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PSA: No Loose Pencils in your Case

John Ericson
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Back some years ago there was a long running series on Horn Matters by Dave Weiner, the “Ask Dave” series that you can look at in full here. Many highly interesting articles!

One of my favorite titles of all the articles in the series was this one:

As he notes there, the occult in this case refers to hidden issues with your horn. He has something specific in that article, but there are many more possible hidden issues.

Pencils?

So, with the end of the semester and the hot Arizona summer coming soon, I’ve been working on horn projects in my garage shop. I have not been posting about those projects here, I have been posting about those in my personal site blog (which you can access here if you are interested).

Working today on prepping the first branch on a project, the dent ball would not go in! And then I saw something inside.

In the photo, it’s just barely visible, but I could see right away it was the remnants of a pencil eraser. This pencil:

If memory serves, this is only the second pencil I’ve found in a horn and the first one bent like this! I suppose it could have worked down into the horn naturally, was just loose in the case at some point, and bent in the moist environment. But I have to wonder if somebody “helped it” a bit as well.

The other pencil I remember finding, it was years ago (in Nashville) inside a Holton horn I was cleaning for the student of a colleague. I remember the horn was clearly less stuffy after the cleaning!

I’ve also found a costume jewelry ring in a horn at essentially the same location.

What’s the project?

This horn is actually a vintage Mirafone Kruspe model. My goal with this is to rebuild it to match my postwar Kruspe as closely as practical. I have a “medium” bell off a Mirafone single that is all set to use, which matches the size of my Kruspe. Maybe I can get this horn done before the summer heat shuts down the shop, or maybe I finish it in October. Whenever I get it done, for sure the horn will play better than it did!

Accuracy Extra: Breath Attacks (Sub Tones) and Your Horn

John Ericson
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A professional level horn will allow great breath attacks.

What?

I’ve written about breath attacks multiple times, most recently in the Accuracy Encyclopedia series (here). However, there is an angle on the topic I had not before very recently given much thought to, a hugely important one. In short:

Breath attacks will feel easier or harder on different horns

Where this becomes highly interesting to us is I’d say that a pro would prefer a horn that is capable of producing great breath attacks. Not that you do breath attacks in performance particularly. But there are so many “money” passages that require a soft, light articulation. Very often all you do is add the lightest of articulation to what is essentially a breath attack; that is the secret to perfect soft entrances. If your horn does not produce easy, soft breath attacks, you can’t consistently produce the normal light and easy attacks our music is full of.

Test them for yourself on multiple horns

Backing up, you may say to yourself “but I’ve only got the horn I have!” But since looking again recently at this 2016 article by horn maker Jacob Medlin, “5 Characteristics of the Best Horns,” this point he makes (hidden in the middle of several other good points) is really an important one that you may not have ever considered and would do well to consider now. Under the heading “The Very Best Horns Allow Sub Tones (Breath Starts)” we read

I test sub tones and breath attacks on every horn of mine, even into the upper register. The best horns will have a clear sub tone. In this video, Andrew McAfee introduces sub tones as part of his video series for students, on a Medlin horn coincidentally. A good sub tone indicates that the horn will have open articulations and playing characteristics and great efficiency.

What does this even mean?

I think what really caught my attention is that, as with many things in life, we are looking for an understanding of how things work. As performers, over many years, we can become fearful of certain things, such as soft entrances on notes. And you may think to yourself that it is a “you” problem. Work harder! Focus your air, come up with exercises for the problem, etc.

That is what I’ve felt for example with slurs in my break range in recent years. At first I thought it was me, maybe changes related to aging — and it likely is me to an extent. But also I discovered those same slurs are clearly better and worse for me on different horn and mouthpiece combinations. That discovery was extremely helpful in my continued horn playing.

Returning to our main topic, breath attacks also relate directly to all types of attacks. And if articulations don’t settle in easily, you will certainly miss more notes.

It’s not you, it’s the horn

Where this all gets particularly interesting to me is that I have multiple horns to test these on, and I can see that for sure on some of them I can make significantly softer and lighter breath attacks than other horns. And I tend to think it is a horn thing mainly, but the mouthpiece probably has an additional impact. Depends on your setup.

