Spawn

I've been out of playing for 25 years. At that time, I don't remember hearing anything about "sound posts". What are they and what do they do?

trickg

Sound posts are adjustable length posts that you can place on your horn between two pieces of tubing such as the lead pipe and the lower pipe going into the third valve, or the leadpipe and the bell. They have little "U" shaped ends so that they hug the tubing, then you tighten it up with the adjustment screw in the middle.

The theory behind sound posts is that you can tweak and adjust the resonance of your horn by placing the sound post on vibration nodal points to brighten or darken the sound of your horn. I've never used one but a friend of mine had one and really liked what it was doing for him.

By the way, if I'm not accurate on my assesment, feel free to make additions or corrections.

Spawn

Patrick,
Thanks! :)

I can't see myself doing something like that. I would think you'd damage the horn, or even damage the finish.

trickg

Nah, you don't really damage the horn or the finish because it's only tightened enough to keep in in place. That kind of thing falls into the "gimmick" category for me, although I'm sure that it does do something for your sound. I just don't want to have to rely on too much because the last thing that I want to think about in the middle of a gig is just where in the heck my sound post is placed. When it comes to that kind of thing, I try to keep it simple.

At this stage of the comeback trail, I think that you are making a wise choice in just getting great horn, a good mouthpiece and locking yourself into the "woodshed". :) Save the gimmicks for later.

Spawn

No gimmicks for me. I was just curious about it and you gave me all I needed to know.

I'm going to be playing for two reasons:
1) Personal enjoyment.
2) Volunteering to play taps for Veteran funerals in my area. My way of giving something back. I spent 23 years in the USMC and for me, it's the right thing to do.

richtom

To add to what trickg has correctly stated, I personally find most add-on to be somewhat gimmicky and often give something, but take away something else.
I had a large bore Bach 72/43 that I bought used. It had had the brace from the leadpipe to the pipe leading into the 3rd valve removed. I thought it just great that way for 13 years until a friend asked me to try the moveable sound post he had on one of his horns. I "humored" him and put it where you could see where the old brace was. The improvement was amazing and for the better! It tightened the horn up a bit and made upstairs less of a blow. I bought the brace from him and moved it about 1/4 inch closer to the one on the tuning slide and left it there.
I ended up trading that large bore to my friend for a Vindabona. He moved the brace slight back from my "ideal" spot and has left it right there.
This brace likely worked because the horn was designed for a post where one had been removed, but it does show the posts do do something and it was enlightening to see how the horn was changing when the post was moved even a little bit.