York Feather Touch Trumpet

walldaja · Regular Member Joined: 23 Aug 2010 Posts: 71

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

Halflip · Posted: Wed Apr 28, 2021 6:49 am Post subject:

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.

walldaja · Regular Member Joined: 23 Aug 2010 Posts: 71

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

Mike Prestage · Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2021 11:05 am Post subject:

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

Halflip · Posted: Sat May 01, 2021 12:09 am Post subject:

CRitter · New Member Joined: 14 Dec 2019 Posts: 2 Location: CA, USA

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!

Halflip · Posted: Sat May 01, 2021 4:06 pm Post subject:

CRitter · New Member Joined: 14 Dec 2019 Posts: 2 Location: CA, USA

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.

Halflip · Posted: Sat May 01, 2021 9:57 pm Post subject: