Bobby Shew Soloist Mute

[jdscreamer]

Has anybody played this mute? how does it compare to other harmons? Is it worth $100, around $50 more than other harmons?
_________________
J.D. White
FLUEGELS RULE!

[Larry Smithee]

[BADBOY-DON]

You guys...have heard this before.
Years ago, Don Jacoby at a clinic showed us how he modifed a harmon to play in tune better.

Here is a few hints to the process, for what its worth....NOT MUCH!!!

I went through a few hamon's getting things to work for me and if I remember, I think Bobby Shew used to do the same thing on his old harmons. (It must be a Texas thaaaang?)
Bottom line.
First Don would cut about 3/4 of an inch off the main body of the mute. He used an old GI issue can opener..BUT I HAVE MY DOUBTS? IT DIDN'T WORK THAT GREAT FOR ME?
(I used an old fine tooth zona saw) to cut my first one down.

Any way after cutting...(the last one I modified I used a dremel tool with a thin stone cutting blade which worked just fine.)

Then carefully pull apart the 3/4' throw away piece of alum. from the bottom tapered part. Use a pair of good needle nose pliers and get rid of the excess cutting.

Now the dicey part. Take the main body that has been whacked down and bond about 4 sheets of quality 280 or 320 wet or dry sandpaper to piece of old plywood or even to the surface of an old work table.

Spray a little windex onto the sandpaper and carefully flat sand the ragged cut end of the mute as flat and even as possible.

(if you are really careful in making the first cut carefully and accurately, you may not need to bother with the sandpaper and simply and carefully SNAP the cut down main body of the mute into the slot where the taper portion, fits into the main body.
To secure it further...bond with a few drops of instant glue which seems to do a good job. I have seen a few mutes that are just simply snapped back with out bonding but the risk when messing with the main stem, sooner or later (mostly sooner) it will DISASSEMBLE right in the middle of a performance.
Also on certain note combinations...YOU GET THAT FUNNY LITTLE "DON CHERRY-RATTLE" (a nodel-narley unmusical sound that you can hear on almost all Don Cherry recordings, which is almost a TRADE-MARK* SOUND which instantly ID's the music of Don Cherry and his cute little POCKET HORN using a Harmon with a loose main body or simply it could have been just the loose worn fitting of the stem..rattling against the main body of the mute...who knows, and who gives a rippity?

The other day I noticed at Kennelly Keys, that Harmon mutes now look shorter in length than they used to as well as the cavity for the Stem seems far more generous in dept. than the ones from the good ol' days which may or may not make all this modification necessary any longer but just to get away from that HONK-HOOTIE-GOOSE TOOT that goes with the flow...when playing a harmon in the low register.

THE MAIN REASON FOR CUTTING DOWN the harmon in the first place is to just to HELP THE HARMON...STAY IN PITCH and not going annoyingly sharp, so that one can almost avoid a re- tuning slide pull during performance.
Another thing Don J. recommended to help lessen that tradmark-UNMUSICAL HARMON HONK was to take a knife and cut 3 seperate slots cross-wise, down the cork so that air and condensation could flow out the bell, even with the Harmon tightly jammed into the bell.
Also he felt that this aided in compression which also help keep the mute in place easier as well as the Harmon seems to sound more musical..when lightly held in place.
(Perhaps less interference with the bells vibration but this might just be an old wives-guys tale.

WHY BOTHER WITH ALL THIS DRIVIL AND CRAP....JUST BUY A @#$% GOOD JORAL...STOP WASTING TIME MESSIN' WITH AN OLD HARMON...AND JUST SPEND THE TIME IN PRACTICE...hummmm, now that's a hecky-darn good idea. )