Posted by Rick Denney on August 19, 2001 at 10:55:26:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Vibration, damping, and weight posted by Jay Bertolet on August 19, 2001 at 07:39:05:
I'm scared to death to openly refute the experiences of otherwise careful and perceptive people. I have to say, though, that I think my junker Besson Imperial euphonium sounds as good as a new Sovereign. It may not play in tune as well on some notes (I don't know), but it seems to have the same sound. There are a few physical differences, but in a blind test I wound not have been able to tell the difference.
And I guarantee you that the bottom bow on that beastie is as annealed as it gets. It had been squashed flat, and I had to nearly melt it down and start over to get it to sort of the right shape (and "sort of" is as close as I got).
But, once again, I'm just as reticent to draw conclusions from my experience (and, worse, to extrapolate them to everyone) as I am to refute the experiences of great players.
The advantage to understanding the physical process is that then you can determine what applies and what doesn't to a given person in a given situation.
Rick "seeking understanding" Denney