Posted by js on July 03, 2002 at 17:24:48:
OK, I live and work in a medium-large U.S. city - Memphis, Tennessee. I beat on brass instruments for a living. Obviously, I can make more money (to feed my family, etc.) straightening out messed up school instruments than I can improving, as an example, slide alignment from 98% correct to 100% correct (to install custom triggers, etc.), because there is simply a limit to what one can charge for such things. Fairly regularly a few of the better wind players who graduate from high schools here end up going off to "important" music schools. The brass students who do this invariably come back (Christmas break, spring break, summer vacation) wanting me to outfit their instruments with (not one, not two, but) all of the lastest gadgets that they have seen on instrument(s) during their school year of being exposed to many extraordinary players who play their instrument.
As students who own VERY FINE instruments (tubas and euphoniums, in the case of this bbs), may I encourage you to be very happy with a 4 or five valve instrument, perhaps one with a 1st valve slide which moves freely?
None of these young customers who have come in wanting all of these gadgets (though, admitting attending prestigious schools) have been "artist" level players. Clearly, they still play like (very good) students with significant work left to do in their playing ability before they are ready to decide to eliminate the last 1/10 of 1/10 of 1/10 of 1/10 of 1% of imperfection in their tone/intonation with expensive and time-consuming-to-install gadgets.
I actually have a young customer who wants a #1 slide thumb saddle installed on their marvelous Yamaha piccolo trumpet they bought from me a year ago. I already installed a #3 finger ring on the instrument...The #1 slide is LESS THAN 1/2 inch long anyway (a mechanical nightmare)! Heck, Ryan Anthony (Canadian Brass) has the same model of piccolo trpt. and has no interest whatsoever in having me install such a gadget on his instrument. (Wow, have you heard him play his "fantasy" on the Beatles' "Penny Lane" piccolo trumpet solo on that thing?...AMAZING!)
Particularly "silly" (to me, at least) is when these students come in wanting these time-consuming-to-do "magic bullets" and their instruments are covered with DENTS!
To those of you who are doing very well, continue to do so, and congratulations for your admission to prestigious schools (along with the committment of your parents)! Someday, when you've just about "got it down" (You'll know when that time comes.) you will have a "license" to worry repairmen with very "ticky" and time consuming final tweaking of your instruments. Until that time, you can make INCREDIBLE improvements in the sound of your instruments by increasing the amount of time (and work diligently to increase the efficiency of what it does when) it is against your face.
Someday, when I'm semi-retired, perhaps I can encourage everyone who finds my "little enchanted brass shop in the woods" (carved out of a hollow tree, next to the Keeblers') to go with every whim they dream up, as far as mounting crazy junk on their instruments. Until then, I have an awful lot of "real" work to do and a few bills to pay. GO PRACTICE!!!
Anyway, back off my soapbox.