Stephen Howard
Well-Known Member
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I had a chance to see the new Bauhaus M2 horns yesterday - unlacquered 'pre-aged' finish.
The horns themselves are exactly the same as the silver/gold models (ie, with the larger bell), the only difference being the finish. This is simply bare brass which has been sprayed with a chemical that quickly tarnishes the brass - leaving an aged look to it.
That's the theory, at least - in practice it tends to leave the horns looking, well, brown really. It's not my favourite finish, but I have to admit it looks quite nice.
I checked the new horns against their silver/gold counterparts. There wasn't much of a difference in tone, but I felt that the unlacquered models sounded just a smidgeon darker.
I noted that on both models the finish goes right the way through the bore - which would mean that the silver plated model will have a very slightly smoother bore (the plating would tend to fill any small pits in the metal). This may account for the very subtle difference...or it might just be that the three samples tended towards a warmer sound anyway.
I noted on the soprano that using the curved crook on the silver model warmed the tone up and brought it into line with that of the unlacquered with the straight crook....so the difference is very slight.
That's the good news - what's not so good is that I'm told there's going to be a price increase across the range as the manufacturing cost has risen.
Regards,
The horns themselves are exactly the same as the silver/gold models (ie, with the larger bell), the only difference being the finish. This is simply bare brass which has been sprayed with a chemical that quickly tarnishes the brass - leaving an aged look to it.
That's the theory, at least - in practice it tends to leave the horns looking, well, brown really. It's not my favourite finish, but I have to admit it looks quite nice.
I checked the new horns against their silver/gold counterparts. There wasn't much of a difference in tone, but I felt that the unlacquered models sounded just a smidgeon darker.
I noted that on both models the finish goes right the way through the bore - which would mean that the silver plated model will have a very slightly smoother bore (the plating would tend to fill any small pits in the metal). This may account for the very subtle difference...or it might just be that the three samples tended towards a warmer sound anyway.
I noted on the soprano that using the curved crook on the silver model warmed the tone up and brought it into line with that of the unlacquered with the straight crook....so the difference is very slight.
That's the good news - what's not so good is that I'm told there's going to be a price increase across the range as the manufacturing cost has risen.
Regards,
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