[Trombone-l] Bach Liberty?

[Dr Dennis L. Clason]

Sue,

Little known but fun fact to know and tell.  The Bach 36 and Bach 42 
bells apparently differ only in the final diameter.  I was fooling 
around one day and discovered that the 42 and 36 tuning slides are 
interchangeable.   I did a little more measuring, and it appears that 
the only difference is in the final diameter.

I was told that the Omega bells are built on the 36/42 mandrels.  

I discovered some other stuff, too.  Model 12, 16, 16M and 36 slides 
are all interchangeable, but you don't want to put the small slides on 
a 36 bell.  Model 42 and 50 slides are interchangeable (I assume that 
the model 45 is, too, but I don't have one to check.) 

So I don't think that the bell is the reason the Liberty (a recycled 
King name -- weird) plays a little tighter.  Did you put a caliper on 
the slide tubes?

Dennis 

Elliott Moxley wrote:


>One of my students is playing on a Bach Liberty, which I picked up off 
ebay
>a while back. It has a .547 bore, and the slide, as far as I can tell, 
is
>identical to a 42 regular weight, but is not marked as such. I had it
>side-by-side with one of ours. The bell is an 8" two-piece, I couldn't 
help
>but wonder if it is a re-stamped Omega bell. The valve section/tuning 
slide
>(open wrap) was similar to a 42, the only obvious difference being brass
>where the Strads have chrome trim. It is a decent playing horn, close 
to a
>42 IMO but with a tighter feel, probably because of the smaller bell. I
>wouldn't suggest a new one to one of my students, however, you could 
easily
>pick up a near-new 42B and save $500, and have a pro instrument that 
will
>hold it's value. I nearly "stole" the Liberty on ebay, it was basically 
a
>new instrument but I was the only bidder, probably because no one knew 
what
>it was. (neither did I, I just took a chance on it!) 
>
>- Sue