Posted by Tony E on November 29, 2003 at 16:38:23:
In Reply to: Re: is a 5th valve necessary? posted by Tony Clements on November 29, 2003 at 14:37:37:
Is that your final answer?
What about all those years Chuck Daellenbach used the 4 valve CC? "If he just would have had that 5th valve so he could have been in tune..."
Serriously though, its interesting you say "if you want to play in tune". I often wonder if poor intonation is much less an equipment problem and much more a matter of it being just too low of a musical priority for us as players. I know I'm guilty as charged! A while back I started using the tune up sysytem, and I started consciously paying more attention to my intonation in ensemble. I was shocked at how often my intonation is off when it doesn't "need" to be. That is, with a little more concentration, it comes into focus. But, it takes an effort to listen for pitch, and its easy to lose that in concentrating on the tone production or rythmic articulation, etc. For me, as a lowly amateur, I think learning to be a better listener while playing is a life long challenge, and is probably the single most important aspect for me to work on as a musician.
I'm not suggesting that someone buy a 4 valve CC when 5 valves are so common, and clearly helpful. However, I'd take a guy with a 4 banger who listens over one with a 5 banger who doesn't. The key to playing in tune has more to do with the player than the number of valves...as Mr. Daellenbach demonstrated.
My .02
Tony E