Brian H. Smout

Hi All,

Have any of our Brit comrades tried the Virtuosi piccs? The price is very tempting but is it just another re-badged Monique?

Thanks,

Brian

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trumpetnick

TMike,

I've got you! The Piccolo specialist forgets to mention some of the most impressive piccolos! By the way, I played on a F Besson for my admission exam at the RNCM (Sinfonia Il Barchegio part 2) and understand why you would not swap it for a Schilke. I aggree. Do you know what is the main things that should be on that Pic? Just I little bigger bell and (note the following) 1st piston slide trigger. It would make intonation much safer: high f was always sharp. You can pull a out the slide but in this case you get a middle B flat slightly flat. You can correct either of the notes with lips but this does not seem to me like a good solution. That why I prefer a trigger. Do you have one on yours?

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Spada Bach B flat 72, leadpipe 2L/DWMM1.5C
Spada Bach C 256, leadpipe 2LQ/DWMM1.5C
1956 Olds Ambassador Cornet
Spada Custom Piccolo

If you don't know where you are going, you 'll end up someplace else

trumpetmike

I have tried one with a slightly bigger bell (someone had a copper one custom made) and was very impressed. It is something I have been looking into, but am currentlly debating whether to customise mine or see how the Eclipse is going.
As for the trigger - again, I have been contemplating one - probably something similar to that which Will Spencer put on a Yamaha earlier this year.

Nice to know that I am not the only one who needs the first slide a little bit further out

trumpetnick

If I was you I would go for customizing your Besson it will be cheaper and the horn is great...Is not random that Jimmy Watson is using one, and I believe that Murphy used to play one too. Never tried the eclipse though. What you consider to customise may be a bit expensive however. Putting a new bell and a trigger to the 1st valve trigger may be quite expensive: I was considering buying brand new F Besson and putting the 1st piston trigger at spada but this was going to make the horn price 500Euros higher which was a bit too much..So am I waiting till I will be able to afford a Spada horn - think you should go for the holidays at Burgdorf and do some skiing while testing the spada pic (I bet on you liking the horn- as far as I know the one I tested was made for the Principal trumpet of the Zurich Opera Orchestra - and it had the trigger! Probably he needed it too! And I liked the horn very much. The Price (with the trigger) was about 2450 Euros (You can calculate in GBP of you want). As I said in another forum the scherzer is great and they heva to model: one with the four valves on the right hand and one with 3+1 (the 4th key to be operated with the left hand) but does not suite me for some reason...In my opinion the bell is too big for the mouthpiece I use (schilke) and if I use the scherzer mouthpiece the high register is getting to hard to reach...Probably I should have tried with some warburton....

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Spada Bach B flat 72, leadpipe 2L/DWMM1.5C
Spada Bach C 256, leadpipe 2LQ/DWMM1.5C
1956 Olds Ambassador Cornet
Spada Custom Piccolo

If you don't know where you are going, you 'll end up someplace else

ROGERIO

I own a vintage Schilke P5-4 and at the time it was the best horn on the market. After this past ITG I'm not so sure anymore. The Blackburn played beautifully and so did the Thein picc used by Hofs. The only Scherzer I've played had really slow valves (I'm sure it was just that horn)... but it left a bad impression... but it did sound great! I've owned a Getzen and a Paris Selmer. Both were greatly improved with the blackburn pipes.

Note: Last year I sent my P5-4 to Schilke to have it re-worked and to have it converted to slides for 1st and 3rd valves (Butler / Guyer). I don't know how I survived so long without the ability to make pitch corrections like I do for every other horn I own! It's really kind of funny when you think about... the very horn that needs working slides the most (the picc) does not come with them standard!! Shame !!!

I would be interested in hearing some discussion on trpt vs. cornet receiver horns... pros, cons..... it always made sense to me to start with a smaller receiver considering the smaller bore....

The other area you should consider is the Schilke G. With the different bell options the horn is very versatile. The impression I get is that the 3 valve model is your better choice... but that's just word from a handfull of folks I know that use them instead of piccs.

trumpetmike

In one of Dave Hickman's piccolo books he suggests that the ideal piccolo would probably be a G/A for 99% of baroque music, with a Bb/C for the remaining 1% (Brandenburg) and brass ensemble literature.

Having a G piccolo is a very useful addition to the weapons cabinet when playing something like the Vivaldi (in C, meaning you are playing in everybody's favourite key of F major) and I have found other uses for mine since I got it (parts of Pulcinella work superbly on it). I have got a Scherzer G and LOVE it, although I wouldn't consider getting one without the 4th valve - the low F is a very useful note to have.

Vulgano Brother

For a Scherzer clone with amazing quality of workmanship, Rudolph Meinl's (yup, the tuba maker) is great, plus he gives you a bunch of leadpipes too.

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