Post by John on Oct 7, 2003 10:24:48 GMT -5
In the spirit of, "When in Doubt, Drill it Out"............
The problem with trumpet mouthpieces, you see, is that they’re almost all designed using the same basic playbook. If the MP has a shallow cup, it must have a tight throat and a narrow backbore. MPs with deep cups have open throats and backbores.
I tried solving this problem with the Warburton system. I wanted the 4SV (shallow V) cup with a very open throat and backbore. The #12 backbore is O.K., but not quite open enough for a reformed bass trombonist like me. Time to fire up the lathe.
I won’t bore you with all my experiments. Here’s what worked:
Start with the #12 backbore.
Open the throat from #27 (0.144”) to #20 (0.161”). Naturally, this also makes the throat longer than it was, so:
Extend the backbore taper 0.2” toward the throat.
Square and de-burr the end of the shank.
Use Tarni-Shield to remove the discoloration caused by the hot cutting oil.
Screw on the 4SV cup, and……….
GREAT!! Big open sound, fine intonation, great slotting, amazingly easy lip-trills.
Some of you who use Warburton MPs may have noticed that I didn’t mention opening the throat on the cup section. That’s because I didn’t do it. The cup still has the #27 throat it started with. The result is an abrupt change in the throat diameter from 0.144 to 0.161. You’d think that would cause problems. I thought it would, too, but I wanted to try the backbore before opening up the cup. I don’t dare mess with it now.
As I understand Gary Radtke, the resistance of the MP mostly depends on the diameter and length of the throat. This MP has a #27 throat that’s only a quarter-inch long. I’m sure Gary could explain all this. He’s done all the math while I proceeded by the old cut-and-try method.
Please note: I did this work with a very precise lathe and reamers. Don’t try it with anything that says “Skill” or “Black & Decker” on it.
John Lisbeth
home.cfl.rr.com/themuterack/
Cape Canaveral
The problem with trumpet mouthpieces, you see, is that they’re almost all designed using the same basic playbook. If the MP has a shallow cup, it must have a tight throat and a narrow backbore. MPs with deep cups have open throats and backbores.
I tried solving this problem with the Warburton system. I wanted the 4SV (shallow V) cup with a very open throat and backbore. The #12 backbore is O.K., but not quite open enough for a reformed bass trombonist like me. Time to fire up the lathe.
I won’t bore you with all my experiments. Here’s what worked:
Start with the #12 backbore.
Open the throat from #27 (0.144”) to #20 (0.161”). Naturally, this also makes the throat longer than it was, so:
Extend the backbore taper 0.2” toward the throat.
Square and de-burr the end of the shank.
Use Tarni-Shield to remove the discoloration caused by the hot cutting oil.
Screw on the 4SV cup, and……….
GREAT!! Big open sound, fine intonation, great slotting, amazingly easy lip-trills.
Some of you who use Warburton MPs may have noticed that I didn’t mention opening the throat on the cup section. That’s because I didn’t do it. The cup still has the #27 throat it started with. The result is an abrupt change in the throat diameter from 0.144 to 0.161. You’d think that would cause problems. I thought it would, too, but I wanted to try the backbore before opening up the cup. I don’t dare mess with it now.
As I understand Gary Radtke, the resistance of the MP mostly depends on the diameter and length of the throat. This MP has a #27 throat that’s only a quarter-inch long. I’m sure Gary could explain all this. He’s done all the math while I proceeded by the old cut-and-try method.
Please note: I did this work with a very precise lathe and reamers. Don’t try it with anything that says “Skill” or “Black & Decker” on it.
John Lisbeth
home.cfl.rr.com/themuterack/
Cape Canaveral