But as stated already, a pro would prefer a horn that is capable of great breath attacks, as that equals better attacks in general and better accuracy. Something I think we’d all like.

Is it time?

After doing some new tests of breath attacks, you may now feel that breath attacks are difficult on your horn (possibly due to the power of suggestion, sorry!). In this case, it’s certainly time to do some further tests and try different horns and mouthpieces.

In my own case, honestly, looking back at it now I spent far too long playing a couple horns that I should have moved on from, due to me being stubborn and thinking it was a me problem. One horn in my past in particular, one I used in my first years as Third Horn in Nashville, I really doubt that it had good breath attacks. It had a solid tone and consistent intonation, sure, but was also certainly easier to chip notes on than anything I would use now. I missed the first note in the third horn part of The Nutcracker on nearly every performance my first year in the orchestra (a D on the fourth line). Not a confidence builder for me.

Of course, any horn has many features to balance. But do consider this element, breath attacks, it may help you find the horn that is the best overall package of playing qualities for you.

Sabbatical Extra — Reworking the “Conversion Horn”

John Ericson
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During my 2021 sabbatical from Arizona State I worked on horn building projects, documented in a category here in Horn Matters.

The final horn I worked on that spring, it was a bonus horn, done using parts I had on hand with the idea of making a Germanic style, large crooked valved horn — combining a Yamaha single horn with crooks reworked from Chinese natural horn crooks. The horn as it stood then is described in this article. 

After that, I worked up another crook — it ultimately had crooks for G, F, and Eb — and the horn played pretty well, especially so with the G crook. But by 2025 I had reduced the horn to parts, I actually used the bell to fix another horn.

The conversion horn, version 2

Looking at the parts this year, I had parts to put it back together again, plus I had an idea: the horn needed a better F crook. If you go back to the original article, you can see the F crook was a just big loop, single coil. It really needed to be coiled more tightly.

I wanted to modify the G crook — and actually damaged it in the process. But I still had enough other parts to make a new crook, using the same front end piece, so it plays the same. The crook in process is seen below.

At this point I’ve made at least a dozen crooks. As a model for the horn, I had the crook seen below, which is from another of the sabbatical project horns. It was about 1 inch too short I figured, but actually probably more than 2 inches. Oh well. It still works fine.

Skipping a few steps, we end up with this final result below.

A crooked Yamaha single

From the back you can see how the crook sits in the body of the horn. It’s not a copy of anything specific, but follows the general principles of the late 19th century. The crook, I should mention, is .440 bore, but the horn body is .472. To make that work a portion of the original leadpipe sits in the section between the crook and the main slide, bringing it up to bore smoothly.

As the horn stands now it has a solid F crook and a good Eb crook, enough for anyone to get the feeling of playing a period valved horn! And it all fits neatly in a Yamaha single horn case. If I do any more to the horn it will just be to remove the remaining lacquer on the horn body and the Eb crook. Fixing this up again was a fun postscript to the entire sabbatical project.

More on Heavy Metal Devices

John Ericson
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Back in 2009 Bruce Hembd posted an article with the evocative title “Heavy Metal Devices,” which goes into topics including stem weights and heavy mouthpieces. It’s a good article well worth checking out:

Me and “heavy metal”

While this is something Bruce experimented with, I think at that time I was maybe just too stubborn to try trendy things. I did briefly have a stem weight, but that was it.

I did shift around mouthpieces a few (maybe too many) times over the years, but often I was thinking in the back of my mind I wanted to use something my students could actually buy, and that worked for me and would work for them.

These past few years, though, I’ve come around to I just need to find what makes my playing easier/better, with no concern that it works for anyone but me. If it’s vintage, so be it. And I made some good progress towards that new ideal not too long ago, described further here:

And then, opportunity knocked.

Tom Greer of Moosewood trys out a Kuhn.

Introducing a pair of “B’s”

Moosewood mouthpieces were originally made here in Phoenix (actually Sun City) by Tom Greer. As a result, quite a few of the originals are floating around locally and occasionally pop up for sale. I was lucky enough to have the chance to purchase this pair recently. They had been used by a local player who recently passed on, undoubtedly made specifically for him by Tom.

