ConnMan36B

Hello all,

I just picked my trusty Connstellation up from the repair shop after it's first full "going over" since I've owned it (18 years). I know there are some who will lecture me about trumpet abuse and neglect .......... and you're right, I have no excuse.

So..... I was shown that my horn suffers from leaky valve syndrome. The tech. said it's not uncommon for a horn this old, but that it should be taken care of because it's affecting everything about how it plays. My question is, so what? Do I really have to get this fixed if I'm playing gigs weekly and nobody has mentioned anything about how I sound? He did have a good point that fixing the problem will make playing somewhat easier, but it it worth the money? Please share your thoughts.

gzent

If you like how it plays, then so what? Mendez supposedly played with leaky valves and he did OK.

On the other hand, trumpets are designed to play best with a certain amount of "gap" in the valves. Once you start going much beyond that gap, the horn will stop playing as designed.

Greg

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TrentAustin

I have a Connstellation with not super tight valves and use Hetman Classic with a few drops of spindle bearing oil to help seal the instrument. I think the fact that the horn is 438 also helps me not feel like I'm losing a lot in the horn.

with a 459 bore up I think you'd notice more of a noticable difference.

IMO,
T

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Zaraskabat

If you are ok with how it plays for now, I would start looking for that back up horn so you have something to earn the rent with while it is away getting the valves overhauled. You will need to do it sometime soon. It will get harder and harder to blow and the valves will start slowing intermittantly. When you start to notice the difference, don't hesitate to send it in, the longer you play it with too much slop, the more uneven wear to the valves and the cylinders, the more work that must be done, the less that has to be doen, the longer it will last......... I had a 1921 Conn done at Andersons through a local shop, unbelievable how nice it plays now, my bill was under 250 bucks.
Ken

rowuk

The problem with waiting is that you may reach a point of no return. Valves do not wear evenly and there is a point when replating does not solve the problem as everything is too far out of round - you then need a new valve block, which is no longer available for your horn AND would completely change the playing characteristics anyway.
Tight valves make the horn more predictable, better in tune, more focussed, better slurs and mechanically reliable. If you value the horn, get an estimate and if you can afford it, do it. Compare it to the weel bearings on your car.................

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tom turner

Hi,

Horns die a very slow death, just like a TV set. If one could buy two identical tv sets but keep one in the box for ten years and only use the other, they'd be amazed when they hooked it up ten years later and compared it against the one that had been played for ten years.

Same with a horn.

When valves leak, the instrument slowly loses its bottom end response the most . . . and you have to begin to work harder and harder to make it respond. It also loses power and it loses precision in attacks and slotting.

Compounding this for most horns are the compacting of the valve alignment felts as the horn slowing has its valve alignment go out of spec too.

Yep, the slow death is too gradual to notice it happening . . . but your horn surely doesn't play anywhere as good as it did when it was new.

I'd recommend dropping a couple of hundred on a valve rebuild by Andersons, and putting some more money in a precision valve alignment. You'll be amazed at the instant improvements!

T.

Zaraskabat

The best money I ever spent was a valve job at Andersons. You won't believe the improvement.
Ken

bigaggietrumpet

I realize that this may not be totally pertinent to the topic, but I'm wondering if they ever do what some engine repairists do: sleeve the block. Sometimes engines that have been run for a long time, such as diesel generators and tractor engines, have the same problem: the pistons and compression rings don't match the cylinders, so what they sometimes do is machine the cylinder to oversize, and then add a press-fit sleeve, which returns the cylinder to original specs and true-round. Would the same principle hold for trumpets, I wonder? Maybe I should email Anderson's about this (dunno if they'd be willing to tell me), especially seeing as I'm suffering the same problem with the Studio. Sorry, back to the original program...

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