After-market tuning slides?

kehaulani · Posted: Sat Nov 06, 2021 12:48 pm Post subject: After-market tuning slides?

Coincidentally, I got an unsolicited link to a site that made trumpet accessories which, in turn, took me to a site that gave custom tuning slides, and I got curious as to .. . why?

Assumingly, when a horn has a stock tuning slide, the slide alone doesn't give a horn its sound but it's a part of it. But I got to wondering, if everything else was equal, what the results would be?In this case, it was a Bach but I suppose it could be anything.

What say ye?
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Dayton · Posted: Sat Nov 06, 2021 2:23 pm Post subject:

I have used two from M/K Drawing and Bending, with good results. Haven't tried a Blackburn tuning slide, but would like to at some point. Switching from square to semi-round yellow brass changed the blow and slotting. A square sterling silver slide brightened the sound a bit. That said, 90% of the time I play my Bach Strad it is with the standard tuning slide. The "system" works so well.

Speed · Posted: Sat Nov 06, 2021 2:27 pm Post subject:

I put a Bach “C” shaped tuning slide on a 19037 and liked the result (i.e., less resistance).

Take care,
Marc Speed

dershem · Posted: Mon Nov 08, 2021 5:18 pm Post subject:

M/K Drawing did a custom tuning slide for my Yamaha 738 (X3 Clone) that was bronze, single radius. Opened up the blow and darkened the sound enough for me to be comfortable with it. They do nice work.
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RandyTX · Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2021 9:50 am Post subject:

M/K is the way to go, in my opinion. My old late 70's Bach 37 had always had a really funky A just above the staff, then I sent it into Dr. Valve to have it replated and the valves looked at a few years back and he called me up, wanting to know if I had noticed how weird the A was on the horn.

Of course I had, and he mentioned that he tried every other Bach tuning slide he had in the shop in my horm (the non-reverse leadpipe ones anyway) and *all* of them played better than mine, especially for the A. It was he that suggested he should order a replacement one from M/K Drawing and fit it to my horn.

Sure enough, when I got it back, it played much better in general, but the A was no longer a land mine to be stepped on. He couldn't figure out exactly what was wrong with the original, only that it was the worst one by far, in all those he tried in the horn.

I've never looked back, and it's a much better trumpet now with the M/K slide installed.
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gord-o · Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2021 5:46 am Post subject:

+1 on the M/K slides. I tried several before choosing the single radius brass model, and how they describe the different tones you get with different materials is spot on. The gold brass sounds different than brass, sterling is different than those. The single radius crook makes my horn more flexible and the intonation is better for me.
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Richard Hastings
Brass and Stringed Instrument Repair,
Popplers Music

Andy Cooper · Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2021 6:42 am Post subject:

I've used M/K slides for two trumpets. In each case it was to open the feel of the horn with a larger bore slide. Instead of moving to mouthpieces with much larger throats and backbores for my Bach "clone" C .462 bore trumpet, I had a .470 bore tuning slide made. Works for me.

patdublc · Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2021 8:22 am Post subject:

I have several M/K slides both for Yamaha and Shires horns. Each adds a certain characteristic to the horns. That is not to say better than the original slide; just different. I find I like the ability to switch out the slide based on what I'm looking for in my sound for the work of the moment.

Blackburn designs are impeccable. They're always worth considering.

If you could find someone near you who has bought some extra slides, it would be really beneficial to try out their horn with each slide to see what kind of difference you might notice.

Otherwise, if you purchase something and don't like it, there is a good chance that you can get most of your money back by reselling.
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Pat Shaner
Play Wedge Mouthpieces by Dr. Dave exclusively.
Experiment with LOTS of horn makes and models.