From the current description in the Atkinson Website, the B cup is a “Chicago/Geyer contour, medium cup, fast response,” with a #12 bore. My memory was it was the most popular model and worked on lots of horns. Side point also being, I have several B cups, but none are as standard as these. Mine have smaller shanks and smaller bores, meant to work better with my big Paxman, which was my standard horn early in my years at ASU (and used on both of my first two CDs).

The one on the left is a “MegaMoose.” I don’t think I’ve ever tried one before. Heres what Bruce wrote related to those, giving also a little insight into Tom:

I eventually graduated to his Moosewood Cartouche mouthpieces (“MegaMoose”) which are practical double, if not triple, the weight of a traditional mouthpiece. When asked about this how this extra weight helps, he had no definitive answers.

“Is it the extra density that keeps overtones from escaping the mouthpiece?” I asked in complete ignorance. “Does that extra weight send more good stuff down into the horn?”

Tom looked at me and shrugged his shoulders. “I dunno,” he casually replied. “Somehow, for you it works. So there!”

What do I think now?

First off, I think both of these are among the very best mouthpieces I’ve ever used on my Patterson Geyer — although they are not as good as other options I have on my Paxman. It’s all magic after a certain point, how a mouthpiece interacts with your horn, something I was thinking a lot about this past fall.

Also it makes sense that the mouthpieces Tom made for me back in the day were not for my Patterson, and for whatever reasons these two new (to me) B cups both feel really nice on that horn.

(The black rims are Houghton H-3 rims, my current standard rim).

I’ve only played them a little for others, but the initial consensus is they both sound good, just a bit different than each other. As to feel, I’m liking the MegaMoose the best, it has some of the best slurs across my break range, which I’d like to think the extra weight helps. At the least it’s making my practice very interesting.

To close, if you are looking for something a little different, with a bit different feel, you might reconsider the heavy mouthpiece. It remains a viable option.

Another Kruspe Single F

John Ericson
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Back in 2024 I posted about a nice vintage Kruspe single F. Around that time I purchased one of these too, of a bit different design. It was not playable, but looked like it had potential as a project.

In the spring of 2025 I got it to the point seen here.

From the front it has nice proportions, a real nice bell (if rather thin), and overall the high level of construction you would expect from a major maker of horns like Kruspe. It feels good in the hands.

One more brief aside — the mouthpiece that came with the horn, it’s not marked but I’m inclined to think it is a Kruspe mouthpiece. It has a deep “double cup” and is turned from solid nickel silver.

The big problems to fix to play the horn at all were on the back.

This horn is in F, and the main slide has two coils. The slide had come apart, and a ferrule was actually missing. I had to replace that and gently worked out the biggest dents before reassembly. At that point, the horn played pretty promisingly! The valves still have a bit of pop.

Also I could see an interesting design feature. If you replaced that main slide with one that is just a straight slide (which I don’t have), plus changed the valve slides, the horn would be in Bb. It’s convertible! That all got me more excited.

So I got to cleaning it more and then things got all wonky in the leadpipe. I don’t clean aggressively, no heavy chemicals! But the leadpipe opened up with multiple cracks and holes. I could tell you how many patches there are on that pipe (most put on by me), but it’s an absurd number.

As a result, the horn played only so-so, and I never posted about it here.

Getting the horn out again, when I put a different pipe on it for testing the horn does perk up. So I’ll be on the hunt for a new pipe for this horn.

How old is it?

As I mentioned in the previous Kruspe article, there are a few ways to estimate age on Kruspe horns. In the case of this one, the engraving on the bell includes the word “Hoflieferant.” This is a reference to Kruspe being purveyors to the court. This then means the horn has to date to before 1918, as Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated in 1918.

It’s a simpler engraving, either somewhat older than the other one or perhaps from a cheaper model.

As to later Kruspe horns, I can offer this very general guide. If there are no “numbers” in the engraving, it is post WWII, and if there are DRGM numbers (they are German patent numbers, not serial numbers) it is from the era between the world wars. But of course it’s likely more complicated than that, this is only very general guidance.

To be continued…

In any case, I’ve got a project here still, as I want to get a new pipe on it and work out Bb horn slides. Plus work out more dents. Hopefully something I get to before the summer.

