[Trombone-l] Harmon Mute

[Harlan Feinstein]

On Sep 11, 2007, at 4:18 PM, Stan Brager wrote:

> Having lost my straight and cup mute, I'm thinking of replacing it  
> with a
> Harmon dual mute - it's a cup mute and the cup can be removed to  
> transform
> it into a straight mute. The advantage, as I see it, is that it  
> takes less
> storage. The price seems to be about the same as buying 2 stone- 
> lined mutes.
>
> Is this a wise decision or have I gone off the deep end?

I think this is the same model I tried, for the same reasons, about  
10 years ago.  It was a horrible experience... cup mute sound was  
very bad, and the straight barely passable.  I think the stonelined  
mutes would be a better replacement, certainly on cup mute.  You  
might consider an orchestral straight (i.e., metal) instead of the  
stonelined cheapie.  I'm not sure which of the low-end orchestral  
straights is the best value.

But the long and short of it is that I didn't like the combination  
straight/cup for either use.

Your choices should perhaps be influenced by what kind of playing  
you're going to be doing, also; that's a deeper topic I suppose.

--Harlan