[Trombone-l] Selmer

[George Carr]

> I have always felt when 'bones are built, the best ones get the manufacturer label and the "lemons" get a label as a "stencil" instrument.

When I was in college, the notion of supercooling horns got trendy.
The idea was described as "evening out the imperfections in the brass"
and improving the resonance of the horns.  I sent two horns off to the
super-fridge, and they returned a couple of weeks later.  One of them,
the very fine Bach 16 I'd been spending a lot of time playing (and
which always garnered admiring comments from jazz players who tried it
out) didn't change a bit.  The other one, a Bach 36 with removable F
attachment, got VERY noticeably better sounding, with a richer sound,
better pitch, and easier response at soft volumes.

My theory to explain the results: the Bach 16 was already a well-made
horn, with little stress at its joints and little room for
improvement.  But the Bach 36, which probably hadn't gotten every
ounce of pro manufacture due to its being a hybrid, and which was
later tinkered with before I came to own it, had some stresses and
kinks that the supercooling cleared up.

Just my layperson's theory, but I thought the story apropos to the topic.

George