Let’s Talk About Dynamics and Your Horn

John Ericson
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Is it your horn? A recent article focused on the topic of dynamics in large ensembles. But there is a proverbial “elephant in the room” related to this topic — it just may not be possible to play loud on your horn, at least loud with a good tone.

What makes for a “professional horn” sound?

So, there is a large topic here that comes up pretty often in my teaching.

The big issue is that many if not most student model horns, your ability to play loud on them may be limited. You may not be able to push a really loud dynamic out of it at all, or, if you can, it may sound harsh.

At this point you may be thinking you just need to practice more and learn how to manage it on your horn. But I would also propose the following as being pretty true:

On a professional level horn you can play 10% louder with 10% less effort compared to the average student model horn. 

How so?

Horns are made at different price points, and as part of being at different price points they have many small differences. They not even be visible to you, but I assure you that many little things (bracing, annealing and thickness of of tubing, fit of parts, etc.) make the professional quality horn play and sound better.

You can, by the way, improve a lower price point horn with upgrades. Done well, a new lead pipe and bell flare can make a huge, positive difference. But having a horn built from the start at a higher price point is the best option for the player that wants to hit higher dynamics with a better sound.

It’s easy to hear actually

The difference of sound between a pro horn and a student horn is part of the basic difference between a good student or amateur player and a pro. Horn teachers over time can certainly hear this element easily.

Early in my time at ASU I recall one student who upgraded their horn. Before, they got some sound out of their horn, sure, but after — they had to back off! Because it produced so much more sound and more easily.

It’s not the impossible dream

If loud playing is an issue for you, you really should try to find a way to test a horn from a higher price point and see what it does for you.

Practice Topic — E Major and your Horn Playing

John Ericson
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Something I say to students surprisingly often is how once you work out E major real well everything is easier. As I say that, I’m thinking not only of the patterns in my technique book, but more specifically Pares Scales #99.

I mentioned in a very recent article how I was working to perform the Dvorak Serenade again. As part of my work for this, I have been working good old Pares #99. It relates so closely to key passages in this work.

A private teacher I worked with in Olathe KS introduced me to Pares Scale between my freshman and sophomore years of college. A venerable Rubank publication, it’s one that we might want to use more often today in the horn world.

Why this pattern?

I’ve mentioned in other articles how I’m not a big fan of super-duper, over-long technical exercises, preferring things that are more concise and focused. Pares #99 is a perfect example. Three lines long, it works on some really key fingering patterns, especially going quickly from 2 to T23. It’s a type of cross fingering that, if you don’t synchronize your thumb and third valve exactly, it will sound rough.

Aside: Instagram and Pares #99

I don’t post a ton of stuff on Instagram, but as part of my practice last weekend I posted Pares #99. And of course right now it has almost 10,000 views. Not as nearly as many as my April Fools version of Reynolds #1 on natural horn last year, but pretty solid numbers. Why? I don’t know. I’m hoping that people might get the idea to practice the exercise up, as I do think it a key one.

Fingers and accuracy

Back to the topic of synchronization, that also relates to accuracy in other key passages of the Serenade. I’m pretty convinced that finger synchronization is a cause of a fair percentage of accuracy problems. The fingers have to line up.

The example I give pretty often is if you could see your fingers in slow motion going from 0 to T23 you might see that the third finger goes down first and the thumb last. The thumb is your least facile digit; you really need to have your horn set up with comfortable lever positions and be sure to observe the level of synchronization of your fingers in passages.

It’s all easier after E major

Another thing I say to students often is that after E major, the rest of the keys with more flats and sharps, they feel easier to play. The patterns I think actually are easier, certainly no harder!

Take the Pares #99 challenge!

It’s an older, simple publication, but for a new challenge think about finding a copy of this and work on the speed and synchronization of your fingers in every key, it will pay off in better playing.

Musings on Horns and Memories of a Dvorak Serenade

John Ericson
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The Dvorak Serenade for Winds, Op. 44 is a wonderful work I’ve played a few times.

