver), plus more $ for extra features like a hand guard or a separate trigger to the 4th slide.
I decided to buy the used 3v Marcinkiewicz that Trent had on the ACB website (Austin Custom Brass) and had them ship it to have a trigger installed on the main tuning slide (aka “pitchfinder”). I play a lot of church gigs and musical theatre, and many times, my flugel and picc sit there turning to ice in a cold, air conditioned room. The solution on my B-flat, C, and now two E-flat trumpets–Bach long bell and B&S 4v tunable bell–has been to have triggers installed. I set the detente position of the slide/bell slightly in from where they would normally be, and as the horn warms up as I play, I extend the slide/bell. These triggers are also helpful for sudden mute changes and changes in organ stops, which can change dramatically in pitch level. Nothing is more frustrating than the need to change your pitch center on a slide/bell and be standing in front of 800 people during a wedding prelude selection. I think it looks unbecoming to have to move the mouthpipe on flugelhorn (or picc) in those situations. It’s different when you’re in the pit or even on stage in a section with, say, a chamber or full-size orchestra. Most of "my" movement of the slide/bell, btw, is very small as I dial in to center, and there are more reasons for choosing to play this way, which I can enumerate later.
I also just sent my Schilke 4v E/F/G piccolo that I’ve owned for years to have triggers installed from the 1st valve casing to the bells. I had this done to my used B&S 4v E-flat that I bought from another TH member last summer. In addition I had a trigger installed on its 4th slide. The increments of change are larger as the pitch goes lower ("12th root of two” stuff).
My next project is to devise a trigger for piccolo and which could be used on the traditional flugelhorn tunable mouthpipe design. I worked with a large engineering firm in November (2016) to realize my idea for a trigger on tunable bell horns. They assigned an engineer to work with me for a few weeks, fitting my little project in between his other assigned projects. This firm is huge. They’ve done the design for the humungous doors on the building that houses the space shuttle as well as large metal and glass facade plates on the One World Trade Center in NYC. I was fortunate to get their ear for my little projects. We got through the tunable bell design (which involves seven small parts), but then they got swamped with other big projects and had to stop all small project commitments (or so they told me), so we did not get to work on the piccolo. The engineer and I had discussed options, though, and I’m convinced this can be done on probably most tunable mouthpipe piccolos and flugelhorns (but not all, like the used Lawler 3v A piccolo on which I’m presently having a 3+1 rotary added).
The problem with my tunable bell trigger design is the cost. To even have a "one off" made, the cheapest price I found was more than the instrument! Oh, I could get it down to a reasonable cost per unit, but I’d have to have 500 units made(!), which would still be in the tens of thousands of dollars! I have not tried the route of using foreign manufacturing, but that will probably be the only way to see this materialize (unless a large brass maker decides to buy my idea!). Another small repair shop was able to put a more traditional trigger on the B&S, which I’ve resolved will work for now. I still feel the design I posed to the engineer–and in which he worked out the details–is "the bomb." |
Interesting... Is there a makerspace near you that you could take the design and go make it on a 3D printer or a CNC machine? |
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dstpt
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| Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2017 10:56 am Post subject: |
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All of the resources I've tried have CNC machines....
Last edited by dstpt on Thu Mar 08, 2018 3:35 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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dstpt
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Joined: 14 Dec 2005
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| Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2017 11:33 am Post subject: |
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| And I've also tried machine shops at two, large universities in our area, and they could not take on these projects. Plus, they had a makerspace in the largest city in our area, but they stopped their meetings about a year ago and have no plans to reopen. After a google search just now, I found another place where I might be able to have these done. This place is new, and it goes to show that after only a few months, the Internet changes...or new places open with websites offering what you need. I'll re-post if it turns out to be a possibility. |
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