Trouble with alto trumpet

[Bass_and_Treble]

Hi everyone,

I bought an alto trumpet recently and the 2nd partial notes are incredibly stuffy and nearly a half step flat, and there's a clear timbral change once you get in that range. Low written B to F# aren't even usable.

The valves have all of their plating and move great. There aren't any leaks that I'm aware of, and it's only the 2nd partial that has the problem. Any idea what would be causing this?

[huntman10]

More info needed. For example: What brand of horn, size (cup and brand) of mouthpiece, are the pistons aligned, does the mouthpiece receiver properly fit your mouthpiece shank?

Also, is this your first experience with "other than Bb horns"?
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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.

[Bass_and_Treble]

It's a Kuhnl & Hoyer. For mouthpieces I've tried an Alliance 2A, a Girabaldi 2, and a Kelly 3W, all tenor horn mouthpieces. I also tried a trumpet Bach 7C. All of them fit fine, but the first one had the best response.

I play all brass and have mostly played Eb and Bb horns the past decade.

I took the trumpet to my repair guy on Friday and couldn't find anything that might be causing the extreme pitch and stuffiness problems. It's just on the 2nd partial. I'm probably just going to try sell it for cheap somewhere, with the understanding of its unfortunate limitation.

[Brassnose]

K&H still exists and they are easy to get info from. Usually they respond within a few days to emails. Might be worthwhile contacting them and asking if this is something they know about (and have a remedy).

https://www.kuehnl-hoyer.de/

I assume you are talking about one of those long Eb piston horns that are/were used in Fanfare orchestras?
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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

[Voltrane]

Hello,

I am interested because I own probably the same horn (the Eb « fanfare »!) My problem is not exactly the same : the low D, Db,Eb and E sound « dead » as if there were some leaks…but there is no leak and the valves, water key cork and so on are ok, I use a thick valve oil. The horn is clean. So mystery…
If you have some info from K&H, please post !
And yes, the alto horn mouthpieces are the best with this horn: the Bach 9AT alto trumpet mouthpiece unfortunately does not fit well the receiver.
Regards
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S’il n’en reste qu’un je serai celui là (Victor Hugo)
Je m’empresse d’en rire de peur d’avoir à en pleurer (Beaumarchais)

[etc-etc]

Two possibilities:
1) by design - e.g., the shape of the leadpipe is not optimal for all horns of that model;
2) by accident - e.g., there is a distortion / blob / crack / leak in the leadpipe / tuning slide / waterkey, specific to your horn.

Use Magnehelic or similar to detect a leak. Borescope to detect blobs, debris accumulation etc.

[Voltrane]

Thanks for your suggestions ! I will check all this . Hope it is not a misconception of the horn…
_________________
S’il n’en reste qu’un je serai celui là (Victor Hugo)
Je m’empresse d’en rire de peur d’avoir à en pleurer (Beaumarchais)