The most memorable performance certainly was for a recording session at IU, with a group that was mostly IU faculty. For this the horn section was:

  1. Myron Bloom
  2. John Ericson
  3. Michael Hatfield

Playing with style

At the time I was the horn studio AI and I was a student of Mr. Hatfield. I had played by then a few things with Mr. Bloom too, and let me say this: he could play with clear style. He played like he meant it, led with a style that showed clearly he was very confident of what he wanted. The rhythm, in particular, was very vital and on top of the beat. As you would expect from a player that among other things had served as Principal Horn of the Cleveland Orchestra for 20+ years.

On three different horns

So, at the recording session Bloom had three (!!!) horns with him. One was an Elkhart 8D (probably 300,000 series), one was an Eastlake 8D that he had borrowed from a current student of his (!), and the final horn was an Alexander 103! He loved looking at that horn, how it was made just so, etc.

Meanwhile, I’m playing on my 500,000 series 8D with who knows what mouthpiece. At some point in the session he told me that my horn sounded good but it was unplayable, I needed something else. I had no idea what to do with that info, as I didn’t have any alternate horn.

Oh, and Hatfield used his Lawson-modified Holton 180 with his drilled out Holton MDC mouthpiece.

How Bloom and his three horns played out in the session is he used all of them, and at least one movement he played on two different horns. It was still not a problem to play in tune with him on any of them, and I think I could match his style pretty well. I recall he was actually a little less emphatic about the placement and style of the 1/16 notes than my Verne Reynolds training would have me default.

By the way, the recording was, so far as I know, never released. My memory is that the end of the work clearly had no good take. Bloom didn’t hit it but didn’t ask to do more takes to fix it, and the conductor did not push the issue. Playing on three different horns may hot have helped that situation.

Fast forward to this week

I’ve started rehearsals here for the Dvorak Serenade again, with our ASU Chamber Winds group, with me joining them as guest principal horn.

I’m having interesting memories of the IU version.

Trying three (four) horns

One of the flashbacks to the Bloom recording is that I’ve seriously tried three horns out for this performance. I can relate to his horn dilemma. Each horn does have a distinct character, unique strengths and weaknesses that make them easier or harder to play on certain passages.

You might ask at this point, how many horns do I own? Really, too many, but most of them are historic or historic style instruments (natural horns, single F horns, etc.). But I do have four playable double horns.

What I found is that, besides playing differences in the slurs and such, there is strong mechanical aspect of the left hand finger position that impacts accuracy and comfort. You can really feel it going from horn to horn. From worst to best:

Pan American Schmidt. This recent project horn (more here) was fun to try at home as it is so smooth and the sound has nice character. The 1-2-3 valve lever position is pretty good, but the thumb valve — that piston valve position just won’t work for me. And T23 has a weird stuffy quality, something still needs fixed there (very heavy oil helps). It was never a serious contender to be used.

Post-war Kruspe. I really wanted to use my Kruspe. It’s medium bell and has such a sweet sound. But the valve positions are all not great. 1-2-3 valve levers are set too low, and the fulcrum point of the thumb valve is kind of off. I go back to patterns in E major such as Pares Scales #99, it’s just not great on this horn. There needs to be no problem going from 2 to T23, but it’s hard to synchronize the motion between those two fingerings. Probably I could get used to it eventually, but I moved on.

Paxman 25A. This one, I love the finger position. Every valve. So comfortable, with great slurs. On the other hand, the horn is huge (with the “American” bell), it really takes some energy. I did the first rehearsal on this, but I’ve got to move on. Even if I used it on both of my solo recordings.

Patterson Geyer. I’m ending up on the Patterson. The valve positions are almost as good as the Paxman, the slurs are still very good, and it’s just easier to play in terms of energy required.

Making new memories

I’m hoping the ASU students I’m playing with will end up with a set of good and useful memories from this Dvorak run. I like to think I’m playing with a similar style to that demonstrated by Bloom, and we’ll see if I can hit the ending better than he did on the concert!

Let’s Talk About Ensemble Dynamics

John Ericson
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One topic that comes up often in lessons is that of dynamics in ensembles, especially large ensembles. While in typical etudes the dynamics are pretty clear cut, dynamics in reality are a moving target that change greatly with the musical context.

