Schilke tunable bell Bb

Steve Hollahan · Posted: Fri May 01, 2015 8:58 am Post subject: Tuning bells

Schilke used to conver Bach C trumpets to tunable, Schilke leadpipes. To open up the Bach's, the factory would convert bores of T-slides to larger bores, similar to Benge and Callichio trumpets. This would give a nice open feel to C trumpets w/o killing player.

Getting a tunable bell will give you options to change feel of horn, but shouldn't ruin intonation.
_________________
Steve Hollahan
Bach 37, 229 C
Yamaha 9620 D-Eb, 741 C, Flugel
Kanstul 900 piccolo trumpet
Sculptured Recrafting Custom Instrument Repair
and Restoration
www.sculpturedrecrafting.com

ShawnMAnderson · Regular Member Joined: 06 Sep 2018 Posts: 17

Brad361 · Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2019 5:51 am Post subject:

Craig Swartz · Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2019 6:21 am Post subject:

Resurrected old thread to which I contributed in 2015. I would like to add today that if I recall correctly, Bill Chase seemed to do pretty well with a Schilke B6L, which was a tuning bell model. FWIW

Brad361 · Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2019 7:23 am Post subject:

DickieG64 · Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2019 4:27 am Post subject:

I have a Schilke B3 with 3 bells--the regular one, an old beryllium that a friend gave me, and a Diz bell that one of the the bell makers for Schilke made for me. They all play well and sound great. Intonation is also great.
_________________
Chicago Benge Large bore 1947
Monette B993
Taylor Flugelhorn
Kanstul -Charlie Davis pic prototype never produced
Conn 80A Cornet

Taylor Flugle Horn
Kanstul-Charlie Davis Prototype Piccolo-never produced
1946 Conn 80A cornet

cgaiii · Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2019 6:23 pm Post subject:

I have to say ditto to all those who think tuning bells do not make a horn wonky. My main horn is a Schilke X3L (with the Sandoval modifications), and the intonation is wonderful. I can still remember the day I picked it up in a shop in Tokyo and played it. I was so blown away, like someone had made a horn just for me, I could not believe it. Had to put a deposit on it and come back the next day to be sure. Now it is still a pleasure to play every time I pick it up. No honeymoon and gone syndrome.

I expect, that if one has not played a tuning bell trumpet, some things are a little different -- how you hear yourself (if you actually tune with the bell like I do) with the curve of the bell a little closer to your ear, etc. I wonder if things like that lead to the "wonky" comment.

I would love to get my hands on a CXL to have a C trumpet like my Bb.

Curious: I only have the one yellow brass bell. Schilke says they will make a berryllium (copper) bell for me. I could also get them to make me a different taper bell and have two horns in one. How big a difference does the berryllium bell make in these horns? (I like the copper bell and higher copper content brass bells I have on some other horns, seems to give them a little more sonorousness or depth of sound, pleasing to my ear at least.)
_________________
Bb: Schilke X3L AS SP, Yamaha YTR-6335S
C: Schilke CXL, Kanstul 1510-2
Picc: Kanstul 920
Bb Bugle: Kanstul
Bb Pocket: Manchester Brass
Flugel: Taylor Standard
Bass Trumpet: BAC Custom
Natural Tr: Custom Haas replica by Nikolai Mänttäri Morales

Christian K. Peters · Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2019 7:22 am Post subject: Schilke tunable bells

Hello all,
I really like the medium, number 3 bells. That would be my next choice if I already had a large or medium large bell.
_________________
Christian K. Peters
Schilke Loyalist since 1976

James Becker · Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2019 9:03 am Post subject:

Just last week I serviced one of the new S43LHD Jon Faddis model Shilke trumpets. I found Sound Post made everything much more stable across the registers.

Similarly, I serviced a Callet Soloist C trumpet with no front S-brace. It played much nicer with the addition of a sound post.

So for tuning bell trumpets I prefer some type of Sound Post or one of our Tone Balancer flanges mounted to the bell stem. The advantage of our Tone Balancer is once the sweet spot has been located we solder it in place and you can forget it. No more fumbling with every tuning adjustment. Another advantage of the Tone Balancer is it's not dependent on a leadpipe to anchor it. This allows it to be installed on any high trumpet like Eb/D tuning bell or long model trumpets.

I hope this is helpful.
_________________
James Becker
Brass Repair Specialist Since 1977
Osmun Music Inc.
77 Powdermill Road Rt.62
Acton, MA 01720
www.osmun.com

Our workshop is as close as your nearest UPS store https://www.ups.com/dropoff?loc=en_US

cgaiii · Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2019 6:07 pm Post subject:

Mr. Becker: I was curious as to what your tone balancer was, so I went to your website. All I found was a harmonic balancer -- something with a screw that fits in the crook of the smaller slides. Could you show a picture of the tone balancer installation you are talking about?

Additionally, the Schilke X3L I have has the Sandoval modifications, one of which is a brace on the tuning slide, which is normally unbraced on the X3L. I wonder if this serves the same purpose. (I have never played an X3L without it, so I have nothing to compare it to.) This horn is pretty stable across all registers, but does not have a brace on the bell section other than the thumb screw connection to the valve block. (When I bought the horn, I wasn't looking specifically for that horn, but it just grabbed me when I played it, but it is interesting to learn what features may make it so much to my liking. I know braces are supposed to have a stabilizing effect if properly placed.)
_________________
Bb: Schilke X3L AS SP, Yamaha YTR-6335S
C: Schilke CXL, Kanstul 1510-2
Picc: Kanstul 920
Bb Bugle: Kanstul
Bb Pocket: Manchester Brass
Flugel: Taylor Standard
Bass Trumpet: BAC Custom
Natural Tr: Custom Haas replica by Nikolai Mänttäri Morales