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walldaja Regular Member
Joined: 23 Aug 2010 Posts: 71
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Posted: Wed Apr 28, 2021 5:17 am Post subject: York Feather Touch Trumpet |
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Stumbled across this on Ebay, a York Feather Touch trumpet.
I was intrigued by the adjustable valve feature. I have a German Sonare with the micro-adjustable valves. Seems like York used a similar feature in the past.
This is a beautiful horn....
https://www.ebay.com/itm/124624467018?hash=item1d0432744a:g:x8EAAOSw8HpgSR8l _________________ Dave
Sonare TRC-800, Dennis Wick 1.5C
Blessing Standard, Denis Wick 1.5C
Accent TR959 CDB C tpt Stork XM2 Studio Mstr
Jupiter 846S Flug Schilke 18F
Shires Q30GR T-bone 5 / 4 CL
Yamaha YBL-421G T-bone 2 CL
Jean Baptist Euphonium Stork 4 |
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Halflip Heavyweight Member
Joined: 09 Jan 2003 Posts: 1918 Location: WI
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Posted: Wed Apr 28, 2021 6:49 am Post subject: |
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Actually, the biggest deal about the York "Feather Touch" valves is that the spring tension works in a way opposite to that of most piston valves; that is, the spring stretches when the valve is pressed and contracts to return it (in almost all conventional piston valves, pressing the valve compresses the spring and spring expansion returns it). The adjustable feature is a fortunate byproduct of the design. Also, I think the Sonare system was intended to fine-tune alignment, while the York system was intended to adjust the amount of pressure required to press the valves in order to tailor this to the player's preferences.
I'd be a little leery of the horn up for auction unless the seller provides a picture of the pistons pulled out of their casings. On too many of these, I've seen the original spring mechanisms scrapped and replaced by a set of conventional bottom springs. When I bought mine (I have the cornet version), I made sure that the original spring setups were intact with springs that were not mangled in some way. |
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walldaja Regular Member
Joined: 23 Aug 2010 Posts: 71
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Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2021 10:24 am Post subject: |
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Halflip,
Thanks, that's good to know. _________________ Dave
Sonare TRC-800, Dennis Wick 1.5C
Blessing Standard, Denis Wick 1.5C
Accent TR959 CDB C tpt Stork XM2 Studio Mstr
Jupiter 846S Flug Schilke 18F
Shires Q30GR T-bone 5 / 4 CL
Yamaha YBL-421G T-bone 2 CL
Jean Baptist Euphonium Stork 4 |
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Mike Prestage Heavyweight Member
Joined: 09 Oct 2012 Posts: 722 Location: Hereford, UK
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Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2021 11:05 am Post subject: |
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The paperwork shown in the Ebay listing explains that the alignment is adjustable as well. There's also some kind of adjustment to the valve guide. The text implies that it's for minimising friction but, looking at the diagram, I'd guess that the rotational alignment was adjustable.
Interesting horn - are there a good number of these around in the US?
Mike |
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Halflip Heavyweight Member
Joined: 09 Jan 2003 Posts: 1918 Location: WI
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Posted: Sat May 01, 2021 12:09 am Post subject: |
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Mike Prestage wrote: | The paperwork shown in the Ebay listing explains that the alignment is adjustable as well. There's also some kind of adjustment to the valve guide. The text implies that it's for minimising friction but, looking at the diagram, I'd guess that the rotational alignment was adjustable. |
Apparently, I used to know this -- https://www.trumpetherald.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=76885 (Scroll down to the 6th post and look at the last sentence.) |
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CRitter New Member
Joined: 14 Dec 2019 Posts: 2 Location: CA, USA
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Posted: Sat May 01, 2021 3:38 pm Post subject: |
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I had one of these for a hot minute. If you can get a well-cared for example, it'd probably be interesting, and this one is pretty for sure. Unfortunately spares are next to impossible to come by; some thread I found at the time I had mine asserted that they had been bought up en masse by someone in Italy. Mine was clapped out and I sold it as a parts horn -- I can sound bad on a good horn, don't need any obstacles outside myself.
Speaking of old Yorks at high prices, I'll see your Feather Touch and raise you an Airflow: https://www.shopgoodwill.com/Item/120881218 .Think this might be a cornet. They certainly didn't figure out how to show the peculiar geometry of the horn, but it doesn't seem to have affected the price!
Last edited by CRitter on Sat May 01, 2021 8:08 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Halflip Heavyweight Member
Joined: 09 Jan 2003 Posts: 1918 Location: WI
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Posted: Sat May 01, 2021 4:06 pm Post subject: |
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Someone must have snapped it up already (the link comes up "item not found"). There's an Airflow Trumpet on eBay in so-so shape, but they want $3000 for it. I already have both the cornet and trumpet versions (restored by Charlie Melk):
Someday I'll commission a custom horn combining the Air Flow wrap with a bottom-sprung version of the "Feather Touch" valve system, and call the result a 'Hyper-York'. (Believe it or not, I found a Hawkes & Son "Clippertone" Cornet that has bottom-sprung 'feather touch' springs, although they don't use that term.) |
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CRitter New Member
Joined: 14 Dec 2019 Posts: 2 Location: CA, USA
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Posted: Sat May 01, 2021 8:13 pm Post subject: |
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My mistake, the period at the end of the sentence was being read as part of the link. Added a space in the original post, should be OK now, or just use the item # to search on SGW. 712 clams and climbing...
BTW those Airflows you posted are beautiful. The one in my link, not as much. |
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Halflip Heavyweight Member
Joined: 09 Jan 2003 Posts: 1918 Location: WI
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Posted: Sat May 01, 2021 9:57 pm Post subject: |
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CRitter wrote: | Added a space in the original post, should be OK now, or just use the item # to search on SGW. 712 clams and climbing... |
Thanks -- the link works now. $712 is a pretty good price for that horn, even if it turns out to need a valve rebuild. If the seller had included "Airflow" in the title, the price would be climbing a lot faster. By the way, the auction horn is a trumpet. You can tell by the fact that the short brace between the mouthpipe and the bell bow is at a 45 degree angle to the mouthpipe (on the cornets, it is 90 degrees).
CRitter wrote: | BTW those Airflows you posted are beautiful. |
Thanks! It took years of watching eBay to find those two. They are a treasured part of my collection. |
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