| Some more perspective...John Duda is awesome. Bought a Kanstul 1503 from him years ago while he was at Tulsa Band. At the time he sent me a number of horns to test including a R37 Calicchio that he had personally "fine tuned."...aka doing the hand lapping that should have been done by Chris at the factory. The R37 was a GREAT all-around horn with a fantastic rich sound. The only reason I didn't buy it was that I it really sapped my endurance especially in group playing. So…I went for the Kanstul…which was a great horn too…then ended up with a super 14x,xxx series Bach and sold the Kanstul. Just added an Eclipse MR to the line-up…wow what fun....but I'll still hang on to my Bach. Anyway (at the risk of being somewhat controversial)…I also own a Schilke P 5-4 and previously owned an S32. The P5-4 is fantastic...perfecto. The S32 was an extremely well-built horn that I wanted to love. BUT…like other Schilke horns (in fact to a lesser degree than the B series) the sound sounded sterile…lacking fullness and depth of other horns. That’s where Bach’s have a BIG advantage…as does the Eclipse. So…make sure you listen to recordings of yourself playing in large halls (or wherever you play) in addition to having others listen to you in the environment where you perform. Depending on the type of music you play most…IMHO you won’t find Schilke to be the best all-around option from an audience perspective. Again…fantastic horns…but don’t look for a fat sound.
Dave Brown |