Posted by Rick Denney on August 01, 2001 at 12:32:38:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Top register problems with silent brass posted by Jay Bertolet on August 01, 2001 at 08:04:48:
It is entirely possible that they don't know how to address those problems you present. If that is the case, then they would be well-served to admit it, but that goes against Japanese corporate philosophy (and a good bit of American corporate philosophy, too). Sometimes, a product represents the technical state of the art. When you think of how difficult it must be to create a product that renders the horn nearly silent externally but still gives the player a realistic experience of playing that instrument, you realize that it may not even be achieveable.
So, I wouldn't avoid the Silent Brass because Yamaha turns a deaf ear to the complaints, but I would avoid it because nobody has yet developed a way to do it that really works. I have actually found Yamaha to be more sensitive to professional comments than most other companies, on those few occasions when I needed it (the soft, "teflon" valve guides they originally included with the 621 horns was one such case--they sent me two sets made from experimental new materials for free, solving the problem I had).
Rick "who has bumped his head against the state of the art more than once" Denney