[Trombone-l] Selman alto leadpipes

Sat Feb 21 02:08:43 CST 2009

 I recently picked a new leadpipe for the Selman alto from Steve Ferguson (Horn Guys). He's now selling them as an improvement over the stock leadpipe in the horn. He's right on the money with this leadpipe. It really helps the overall response while fixing some of the stuffiness in the 7th partial. I compared it to the stock pipe using the same mouthpiece and the horn tends to be darker in tone. If you're looking to brighten up the sound, then this might not be the direction you want to go. 
I played the whole setup recently on a Schuman symphony with pleasing results. The blend with the tenor and bass was excellent. With the new pipe, you're still not out even $500 bucks. I've played the K&H Slokar at the NAMM show and at Steve's. You can't discount this horns abilities in comparison.?? 

> Other than the Slokar alto leadpipe, are there any other leadpipes that 
> fit
> the Selman alto. Thanks-Mark Narins
>
> 

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-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Battell <jbattell at comcast.net>
To: Mark Narins <narinses at gmail.com>; trombone-l at samford.edu
Sent: Thu, 5 Feb 2009 11:39 am
Subject: Re: [Trombone-l] Selman alto leadpipes

I recently bought a 2nd Selman - had sent the 1st one to Dave Demko to check 
out and report to the list.  I got a 2nd one after the thieves & robbers 
scored on my Yamaha YSL-871 w/Bb attachment, stolen from my car*.  I figured 
that a well-behaved Selman on my practice stand could be a smart move.  I 
live in an apartment building and need always to practice into a practice 
mute, so a lovely sound out the alto was less of an object.  For lovely 
sounds, I have a Shires alto and a Yamaha 671 w/Bb attachment, joined more 
recently by a K&H with Bb attachment.  Also, the idea of a cheap horn on my 
practice stand appealed, as I recently had managed to knock over a bass 
trombone from its practice stand - expensive!

(For my usage of the terms "receiver", "venturi", "tapered tube", see:
http://www.getzen.com/gazette/2006/10/02/what-does-a-trombone-leadpipe-do-for-you/)

I took my current Selman to Jim Becker of Osmun Music for modification.  Jim 
unsoldered the mouthpiece receiver from the tapered tube, then cut a recess 
in the mouthpiece receiver so that the tapered tube would fit back in with a 
gap of .25" between the mouthpiece shank end and the start of the venturi 
(he inserted my mouthpiece to make the measurement) (The venturi starts at 
the start of the tapered tube).  Then he cut back the tapered tube slightly 
so that the venturi started with an opening of .384" (original was .36X" - I 
don't remember exactly), then soldered the tapered tube back into the 
mouthpiece receiver.   The Selman behaves remarkably well now, with many of 
the squirrels chased away.

Jim Engele of Osmun's performed Osmun's slide clean and align routine on my 
Selman.  When he started, there was a difference of .016" in spread between 
the outer slide tubes, as measured next to the end crook and at the hand 
brace.  Now the difference in spread is not measurable - less than .001" - 
on my caliper.  This made an enormous difference in slide operability. 
Excessive top-to-bottom outer slide spread causes the slide to bog and dog 
after a few operations.  That is, you might get 20' total slide movement 
between Slide-O-Mix spritzes instead of 2000'.  The metric of slide movement 
per Slide-O-Mix spritz is a figment of my imagination, but you get the idea. 
Selman does not have a patent on excessive between-tube spread:  I have had 
pro Yamaha horns like that.  I think I recall Jim Engele saying that 
anything over .010" difference from top to bottom of the slide is too much. 
Anyway, his resultant less-than-.001" left the slide as good as my best.

Jim

*The stolen YSL-871, along with a YSL-681B w/Hagmann, stolen at the same 
time, were recovered.  A couple of weeks ago a gent brought both horns into 
Rayburn Music in Boston, for consignment sale.  His next door neighbor, 
John, had died, and here he was to move horns along.  Apparently, the perp 
could not remember the deceased John's last name.  Rayburn's took one look 
at the horns and their modifications and immediately thought "Osmun's did 
this!"  They called Osmun's who called me.  Yes, I had emailed Rayburn's 
right after the loss, demonstrating that the half-life of such stolen-horn 
warnings is measured in hours or minutes.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mark Narins" <narinses at gmail.com>
To: <trombone-l at samford.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2009 5:03 PM
Subject: [Trombone-l] Selman alto leadpipes

> Other than the Slokar alto leadpipe, are there any other leadpipes that 
> fit
> the Selman alto. Thanks-Mark Narins
>
> 

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