Thoughts, positibe or negative, on Alto Fluegel?

[Shawnino]

Andy Taylor is talking about his prototype on his FB...
https://www.facebook.com/TaylorTrumpets/

[HaveTrumpetWillTravel]

Someone there compared it to Trent Hamilton's video of a "solo horn"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2eTiTMIDSo&ab_channel=TrentHamilton

There were also some nice comparison to mellophones (which are in F) and valve trombones/flugabones, which are in Bb.

I have some of the marching instruments and find they're a ton of fun to play but hard to adapt to gigs, and also honestly invite (probably deserved) ridicule from symphonic players.

I do think Taylor's creation looks very cool. Looks like it would be a lot of fun to play also.

[Brassnose]

I like it! On German eBay Eb and F Alto trumpets come up quite regularly. Most are old rotaries in often questionable shape but the DO look like fun. I have never played one and only use I could see is fun playing at home, so I certainly won’t buy one.
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2019 Martin Schmidt eXcellence
1992 Bach 43GH/43
1989 Kühnl & Hoyer Model 15 flugel
1980/2023 Custom Blessing Scholastic C 😎
1977 Conn 6B
1951 Buescher 400 Lightweight
AR Resonance, Frate, Klier

[Didymus]

There is also Melton's soprano helicon in Eb, which uses a flügelhorn mouthpiece:


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Enjoy the journey.

[dershem]

I've seen that post, and even commented on it. I have a Peck-Horn and a couple of french horns, and am always interested in what possible sounds there are out there (and I've seen Reichenbach's Altos, which are very interesting), but ... it's a lot of money for a "wouldn't that be fun?"
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BKA! Mic Gillette was my mentor and friend.
Marcinkiewicz Mic G. trumpet, Custom Marcinkiewicz mpc. (Among others)
Marcinkiewicz Rembrandt flugel, Benge 8Z cornet, King 2B, Bach 36, Benge 190, Getzen 3062... many more. All Marc. mouthpieces.

[huntman10]

Vincent Bach catalogued Flugelhorns in Eb Soprano and Eb alto (contalto) until about 1965. I never saw the Alto, and May have seen a soprano in Eb on eBay years ago. The Bach Mt. Vernon Eb cornet and Flugelhorns were trumpet wrapped, so they looked alike. I have the old catalogue.

About 10 years ago, our church wanted a really sad sounding horn for a performance of "Via Dolorosa" (Way of Sorrow) and I thought of the Alto flugelhorn as fitting the bill. I found a used recent Bach mellophone (they are in F, not Eb) locally, and began experimenting with mouthpieces to get an alto flugelhorn sound.

Modern mellophones have receivers that take a trumpet shank. If you order a Bach "mellophone mouthpiece", it will have a small cornet shank which would fit the old mellophones made until the 1970's or so. Most mellophone players in regular marching bands use trumpet mouthpieces or French horn mouthpieces with adapters.

I got a tenor horn mouthpiece (or Blessing mellophone piece) and got the sound i wanted.

I had to add a ring to the third slide and smooth up the 1st and 3rd slides and learn to play in tune (most marching directors seem to think that was an impossible task) and have made it a regular feature of the Maundy Thursday service.
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huntman10
Collector/Player of Fine (and not so fine) Brass Instruments including
Various Strads, Yammies, Al Hirt Courtois, Schilkes,
Selmer 25, Getzen Eternas, Kanstuls (920 Pic, CG)
Martin Custom Large Bore, Lots Olds!, Conns, etc.

[HaveTrumpetWillTravel]

I recently bought a jupiter mellophone. The french horn adapter was stuck in place, so I had it pulled and bought a mellophone mouthpiece used (Hammond 6mp). It's a good set-up. Using a real mellophone mouthpiece seems like the way to go. I may try it at church sometime, but would need to work on transposing F to C.

To me, Taylor's flugelhorn looks like it takes a trombone/euphonium mouthpiece. Is that right? I'd like to hear someone compare it to a flugabone blind--I am guessing they're fairly similar.

[MagyarQ]

I would love to play alto flugel on Don Elliott Mellophone solo transcriptions. If you haven't heard of him, do look him up.
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MAGYARQ

[gsmonks]

[THE BD]

Definitely a cool horn and would be fun to take and play on a chart, but it mostly feels like we're trying to solve a problem that doesn't exist with this one...
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Martin D Williams

Yeah, I did that!

[gsmonks]

[Richard III]

I've played a turn of the century mellophone in jazz. Think Don Elliot. Plays in F with trumpet fingerings. Bit of a muffled sound, so the mellow in the mellophone is true. I've also played marching french horns and marching baritones in jazz. All worked very well. I'm not talking big band playing, but small combo stuff.

I also just bought a flugabone. Should arrive tomorrow. So that will make the set complete as it is a marching trombone. Love the sound of these horns.

But the question is Eb flugel. Not a clue where you would play it. I do all the arranging for my bands so I can make the part in any key I want, but you still have to think in that key. Eb kind of bends my mind a bit.
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Richard

Conn 22B Trumpet
York Eminence Model 4028 Cornet
1903 Conn The Wonder Cornet

[deleted_user_687c31b]

Maybe it could be used doubling or replacing an Alto saxophone part?

If I'm not mistaken, with saxophones the relative pitches where chosen in a way that allowed them to blend nicely together (in for example a traditional saxophone quartet). It would be fun to try something similar with brass instruments.

[THE BD]