[Trombone-l] Problem with my Elkhart Conn 72H

[Earl Needham]

At 10:02 PM 8/1/2007, t.stone at att.net wrote:
>Hi List,
>
>I'm new to the List and have never posted before ab am hoping I can 
>get get some help regarding a problem I am having with my Elkhart 
>Conn 72H. I got the the horn in 2003, and after having it restored 
>by Kanstul in 2005 and playing it for a while I noticed it was not 
>playing the way it should. It was way to open and notes could not be 
>centered well. Tone was good, though. John Sandhagen looked at whole 
>horn and pronounced it fit except for the discovery that somewhere 
>during it's 41 year life someone had jammed something down the 
>lead-pipe and totally destroyed the venturi. No wonder it didn't 
>play well, we thought. John removed the old, damaged pipe and I 
>decided to go the drop-in pipe route as not to destroy the 
>mouthpiece receiver of the horn. After trying many, many Kantsul 
>copies of this, that, and the other, I settled on their clone 62H 
>pipe. The horn now plays somewhat better, except that the most of 
>the mid-register notes still don't center particularly well and c rack ever
>y other time I play them, and the lower register just doesn't sound 
>the way a vintage Elkhart Conn 72H should. From trigger F down to 
>low C, and B with the E-pull (all of the money notes!), the notes 
>sound just awful. I can't get a nice pinging attack. The attacks are 
>heavy and "thuddy" and each sustained note sounds dull and lifeless. 
>Now, here's the kicker: I was at Ferguson Music the other day trying 
>yet more lead pipes when I flashed on trying one of their new OEM 
>new-build Conn 62H slides with one of their Kanstul 62H pipes (screw 
>in). I fitted it on, tightened it down, started playing and, lo and 
>behold, it was like night and day! Every note centered, every attack 
>had just the right amount of ping and every sustained tone had that 
>wonder, warm Elkhart Conn 72H sound like the horn was suppose to have.
>I'm at a loss to explain this, and so is John Sandhagen, Robb 
>Stewart and every other technician I've talked to. So, I'm 
>soliciting the List for some feedback and input on my dilemma, and 
>asking that anyone located in the LA area who has a Conn 72H 
>(Elkhart or not) contact me. I would greatly appreciate the 
>opportunity to try your slide on my bell to see what, if any, 
>difference different 72H slides make in the way my horn plays.I 
>thank you all in advance for whatever assistance you can offer.

         You might just check to ensure that nothing is in the slide 
that shouldn't be there.  I knew a guy who had a similar problem, and 
he fought it for maybe 3 or 4 months.  Finally one day he found a 
pencil had been in the slide!

         Yeah, I know he should have cleaned the horn more than that, 
but he didn't.

         Earl

KD5XB -- Earl Needham
Clovis, New Mexico DM84jk
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cw_bugs
ZUT