Mouthpieces Can a mediocre horn be made into a better horn? 🤔

[Stephen Howard]

You are correct in that my thinking is down to the fact I know it's a cheap Taiwan import student model for sure and I guess because I've always struggled getting below low d on this horn regardless of mouthpieces

Bingo! There you go - it's leaking like a sieve. Just about any horn in reasonable working order is going to get you down to low D pretty reliably. Even low C will speak with just a little leak. Bell notes are harder because there's more that needs to be 'just so'.

I don't even have to close my eyes to picture the problems.
Out of regulation on the A to Bis Bb key - with the A key pad needing a reset.
Poor regulation on the G#.
Aux.F badly regulatated and pad leaking at the front.
Ditto low F
E's usually OK.
D leaking at the east/west apexes.
C all over the place.
B/Bb just go home.

All bog-standard stuff - even on quite respectable horns.

 

[MMM]

You are correct in that my thinking is down to the fact I know it's a cheap Taiwan import student model for sure and I guess because I've always struggled getting below low d on this horn regardless of mouthpieces ranging from the very cheap Hermes that came with it, to a Yamaha 4c and a lawton 6*( this was gifted to me by my sax teacher Dave Stokes back in the 80s, who was friends with Geoff Lawton 😉) and now my recently acquired Otto link tone edge.
I can sometimes get those low notes but not always cleanly. I never had this problem on my old La Fleur tenor years ago using my lawton 6*.

I guess that's why I've always blamed the horn 🤔🤷
Although I'm not discounting myself at this point as well 😳
But I am certainly working on practicing at least an hour but every couple days as time permits (you know guys... Cook, bottle washer etc etc.... 🙄😂)

I blame a bad reed! 😉
If you would like to consult a repairer, tell us which area you live in and I'm sure someone will be able to recommend a good repairer.

 

[JayeNM]

I'm sorry, my whole post just disappeared into the air. If your comment about "one shot to get it right" refers to limited finances, all the more reason to find out whether some rather simple adjustments might not change the whole playing experience. It could be one key foot on the upper stack that needs an extra 0.1 mm of cork to stop that minor leak that's been robbing performance since day one.

Exactly. Going to my list above, it may well be that leak removal, key swedging, keyheight adjustment and spring tension adjustment 'changes' how OP's horn plays to the degree that it seems like 'a different horn'.

 

[JayeNM]

Bingo! There you go - it's leaking like a sieve. Just about any horn in reasonable working order is going to get you down to low D pretty reliably. Even low C will speak with just a little leak. Bell notes are harder because there's more that needs to be 'just so'.

Agreed. If a player cannot hit the bellnotes cleanly....85% chance it's leaks, not the player....

 

[Dr G]

+1

Get the leaks out first. There's a good chance that a horn made to that price point 15-20+ years ago was never set up correctly in the first place. Leaks and regulation don't get better with age.

 

[teen37]

Bingo! There you go - it's leaking like a sieve. Just about any horn in reasonable working order is going to get you down to low D pretty reliably. Even low C will speak with just a little leak. Bell notes are harder because there's more that needs to be 'just so'.

I don't even have to close my eyes to picture the problems.
Out of regulation on the A to Bis Bb key - with the A key pad needing a reset.
Poor regulation on the G#.
Aux.F badly regulatated and pad leaking at the front.
Ditto low F
E's usually OK.
D leaking at the east/west apexes.
C all over the place.
B/Bb just go home.

All bog-standard stuff - even on quite respectable horns.

Impressed 😳 mind blown! 🤯
Certainly not a DIY job for me then huh 😱😂
How far away am I to you exactly? 🤔🙄😉

 

[Stephen Howard]

Impressed 😳 mind blown! 🤯
Certainly not a DIY job for me then huh 😱😂
How far away am I to you exactly? 🤔🙄😉

Quite some way - at least a two-hour drive. One hour to get to Oxford, another to get to Hampshire. It's a nice drive though.
I could probably arrange to do a one-day turnaround. Pitch up in the morning, drop the horn off, go find something to do (not hard in Hamphire), pick the horn up later and mosey off home.

As keen as I am to promote DIY tweakery, this is very much a job for a professional.

 

[teen37]

Quite some way - at least a two-hour drive. One hour to get to Oxford, another to get to Hampshire. It's a nice drive though.
I could probably arrange to do a one-day turnaround. Pitch up in the morning, drop the horn off, go find something to do (not hard in Hamphire), pick the horn up later and mosey off home.

As keen as I am to promote DIY tweakery, this is very much a job for a professional.

Thank you Stephen, that is truely appreciated 🙏 I'll speak to the Mr about a possible day trip, I'm sure he won't be averse to the idea 😊😉

 

[Pete Thomas]

Thank you Stephen, that is truely appreciated 🙏 I'll speak to the Mr about a possible day trip,

I can recommend a trip to the Mary Rose in Pompey. If it’s a nice day and you like country walking then the Meon Valley is almost unbeatable. And pub lunch.

 

[teen37]

I can recommend a trip to the Mary Rose in Pompey. If it’s a nice day and you like country walking then the Meon Valley is almost unbeatable. And pub lunch.

Pompey??? I've been to the Mary Rose in Portsmouth last year? But pompey is a little further than a day trip surely? 🤔🤔🤔

 

[Pete Thomas]

Pompey??? I've been to the Mary Rose in Portsmouth last year? But pompey is a little further than a day trip surely? 🤔🤔🤔

Pompey is Portsmouth. You may be thinking of Pompeii.

 

[Pete Effamy]

I can recommend a trip to the Mary Rose in Pompey. If it’s a nice day and you like country walking then the Meon Valley is almost unbeatable. And pub lunch.

The Thomas Lord pub in West Meon is about 3 mins from Stephen Howard’s workshop and is terrific. A walk on the old West Meon railway cutting route is lovely and is barely 2 mins drive from the pub.

 

[teen37]

Pompey is Portsmouth. You may be thinking of Pompeii.

😂😂😂😂😂 OK my bad 😂😂😂😉

 

[Pete Effamy]

Pompey??? I've been to the Mary Rose in Portsmouth last year? But pompey is a little further than a day trip surely? 🤔🤔🤔

There’s also HMS Victory. She looks great but Nelson is a bit crusty. You might get a kiss from that other bloke tho.

 

[Pete Effamy]

…and I didn’t mean Pete Thomas. Mind you, don’t knock it until…

 

[teen37]

The Thomas Lord pub in West Meon is about 3 mins from Stephen Howard’s workshop and is terrific. A walk on the old West Meon railway cutting route is lovely and is barely 2 mins drive from the pub.

I'm passing all this on to the Mr as we speak 😉👍

 

[Stephen Howard]

Thank you Stephen, that is truely appreciated 🙏 I'll speak to the Mr about a possible day trip, I'm sure he won't be averse to the idea 😊😉

Sure thing. Just drop me a line sometime we can talk about dates.

 

[teen37]

Sure thing. Just drop me a line sometime we can talk about dates.

Will do for sure ☺️

 

[teen37]

There’s also HMS Victory. She looks great but Nelson is a bit crusty. You might get a kiss from that other bloke tho.

😳 What other bloke?..... 🤔

 

[Pete Effamy]

😳 What other bloke?..... 🤔

Horatio Nelson: “kiss me Hardy”