ROGERIO

ED, You've got me beat...LOL But, a) can you see the sun and b) can you taste the air you breath???

I know it's not that bad... just messing.

Oh, almost forgot... do keep in touch with us when you get back up to the NE... I bet it's cold up there about now.

Thanks Vulgano.

rowuk

VB,
the trumpet ALWAYS sounds AND always amplifies. The motor is the lips, they sync with the resonant frequency of the horn and the efficiency for the lower and middle register is proportional to the size of the throat vs the bell of the trumpet. The higher we play, the less the horn amplifys. A big bell amplifies lower notes better than a smaller bell. Opening the throat of a mouthpiece reduces the efficiency. Horns (musical instruments as well as horn speakers) generally amplify over about 3 octaves.

The more efficient a trumpet is, the more we need to massage the intonation and blow into place. Gap is one way to do this.

My Monette Ajna2 had a very pronounced gap. Dave Monette replaced a mouthpiece because the gap was too small. I am not sure if the integral mouthpiece models have no gap. Dave does have tools to scrape material out of the leadpipe and I have noticed material removed on the inside of a mouthpiece near the end of the shank - close to the "gap".

mattdalton

FWIW, I was told that the Raja models do have a carefully set gap. The mouthpiece and leadpipe are first made separately, then joined into a single unit.

VB, I like your hypothesis. I'm not sure how to test it, but it is interesting to think about. Middle of the road gap seems to be in the .10-.15" range, which would be less than half the standard shank size. But then Monette gaps seem to run a little bigger....hmmmm. The two instruments bit also fits with my belief that one has to get the right mouthpiece-trumpet match to optimize playability.

I too remember Webster using the reamer, but I also remember an equal or greater amount of folks playing with paper to increase the gap a bit. Maybe that was more of an '80s thing, I don't really know. The gap certainly does make a difference, and I think we messed with it in search of a magical solution to our playing issues of the time.

gtromble

Rowuk said "The Schilke horns traditionally did not have much of a gap. That is because Renold knew much more about leadpipe design and had control of the blow and intonation there. Bach instruments can often be improved by adjusting the gap and valves. Monette instruments are also finicky when the gap is not correct."

One of the differences between the Schilke B series horns and Bachs is that Bachs have more defined slots for the notes while the Schilkes are 'slipperier.' I know that the gap can influence how a horn slots. An extreme example is Lynn Nicholson and Maynard Ferguson (story is Lynn did it first) grinding down the mouthpiece shank so it would seat in against the leadpipe and eliminate the gap. This made the horn much more flexible. So..... I've wondered if the reason Schilke didn't use a gap was because he liked the more flexible slots.

GT

ecarroll

Galen,

Schilke did everything with a purpose. Bud used to hammer on him (they were great friends and colleagues, after all) to create a trumpet similar to the Mt. Vernon Bach Cs owned by the CSO. Schilke always refused, declaring that his horns sounded the way the CSO should sound, not the opposite. . . a very stubborn man. God, how I loved him (!)

Food for thought: a very famous trumpet soloist (for the sake of this story we'll call him John Wallace) was once presented with a brand new set of horns by a prominent manufacturer. (John), being the gentleman he is, accepted the new horns gratefully and played them for a season -- but I noticed that often his old Schilke trumpets would make an appearance for tricky bits in the repertoire. He eventually went back to his old equipment. When I asked him why, he explained that HE wanted to determine where the note would "slot", and not be bound by the slot engineered by some designer in (X). He felt that his unique voice was more true on his old Schilke trumpets.

Best,
EC

GordonH

I am not sure about the Monette gap at all given that the prana mouthpiece backbores have a very thin edge at the bottom.

I do know what Dave is doing with the gap and various other things but he told me if I ever told anyone he would have to kill me.

hubnub

I've got your back...... The audiance is listening.....