Two sets of dynamics

Farkas must also have experienced this same conversation in multiple lessons. As a result, in The Art of French Horn Playing he discusses the topic of how dynamic markings really work and vary by musical context. Farkas wrote

Most students go through years of indecision before finally coming to the realization that in ensemble playing there are, in effect, two distinct types of dynamic marks. One set is for accompaniment passages, and the other is for solos. Piano in an accompaniment means just that—play softly. However, the same mark in a solo passage might require much more volume. A solo passage must carry, even though the dynamic mark indicates softness. Your first duty in playing a soft passage is to make it audible….

Although solo passages can often be a degree louder than the dynamic indicated, the opposite is true of accompaniment dynamics. Here it is our duty to keep down sufficiently to let the soloist come through even though it means playing piano when mezzoforte is indicated. Thus the orchestral player might make a simple rule for observing dynamics. Solos should be played a little louder than indicated and accompaniments slightly softer

How about Brahms 3?

A really huge thing you have to think about is if music is melodic or back in the texture. One of my favorite excerpts that can show this awareness is Brahms 3.

There’s actually a very large difference between the dynamic of the first two notes. The first note is inside a woodwind chord and is not loud at all. The rest of it, there is a lot of sound on the stage and you need to overcome that and project to the back row! The first note is softer than printed, and the rest of it a good bit louder than printed.

It’s a moving target

So while Farkas is correct that there are two sets of dynamics, really it’s a moving target based on the actual context and texture. But speaking generally, if you think about people needing to hear this line or not, is it melodic or not, you will be close to correct.

Schmidt Dreaming, Pan American Edition

John Ericson
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One of the original, iconic double horn designs was developed by German horn maker C. F. Schmidt in the early 20th century. The use of a piston valve for the thumb valve allows for a unique — and in ways probably ideal — airflow through the horn. But also that same thumb valve is the big problem, it makes for a complicated design and one with basic ergonomic problems.

But they were used by many leading players of the past, and still see some use today. Because it is such a unique, iconic design, there are also collectors that own multiple examples by Schmidt and other makers.

Before looking at the Schmidt, I’d also mention that this is not my first article “dreaming” about iconic horn designs, it’s become a series. For more reading check out:

The Perfect Horn!

The primary importer (to the USA) of Schmidt horns was Carl Fischer in New York, the illustration below being from a catalog of theirs from the 1920s.

While Schmidt is long out of business, this type of double horn has been produced by a number of makers, and it’s still possible to buy a new one.

In my own case, at one point I owned a King Schmidt model horn. When I got it I was itching to explore the design more. But that particular horn, I really didn’t like the ergonomics of that instrument, and it didn’t play that well either. And while I do have too many horns, I’m not enough of an instrument collector to keep it around.

Still, following all the horn work during my sabbatical, I like working on project horns, and I was interested in a Schmidt project with more potential to play well. Soon a horn popped up that interested me as a project. 

My Pan American Schmidt

Conn, by the early 1920s, was producing a Schmidt style double which was their original 6D. In 1935 they replaced the Schmidt model 6D with the more familiar 6D that was in production until 2023, when it was replaced by the new Kruspe style 6D. The original 6D is very similar to those produced by Schmidt except for rearranging the flow of the F side tubing.

However, 1935 was not where things ended. Conn had a subsidiary brand, Pan American, and Pan American continued to make a version of the original Schmidt style Conn 6D. It was simplified somewhat with, for example, no nice ends on the slide tubes and an odd bracing scheme in the valve section. I believe, as much as anything, the model continued because they had valve sections on hand for the original 6D (this was a way to use up the parts), but maybe also there was still some demand for the Schmidt style horn.

In any case, I was able to locate a Pan American, produced in 1940, in pretty rough shape. I felt it had several things working in its favor, especially the nice bell (it’s not a tank) and the better (for me at least) thumb valve position and (shorter) throw. However, the horn was not at all playable, it had a huge leak leading into the Bb horn, many dents, a patched and roached out lead pipe, etc.

A post describing the project at the midway point may be found here in my personal blog. A big fix worth mentioning here is I had to rebuild the main slide, the one that was on it was probably from an alto horn or who knows what. It had a completely useless water key on it, and the bore was oversized in the crook. I used a King crook of the correct bore and added a brace that closely matches the original Pan American braces. You would have to look closely to notice that it’s not the original main slide.

