DSGerard

Anyone ever had one of these alignments done. Good, Bad, etc. I've got an old Bach 72 (1970's) that I don't play much because it's on the stuffy side. I wonder if an alignment will help at all or if it's mostly hype. I imagine it depends on how far your valves are out of alignment. But for 200 bucks, could it hurt?

This is not a hit on Bob Reeves, I play his mouthpieces and love them, but...is this just another trumpet geek ploy?

Maybe I'll send it to Charlie Melk and convert it to an E-flat.

Thanks for any input,

Gerard

J. Landress Brass

I usually do 3 or 4 alignments aday in my shop. With a proper alignment, the horn will really play and respond better. I am running a special on valve alignments and cleanings:
http://www.trumpetmaster.com/vb/f131...nds-35434.html (Specail for TM friends)

rowuk

if microns can change a mouthpieces response between "stuffy" and free blowing, thin sounding and powerful, dark or light sounding or if raw brass, silverplate or goldplate changes the sound or if the difference between a medium large bore and a large bore trumpet makes sense to you, then you can see how important these couple of fractions of an inch can be. I have all of my horns checked (or check myself) on a regular (yearly or so) basis and I think it is money well spent. Superior playing qualities of any horn are the sum of many microscopic things. This is one that we can actually do something about!

djm6701

It's not a ploy. My 'top three' horns are all done and it does make a significant difference. Reeves did my Kanstul, and Ron Partch in Toronto did my Benge 3X and Olds Recording.

patdublc

Personally, I've only used Reeves, but other guys do great work as well. Aligning the valves so that air flows correctly through the ports is just helping the horn work the way it was supposed to work. Some really excellent horns are known for alignment issues. Take Schilke for example, they have used felt pads forever. When the horn is new, those pads are fresh. In time, they will compress a bit. At one point or another, the horn is not well aligned. I have some great Schilkes (P5-4, E3L, G1L), so I'm certainly not knocking them. I just think alignments are a good thing - even on high end horns.

tptshark

I had a Reeves alignment done to my old Shilke X3 and it made a huge difference. I'd definitely recommend having it done.

- Adrian

NYTC

It works best on older horns,but it does work very well overall.
I am a big fan of it.

mitchota

I had all of my horns lined up by Bob Reeves, and I'd have to say they make a huge difference. The pitch is definitely more even from bottom to top, and the feel of the horn doesn't change radically. The effects of the alignment were most pronounced on my P5-4, but my Bb and C also benefitted from the change.

I know that a lot of other places offer the valve alignments, and while I can't vouch for them because I've never tried them, I'd have to say that no matter who you go to, you can't go wrong by having it done.

DSGerard

Great responses! I appreciate everyone's insight. Once I make my move to AZ, I will send my horn out. If it goes well, I'll have it done on my other horns.

Many Thanks,

Gerard