Revisiting the Ascending Third Valve
As part of my most recent horn building project I realized that I could set up that horn as an ascending third valve instrument.
Ascending...
Comparing inner diameters of rims by the grip diameter
A question I get pretty often is why one rim of the same inner diameter may feel larger or smaller than another marked to...
Kruspe Dreaming, III: A Very Big (and Early) Kruspe
In this series I’ve focused on my ca. 1948 Kruspe, but I have also been able to spend some time with another, older Kruspe...
Kruspe Dreaming II: The Tuckwell Kruspe
Years ago, I remember one of my teachers saying that Tuckwell sounded better on his Kruspe. By the time I heard him play live...
From the Mailbag: The “A” Valve
One common question relates to the “A” valve seen on most single Bb horns and descant horns. The central question would be “what is...
Horn made with the slides in the wrong places
One question that comes in periodically is about a type of double horn that seems to have been constructed to have the valve slides...
Spun Bell? Hand-Hammered Bell?
I have mentioned hand-hammered bells a number of times in this site, but surprisingly I have never really explained what the term means.
All Bells...
Geyer Dreaming IV: The Custom Horn Maker, and a Closer Look...
One question I have heard in relation to custom horn makers is this; are they just assembling parts? What makes them better than just...
Interview: Kovach on Triple Horns. Part III, a Horn is Born
JE: Can you share a bit about your other horns in general and what it was that you were looking for to directly achieve...
The Great Bell Test
In studio class this week, at the end, I took some time to test three bells on my descant horn, one the original that...