New leadpipes

[Andy Del]

It makes rather clear, that as a high school player, the OP is of the misguided opinion that how his horn looks is important, plus changing the way the horn feels is a worthy pursuit.

Both are misguided.

If he/she doesn’t see eye to eye with his school teacher, then it’s going to get awkward. A great teacher will find a way to teach, but a poor student find ways to not learn. Having shown his bias for ‘jazz’ over ‘classical’, and responses here, the picture is pretty well painted.

There’s a lot of learning to go on, not much of it involves valve caps, buttons, shiny, modular instruments or personal biases. Most of it will involve changing mindset, learning to search out opportunities to grow and learn, eventual maturity, and possible a bit ego denting along the way.

Hint. I have a student like them at work. Jazz biased. Good knowledge, and a reasonably advanced player. Closed mindset. Also wants to be a conductor.

This year they learned that I will give them every opportunity I can, scope to expand their soloing skills, even the chance to wave arms around to cue and cut off a big band. And will call them on poor behaviour, intolerance, etc etc. All with a smile and without rancour. Terrific kid. But is still at school, and I do have a job to do.

Cheers

Andy
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[Beanboy128]

[Rapier232]

Take a look at the Smith-Watkins website. There is information about the different lead pipes available for their trumpets. Different sizes give different results in the same instrument. Their lead pipes are interchangeable, by a small thumb screw. Slacken it off, slide out the lead pipe, slide in a different size and tighten the thumb screw. Couldn’t be easier. For example you use a 12 for lead type playing and a 34 for classical, or any combination in between.
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[Brassnose]

Ok, maybe to cool things off a little. While I agree that a new horn or nice and shiny parts do not necessarily advance you as player, I can also understand that something new is nice and motivating.

So how about seeing a skilled tech (if available in your region) and find out which part of the pimping makes sense and could be done for you to enjoy and then on the other hand also find a teacher and spend some money on training outside your current, let’s say suboptimal, setting to also advance musically?

Also keep in mind your lips, tongue, teeth, and lungs (and your personality!!) are not identical to your former lead player. Hence an identical instrument will not let you play the same way.

Maybe also find a community orchestra or a church to play with? It will also improve your ensemble playing because orchestra and church wind bands are quite different from big bands.

I mean, I don’t need another instrument but keep looking for interesting horns all over the place. Along the same line of thinking: if you combine fancy finger buttons (which you don’t need) with good practice routines and a teacher (which everybody needs) and split the money between those, why not?

The one thing I am thinking about is pimping my old Blessing horn with an exchangeable bell and maybe a fourth valve. I want to explore the lower regions and be able to have a really big bell for a mellow, flugel-y sound. Do I need it? No. Would it be fun? Yes. Do I still see a teacher and practice for the orchestra and the lessons? YES
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[abontrumpet]

Your original question has been answered thoroughly.

What I have found in my years of leadpipe swapping is that ultimately, the horns characteristics remain largely unchanged. If it's a funky horn, the leadpipe will only give you 1-5% improvement/change but it won't take a horn that's 50% great up to 100% great (this is assuming the original leadpipe is not faulty).

Andy Del said the rest perfectly.

[Beanboy128]

[Crazy Finn]

Changing leadpipes is, in my experience, much more of a thing for trombone players that trumpet players. It's not an uncommon setup on trombone.

Changeable leadpipes are also possible on trumpet, but are less common. Other posters have brought up the relevant more common examples, so I won't repeat them here.

As far as other things, well, I think Andy's post is excellent.

Good luck.
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[GWZipper]

Beanboy128,

Sounds to me like you're trying to do two things:

On the one hand, you want to "pimp your axe", add some bling, whatever you'd want to call it. Not that this will directly help you play any better, but if it's a fun motivator and you have the $$ - why not?

On the other hand, you're trying to change your sound and/or how the trumpet responds to you in allowing you to create that sound. This second one needs exploration.

Your sound is essentially going to be your sound, regardless of the equipment in your hand. It's the equipment between your ears that will ultimately determine what you sound like. If you've got a rock-solid notion of what your sound should be, then you can get there eventually with any trumpet setup, with practice. What differing equipment does is it can help you achieve that sound more easily. Not change your sound, but help you realize the concept of sound you've already got.

Now, some people do this through changing lead pipes, bells, etc., though the far more common and effective approach is experimentation with mouthpieces (assuming you have a good trumpet to start with - and a Xeno is a pretty good axe). This can be an expensive path as well, but the bang for the buck is quite a bit higher than swapping out bits of the trumpet itself.

I would guess everyone on this forum has a drawer full of mouthpieces somewhere that were part of their journey to who they've become as a trumpeter today. Me, I've got about 40 or so. Not proud of that, there's a lot of mistakes in that drawer.

If you've got a private teacher (get one, if you don't), they can be a great resource in the mouthpiece hunt.

Finally - your youthful exhuberance, your cockiness, may be off-putting to some here. Don't let that be a block to becoming the best player you can be, and don't let that be a block to keep asking advice from those who've come before you. Just be you; you'll be fine.

[Ed Kennedy]