Re: Bell-less practice?


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Posted by Klaus on October 22, 2001 at 17:39:04:

In Reply to: Bell-less practice? posted by NC on October 22, 2001 at 17:12:30:

By practising without the bell, you are using the instrument in a way it was never intended for, so all acoustical parameters, of its design will be violated.

It is not in itself bad to practise on such a less than ideal instrument, as the odd intonation tendencies often go more odd. Flat 5th and 8th partial might be the most prominent ones.

But this way of playing off pitch might hurt your aural pre-hearing of the notes to be played on the fully assembled instrument.

The cheapest way around that problem would be to lengthen the branches of the tuning slide by means of two pieces of garden hose. To find the right length might take a bit of experimentation with a tuner.

Some hoses made of synthetic material will get a wider diameter, when they are exposed to hot water.

It might be worthwhile to wrap the tuning slide in some layers of soft cloth to avoid dents.

I have done some experiments along this line. For my Conn 26K I was fortunate enough to be given brass tubings with the right diameters.

Klaus


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