rdt1959

I think it is a scam, but I would still like to try it on my ex-wife!

Uncle Albert

I cryo treated my Bb and my Piccolo trumpet at the same time.

No noticable difference with the Bb,
but quite an improvement with the pic.

Overall sound quality was more pleasing; smoother, less edgy.
intonation seemed better & slotting of the notes above f,g was easier.
Played next to other 2 horns, same model after treatment, the differences were apparent.

that is my story and I'm sticking to it.

Mikey

I had Wayne freeze my P5-4. Very noticeable difference; made the horn much better.

More core to the sound; more lower frequencies.

As far as the larger horn, I have not had any done.

Mike

BamaJPB

I had this article sent to me by a friend.

Enjoy

Justin

This article from NYTimes.com


Hot Sounds From a Cold Trumpet? Cryogenic Theory Falls Flat

November 18, 2003
By TERRY SCHWADRON





Without, er, fanfare, two Tufts University engineering
researchers announced results of a study last week
rebutting a popular myth among some trumpet players that
deep-freezing the instruments will change the sound for the
better.

Rather, they told the Acoustical Society of America meeting
in Austin, Tex., that scientific testing of cryogenically
freezing 10 trumpets showed minimal differences when the
instruments were thawed and played by six musicians. After
two years of research, Dr. Chris Rogers, an engineering
professor, said that he and colleagues determined that
freezing trumpets did not make them sound better.

"One of the great things about studying musical
instruments, though, is if the player believes it will make
a difference, he or she will play better, so it acts as a
sort of placebo," Dr. Rogers said.

There has been growing interest among musicians in these
treatments for brass instruments of all kind. In
experiments, the instruments were cooled with liquid
nitrogen to minus 321 degrees Fahrenheit, and then slowly
warmed, all in the belief that they would become easier to
play. A major flute manufacturer uses the process, and
small storefront businesses have popped up for the sole
purpose of freezing the instruments.

Chip Jones, a Tufts graduate student involved in the
research, said he had recruited six trumpeters ranging in
skill from a former high school musician to a New England
Conservatory player to member of the Boston Symphony
Orchestra.

They played the same sequence on trumpets that had been
frozen and those that had not, and then rated the
instruments. They were also asked to identify which trumpet
matched the sound that "people say is brighter,
freer-blowing or that had more `presence,' " Mr. Jones
said.

Differences in the answers, he said, were statistically
insignificant. "There was more difference from trumpet to
trumpet and from player to player than in the results from
treatment of the instruments," Mr. Jones said.

The research was requested by Selmer Musical Instruments, a
wind instrument manufacturer, which was considering whether
to offer the cryogenic treatments for new instruments sold
from the Vincent Bach Stradivarius trumpet line. As a
result of the tests, the company has decided to forgo the
deep-freeze.

But others who have tried the deep-freeze say there is a
difference in ease of playing and in the range of "color"
in the tone.

In Arlington Heights, Ill., Wayne Tanabe, owner of the
Brass Bow music repair shop, said his advertising was by
word of mouth. "Otherwise, people think you're talking
about voodoo," he said.

He has a tub-size cryogenics tank where he can fit a tuba
and several trumpets. His freeze technique costs about $200
and takes 35 to 50 hours. As Mr. Tanabe explained it,
cryogenics accelerates what seems to happen to brass
instruments as they age. Sound quality improves because
resonance is clearer, he said.

Mr. Jones said studies had shown that while steel, for
example, did undergo change through freezing, brass did
not. Heating, by contrast, does soften metal, potentially
changing its acoustics.

The trumpet research is part a musical instrument
engineering program at Tufts.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/18/sc...420d7d5b2acd01

Mikey

Sh*t, save yourself the $200 and spend a winter in Minn-e-so-tah!

I am thinking about doing that to my best Bb; just leave it in your trunk overnight...




