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Originally Posted by rowuk  Um............, Schilke has traditionally had the tightest valves in the industry with no "break in" problems. The Bauerfeind valves used on many custom instruments also do not show this type of issue (these are only examples of "extremely tight" and I am sure that there are other great valves). This is clearly a production or material PROBLEM that needs to be adressed by the manufacturer - not pushed off on the customer. This is basic quality control that keeps the reputation up (or down). A new custom trumpet is just that. I pay a premium to get it right the first time. Slides and valves should be like silk - from the very beginning. If that is not the design goal, the trumpet cannot be considered "professional".
In the old days, this could have been used as an excuse. Manufacturing techniques have come a LONG way and technical/manufacturing problems are just not acceptable anymore, period.
Just like Brett Getzen has been very open and forthcoming about improvements that he has made, we are all interested in what VCT has in store for us! Thanks for the input! |
Ok, for starters, I am not a MVC appologist, just a guy with a little manufacturing knowledge. Let's remember a few facts here:
1)MVC is a relatively new brand. There will be "kinks" that need to be adjusted.
2) Look at the MVC price. Why does this matter? Kinda simple. To make a valve piston move like silk, the tolerances between the piston surface and the valve wall have to be tight. I won't try to BS you and act like I know the tolerance, but just guessing, I'm gonna say probably no more than a tenth of an inch, most likely hundredths of an inch. To do this, you have to use extremely precise lathes. Yes, they are computer controlled now. Unfortunately, there are sometimes calibration issues. A computer can only be so accurate. Add to that the fact that there is mechanical slack between the gears of any system, and you can easily argue that the technology could be at fault for a difference of +/- a few hundredths, and it only gets worse as the machine gets older. Take off too much, you get sloppy valves, blowaround, intonation issues. Take off too little, and the valves are tight, but drag and aren't as fast. However, because of the lovely abrasive nature of friction, tightness goes away. That's pretty much the reasoning why Kanstul (who I obviously like, I won't hide it) and others have a break in period. They find it easier, and maybe cheaper, too, to make the valves slightly oversized and let them wear down to their sweet spot.
This matters because to machine something that precise takes expensive equipment, and often quite a few man-hours. It's expensive to make valves of the quality like you mention. And you pay, as you said, a premium price for Bauerfind valves. MVC's are way cheaper than anything I know of with Bauerfind. So are they professional? Define professional. Odds are, there are a lot of "professional" horns that wouldn't fit that bill, and yet they are marketed as such. It's all just a marketing ploy. Honestly, I don't care if a horn is a professional level or not, if I can play and get the sound that I want out of it, I'll play anything. Just my .02 worth.