gchun

I know what you're talking about. I also experienced some very flat high d's. Bob Reeves did a few things that really helped improve the horn.

1. valve alignment
2. replaced stock waterkey with Amado on tuning slide
3. Removed 1 vertical brace on the outer slides that receive the tuning slide.

Later, I replaced a bell brace with a Minnich adjustable sound post.

Its hard to say what helped what since three things were done at once, but the entire horn became a totally different animal. The horn spoke more evenly, the pitch on the high D was improved, and in general, the horn seemed to be more vibrant and responsive. My guess was the valve alignment evened out the response, removing the braces and adding the amado lessened the "choked" feeling and made the horn "ring", and the soundpost help focus the horn after removing the braces.

Rounded slides weren't readily available at the time (20 years ago!!). I'd be very curious how one would have affected the horn.

One downside. With two braces removed, the bell started to sag from using a gig bag. No more gig bags!!

Garry