| There are many advantages to having the back bow tuning slide - in fact, once players have experienced the way an Eclipse trumpet handles, many are asking to have their other horns convereted to this system.
The main advantage is that with the rear tuning slide you do not need to have a tuning slide at the front.
With all Eclipse trumpets, the lead pipe and the extended front bow leading into the valve section are, in effect, a single, solid and uninterupted construction (the two component parts are butted up with no internal gaps).
On a traditional trumpet this section of the tubing is constructed of seven seperate parts (lead pipe, outer sleeve, inner tube, front bow, inner tube, outer sleeve, tube into valve block) which cannot have the structural integrity of the Eclipse design.
On a traditional trumpet, when you pull the front slide out to tune the instrument, you create two sections of tube with a much larger bore (around 15% larger at a guess) at either end of the smaller bore front bow. This means that the air moving through the pipe hits a hard edge twice on its way round to the valve section which causes air turbulence, disruption to the air column, distortion and loss of energy.
You need to bear in mind that all the notes in the staff and above are formed in this first crucial part of the air column. That is that the first nodal point or standing wave in notes higher than a bottom line E occurs before the valve section. Now, depending exactly how far out you ususally have your slide, some of these nodal points will coincide in a very unfortunate way with the air turbulence and disruption to the air flow as outlined above.
This has a very detrimental effect on the slotting and , crucially, the intonation of many notes on a traditional trumpet. Typically the fifth harmonic notes, G Fsharp and F on top of the staff are sharp and fourth harmonic notes, E, Eflat, D and Csharp are flat. You will have to work the notes with your embouchure to get them in tune but the price you pay is in an inferior tone quality on these notes and a reduction in volume/air speed ratio.
On an Eclipse you do not have any of these problems. There is no interuption to the air stream, no distortion of or disturbance to any of the nodal points. The intonation is spot on, the slotting is superb and the tone of each note remains true and constant as does the volume/air speed ratio. Due to the elegant and sturdy construction - much more of the energy you put in to creating and forming the notes gets transfered to the bell - the amplification side of the instrument - leading to outstanding projection even when playing very quietly.
Eclipse trumpets speak very quickly and respond with great precision to the input from the player. Because the intonation is so good and the slots so accurate, you will find that they seem much easier to play. You become more confident about pitching and hitting notes cleanly and with accuracy. You are not wasting energy and as a result your endurance will improve.
There you are then. No it is not a trade secret and nor is it a cheap trick or marketing ploy. I will not be suprised if this design innovation is picked up by some of the 'big boys' in the very near future!
All the best. Noel. |