Re: Bell creases as a sound factor


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Posted by Matt G on September 30, 2001 at 22:29:06:

In Reply to: Bell creases as a sound factor posted by Klaus on September 30, 2001 at 19:19:37:

My only experiences with horns with ringing bells have been all detachable. This leads me to believe that even though the bell is fit to the horn with very close tolerances, and held in place with large stock set screws, that it rings because it is a separate entity. A normal "one piece" tuba is made out of hundreds of pieces and each piece is connected with an oversized ferrule and (usually) enough solder to make the joint airtight. Even though there is going to be some "transmission" loss of metal resonance through these joints, I think that it is a more solid connection. The detachable bell collar deal is fitted close, but with only three points of pressure holding the bell in place. This leaves a huge amount of area unsecures and free to vibrate separate from the reaminder of the tuba. This joint is close but still with enough room for some vibration to occur. This vibration would continue outward to the edge of the bell where it would be most notably heard and terminate from mechanical energy into acoustical energy (or something like that?!??). Possibly bent or out of round joints help to stop this, for I had a Yamaha souzie that was a slight bit out of round from my own abuse, but played remarkably well and DARK, without any ring that the others had. My only guess would be to have someone who really cares and feels like wasting the money and trying detachable bell horns without solder and then having the bell soldered into place. Also, one could try this with filling the gap between the bell collar with something like that old onion skin paper or even lubing it up with some thick bearing grease or something. Whoever wants to pontificate on this further can have fun, but it won't be me!

Matt G


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