To that all I’ll add is that I’ve never had so much trouble getting the valve levers on a horn! It’s so cramped. Makes one appreciate the Geyer design that much more, they easily go on a Geyer in just a few minutes.

My Christmas present to myself

It was a big project to get this horn back together, taking me, off and on, close to two years. It’s also good that I’m not motivated by a profit motive, as the work done would have been major $$$ at a shop.

With relatives visiting after Christmas I just had time to finish everything up on Christmas Day.

Starting with this front view, it was quite a project to get the body back together. There was some poor repair done in the past (still slightly visible around some braces underneath) that had to be corrected.

The biggest issue was that the horn body overall was jammed together somewhat. Looking at the photo above, for example, up around the 2:00 point on the body of the horn as it sits in the picture, that brace was missing, and somehow that tube was jammed over next to (and touching) the first branch. It was all wonky. Referencing photos of other Pan American and Conn Schmidts, and using Cerrobend to safely rework multiple parts (plus making a brace in the same style as one of the small braces on the horn), I was able to get it all squared up and back together properly. Three of the slides only clear the bell by the thickness of a business card! Things really have to be just right.

Speaking of braces, I also felt it important to set up the valve section with what I saw to be the typical Schmidt bracing scheme. I believe that has improved things a good bit, but if nothing else I like the classic look I’ve achieved there.

There are four patches on the horn now. There was originally a big ugly one on the bell, which I replaced with a more nicely shaped patch. I also had to patch the horn under the hand guard I had added (which is from an 8D — that area arrived crushed badly), and there are patches on the Bb horn and the first branch.

Another challenge was I could not test the horn at all until I had it to the point that the horn was almost finished — finished to the point I could plug in a loose lead pipe. And of the four pipes I had on hand that could reasonably be used on it, only one was bent somewhat close to the correct shape.

But what testing I did made it pretty clear that, surprisingly, a Conn 8D pipe (most likely Abilene era production) was the best option of what I had on hand. Being a fairly low-dollar item too, I was like sure, lets bend this thing and put it on the horn! Get this horn playing again. I cleaned up and annealed (to dead soft) the portion that needed the major bend (filling it with Cerrobend as well) and got it set up for the horn (which included shortening the pipe about 1/2 inch, to match the original). As I had the time to do so, I also splurged and put a water key on it (which will save some wear and tear on the slides) and a ducks foot that I had on hand (which has helped the holding position a great deal). I still may swap the pipe out in the future, but as of now I’m liking how it plays. It’s a good starting point for sure.

This is only the second double horn on which I’ve done a major rebuild of this level, and with this project I learned a lot. I’m not sure what the next project will be, it might be a crooked single, but there will be more double horns in my future. In particular I’d like to make a Geyer from fresh (or fresher) parts in the next few years.

Initial testing

And now between relatives and such I’ve had only limited time to test the horn. And I won’t really until after about January 4.

What I have done to now has been generally positive, this horn is a lot of fun.  I’m liking the sound and slurs. The tuning feels comfortable, ranges feel good.

I’ve not yet mentioned, the valves are not very tight. I’m playing the horn using bearing oil as valve oil, to fill the gap better. It could really use a valve job. The worst culprit is the thumb valve.

Speaking of valves, something is up with the third valve, T23 especially. That specific fingering is a little stuffy, odd feeling. Like there is a pinhole leak, but it comes and goes, depends how I approach it. I have scope aligned the valve, so that is not the issue, and using water to test for leaks has not pointed out a specific issue either. This will be an area requiring more trouble shooting.

This Schmidt probably won’t be my main horn ever, but playing it so far has been fun, a holiday treat. I’m really looking forward to playing on this more.

UPDATE: I’ve found JM Lubricants Spacefiller Oil 15 Synthetic to be very helpful with the horn. It’s sort of good news/bad news in a way. It’s really heavy oil that allows the horn to play pretty well, but the bad news is the valve compression is poor. The oil is heavy enough that it would not be usable on a “normal” horn in better shape, but it is on this one. I’ll probably develop this into a longer article on oil, but hope even here this info is helpful.

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