Mikey

Tootsall

I'm not voting because my "option' isn't there. I don't *think* that it does anything other than the placebo effect. I have always believed that the structure of Brass is significantly different from that of steel in that steel has carbon atoms throughout it. Heat treatment of various types (whether hot or cold) have the effect of getting those carbon atoms to move either into the steel grains or into the spaces between the grains. In addition the treatment changes the shape/size of the grains just as it does with brass. HOWEVER, those moving carbon atoms are VERY significant in steel. Also do not forget that there is a significant amount of lead-based solder in a horn and it will have it's own way of reacting to cold/heat.

I would rather see a horn heat treated and then slowly cooled so that the stresses inherent from the rapid and uneven cooling that goes along with MASS PRODUCTION can be removed. Hand made horns that are soldered "one joint at a time" are far less likely to exhibit these built-in stresses which can inhibit the natural resonance of the horn. Personally I believe that this "one piece at a time" approach is why horns which have undergone severe rebuilding frequently play better than when they first came off the 'production line'.

Just my take on it....I do know that steel subjected to extreme cold becomes EXCEPTIONALLY BRITTLE....it can literally shatter like glass depending upon how it was previously heat treated when it is at extreme sub-zero temperatures (and, "No...the -10 F forecast for here tonight does not qualify"...)

I would love to see one or more of the custom builders comment on this one......Andy? Leigh?

eclipse trumpets

I have spoken to Wayne when i was exhibiting at the Franfurt Music Fair.

He seemed a very nice genuine person who does have 100% faith in the service he offers.

However! I do not personally think it makes a significant difference when freezing a piece of brass.

I do think it has the effect of being a placebo, but i want to make it clear that this is JUST my opinion and does not for one minute mean that i am correct of course.
The important thing to remember here is that the reason for having this process carried out on your horn is to apparently de-stress it.

I would never subscribe to this treatment on any of my Horns ,as stress is not an ingredient that i put into mine in the first place.

Regards

Leigh

dauminator3

I was talking with my chemistry teacher, and she explained a little of what happens when you cryo freeze an instrument...

She said that all metals have small imperfections in the layering and stacking of the atoms. When frozen, the movement of the atoms decreases, allowing these bumps and grooves in the atom layering to settle in. Now the atoms in the horn are more properly aligned and such resulting in better harmonics, maybe.....


Jared

Tootsall

For what it's worth.....and all that jazz.

When you freeze a material, atomic motion does decrease. However...for a material to actually have it's atoms or molecules actually move in to fill out voids, etc., it is necessary that you heat the thing so that the activity INCREASES; this increase in activity allows the material to smoothen out the bumps (or discontinuities in the crystalline structure)... No, we're not talking about scratches and stuff...we're talking about the actual shape of the crystals of the parent materials (ferrite, carbon, so forth and so on).

You then slowly cool the material so that the crystals are allowed to "settle in" to their new, lower energy (or lower stress) locations. This is called "annealing".

I've heard it said (can't find the reference right now) that super cooling does have an effect on steels....but steel is vastly different from brass in that the carbon in steel does not actually "blend" with the ferrous but rather sits in the spaces between the ferrous "crystals". It is the movement and location of the carbon that affects how "hard or soft" a steel will be. (In conjunction with the grain SIZE of the ferrous crystals).

Brass, on the other hand, is a very homogenous mix of copper and zinc with NO carbon involved. And don't forget that brass instruments also are soldered which introduces a different variable...the tin and lead in the solder.

I once found a neat website that had all kinds of information on annealing etc. and included microphotographs of a brass structure with different degrees of annealing applied. If I find it I'll add it to this thread.

stchasking

The Brass alloy does not have transition temperatures as low as cryogenics treats. Cryogenics does nothing.

The liberty ships in wwII were welded and the weld to base metal did have a transition at temperatures around freezing. When the ships entered the North Atlantic the steel weld alloy transitioned which caused microcracking at the flux inclusions. After several trips across the pond some of the ships split along the hull welds. This is classic metalurgical history. You should be able to find some info on this on the www.

I asked the same question to a metalurgist at my employer. He said, "Not brass."