[Trombone-l] extreeme high pitched vintage German trombone

[Bill Dinwiddie]

Steve,

To be honest, this happened so long ago, that I cannot remember what 
mouthpiece I used. However, there were plenty of Alexander employees 
standing around while this was going on and I would be surprised if one of 
them hadn't suggested that I use their mouthpiece. I would certainly have 
done that if it would have made the horn more playable. I stated my opinion 
very directly and I remember that many of the Germans around spoke very good 
English, so it was not a language problem. You are certainly correct that 
the mouthpiece could have made a big difference.

Bill Dinwiddie


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve Gamble" <sgamble at tucsonsymphony.org>
To: "Bill Dinwiddie" <billdin at comcast.net>; "List Trombone" 
<TROMBONE-L at server5.samford.edu>
Sent: Monday, September 10, 2007 1:43 PM
Subject: RE: [Trombone-l] extreeme high pitched vintage German trombone


Hi Bill,

I'm curious.  Did you use your own (American) mouthpiece when you were
trying the German horns?  I've had the same experience regarding the
weirdness of some German makes.  It turned out that I needed to use the
mouthpiece that came with the horn to make is work well.  Of course, the
mouthpieces were nothing like what I usually played, but that's another
story.

Steve Gamble, Librarian
Tucson Symphony Orchestra
2175 N. 6th Ave.
Tucson, AZ  85705
520-792-9155 x118 office
520-792-9314 fax
520-991-7056 cell
sgamble at tucsonsymphony.org
www.tucsonsymphony.org

-----Original Message-----
From: trombone-l-bounces at maillists.samford.edu
[mailto:trombone-l-bounces at maillists.samford.edu] On Behalf Of Bill
Dinwiddie
Sent: Monday, September 10, 2007 11:32 AM
To: List Trombone
Subject: Re: [Trombone-l] extreeme high pitched vintage German trombone

(Sorry, I don't know who to address this to because your posting does
not
contain your name.)

I went to Germany in the early '70s and had the opportunity to play
several
Alexander trombones at the factory in Mainz. I was given to understand
that
this company made really first class brass instruments. I was astounded
to
find that every trombone I played that day was one of the worst
instruments
I have ever played. The overtone series on every horn was so out of
whack
that I began to get aggravated. These are the demo horns that the
Alexander
company wants these American visitors to play so that they will be
better
able to appreciate fine German craftsmanship? They were all crap! Of
course,
they looked very pretty. I expressed my opinion to the officials of the
company and the look of shock on their faces was evident. They must have

thought I was insane. Apparently, they never had a German professional
trombonist test their instruments, or they would have never let these
horns
be played by anyone. I'm sorry to hear that you purchased the instrument
in
question. It doesn't surprise me to hear that the entire horn plays a
half
step too high. The horns I played back then were totally unusable. I
would
never consider buying an Alexander instrument as a result of that
experience.

The horn may sound nice, but I believe that you should go out and buy
some
lamp cord and a nice energy efficient light bulb. Sorry. Maybe you can
sell
it on E-Bay.

Bill Dinwiddie
billdin at comcast.net



----- Original Message ----- 
From: <dahmnoyes at tampabay.rr.com>
To: <trombone-l at server5.samford.edu>
Sent: Monday, September 10, 2007 10:56 AM
Subject: [Trombone-l] extreeme high pitched vintage German trombone


>I recently purchased a G. Alexander (Mainz) trombone made supposedly in
the
>70's.  There is no tuning slide in either the bell section nor on the
main
>slide.  Although this horn has one of the prettiest sounds that I've
every
>experienced, it is extremely high pitched--so much so that the
positions
>need to be played down one full position to get them in tune.  This
leaves
>you with no 7th position, those notes almost being able to be played
again
>in 1st.  My question to the list community is this: how can I salvage
this
>horn?  I'm thinking of having a tuning slide built into the bell
section,
>like most every other trombone has--but I'm afraid of messing with the
>taper that's helping to produce this sweet sound.  I'd really like to
have
>someone customize a slide for this horn with a built in tuning
slide...but
>I'm ignorant as to who could do such a thing for a decent price.  Any
>thoughts?
> _______________________________________________
> Trombone-l mailing list
> Trombone-l at maillists.samford.edu
> http://maillists.samford.edu/mailman/listinfo/trombone-l
>


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