TrumpetMaster - View Single Post - The Differences with the Kanstul M-line and Monette

Tootsall · 11-10-2003, 08:42 PM

Lots of talk about annealing and it's effect on a mouthpiece. Annealing is the heating and then SLOW COOLING of an object with the intention of removing stresses built up from "cold working". An example of this is to take a coathanger and bend it back and forth several times in one spot. Notice how it's getting warmer and then gets brittle where the bending action is happening? What is occuring in the metal is that the crystals of the material are changing shape due to the deformation they are going under. When you anneal it, you heat it up, allowing the crystals to reform (and the stresses to reduce). The slow cooling then allows the crystals to "freeze" in their new shape/position.

The following link shows cartridge brass (darn near identical to yellow brass in composition) which has been cold worked and then annealed.

http://www.n3mra.com/annealing.html

Now...when you turn a brass rod in a lathe and cut parts of it away, the stresses can be built up from a) the original formation of the rod (provided it has not been annealed up until "now"), b) the pressure from the cutting tool, and c) the heat from the cutting tool.

Does this "work hardening" affect the tone of a mouthpiece? Hmmm .... bet my ears can't hear the difference....nor can my face feel the difference once the m/p has been plated.

An interesting side bar: Beer bottles are made by blowing molten glass into a mould that opens and closes like a clamshell. Because the mold takes the heat out of the glass very quickly and unevenly, the new beer bottles contain a LOT of stresses: in fact, once they've cooled down and you tap them with a pencil, they'll explode. So those newly "minted" beer bottles are then passed through a long furnace that slowly heats them up, holds them at that temperature, and then VERY SLOWLY cools them down (looks a lot like an automated pizza oven). Then you get "annealed glass" that won't cause you to spill your beer (and cut your fingers!)

What has beer got to do with trumpets? Heck...I thought EVERYBODY knows the answer to that one! :?

11-10-2003, 08:42 PM	#2 (permalink)
Tootsall Fortissimo User Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Yee HAW! Posts: 4,641	Lots of talk about annealing and it's effect on a mouthpiece. Annealing is the heating and then SLOW COOLING of an object with the intention of removing stresses built up from "cold working". An example of this is to take a coathanger and bend it back and forth several times in one spot. Notice how it's getting warmer and then gets brittle where the bending action is happening? What is occuring in the metal is that the crystals of the material are changing shape due to the deformation they are going under. When you anneal it, you heat it up, allowing the crystals to reform (and the stresses to reduce). The slow cooling then allows the crystals to "freeze" in their new shape/position. The following link shows cartridge brass (darn near identical to yellow brass in composition) which has been cold worked and then annealed. http://www.n3mra.com/annealing.html Now...when you turn a brass rod in a lathe and cut parts of it away, the stresses can be built up from a) the original formation of the rod (provided it has not been annealed up until "now"), b) the pressure from the cutting tool, and c) the heat from the cutting tool. Does this "work hardening" affect the tone of a mouthpiece? Hmmm .... bet my ears can't hear the difference....nor can my face feel the difference once the m/p has been plated. An interesting side bar: Beer bottles are made by blowing molten glass into a mould that opens and closes like a clamshell. Because the mold takes the heat out of the glass very quickly and unevenly, the new beer bottles contain a LOT of stresses: in fact, once they've cooled down and you tap them with a pencil, they'll explode. So those newly "minted" beer bottles are then passed through a long furnace that slowly heats them up, holds them at that temperature, and then VERY SLOWLY cools them down (looks a lot like an automated pizza oven). Then you get "annealed glass" that won't cause you to spill your beer (and cut your fingers!) What has beer got to do with trumpets? Heck...I thought EVERYBODY knows the answer to that one! :?