Lee told me that that was his fault: When Bill Holman was finishing the arrangment he asked Lee “Should I write the trumpets high at the end of this piece?”

Lee said, “Write ‘em up!”

Below is another story Lee told us from his time on The Merv Griffin Show. The trumpet section started out as Lee Katzman, Pete Candoli, Ray Triscari, and Jack Sheldon.

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Lee Katzman talks about Jack Sheldon.mov

Thanks Lee for all the music you’ve given us over the years!

Their are a number of factors that contribute to valves being out of alignment (even on brand new instruments). The first is what we call accumulated tolerances. Assume a horn is designed to have accurate valve alignment. When parts are manufactured they are given a dimension and a tolerance. For example a valve stem might be designed to be 1.125″ in length. It is then given a tolerance as to what is acceptable. In years past it was often plus or minus .005″. In this case any length from 1.120″ to 1.130″ would be within tolerance for the valve stem and thus usable in an instrument. In todays world the acceptable tolerance is usually much smaller (around plus or minus .001″), but still significant.

Realize that every part in a horn has plus or minus tolerances and that, in the case of a piston you have the length of the piston itself, the length of the spring barrel, the length of the valve stem, the height of the finger button, the height of the top valve cap, the depth of the trough that the pad goes into on this same cap, and all the parts that go into the valve casing as well.

As all of these tolerances add up (accumulate) you can easily understand how incorrect valve alignment occurs. Add to this the widespread use of felt and rubber pad materials which vary in thickness and are not stable in the environment of valve oil and saliva, and you can easily have valves that are out of alignment by .015″ or more.

My belief is that, with the possible exception of one manufacturer, no one designs a horn to be out of alignment, they just end up being that way due to the pad material and manufacturing process.

In my next installment, I’ll talk about how incorrect valve alignment affects the sound and playability from the standpoint of the physics involved.

Have great gigs!

Let’s start by defining what a valve alignment on a piston instrument is. A valve alignment is a process whereby the trumpet is adjusted so that the ports in the pistons line up with the corresponding holes in the valve casings whether the piston is in the up (upstroke) or down (downstroke) position. The second important part of the process is ensuring that the pistons do not drift from this alignment.

I first heard about a valve alignment in 1976 from one of the greatest trumpet players I’ve ever known, Johnny Madrid. He knew Bob Reeves who, to my knowledge, was the pioneer in trumpet valve alignment. Johnny told me about an amazing process that Bob Reeves was performing on trumpets and that I had to have it done. Of course I listened to John and had Bob do an alignment on my Schilke B6L which I was playing at the time (the results to follow).

I was fortunate enough to work with Bob for 14 years and the story of how he realized the importance of proper valve alignment as he told it to me was that, shortly after starting his custom mouthpiece business back in 1964 he noticed a trend amongst many trumpet players: A player (and often an extremely accomplished player) would come in for a custom mouthpiece. Bob would work with them and they would leave sounding better than they had ever sounded before with their new mouthpiece, crafted by Bob.

Curiously, within a few weeks, many players would return for Bob to adjust their new mouthpiece. Ofttimes, they’d come back a 3rd or even a 4th time. After Bob observed this a number of times he started to wonder what was causing these great players to need recurring adjustments. He figured out that the alignment of their valves was drifting due to unstable pad material.

In other words, the felt and/or rubber pads were changing in thickness and thus the alignment of the valves was not stable and the players were feeling a change which Bob was fixing by readjusting their mouthpiece!

The easiest way of understanding the effect of incorrect valve alignment is to consider what happens to the way a horn sounds and plays when you half-valve a note (usually to perform a smooth glissando): Sound-wise the high frequencies are attenuated (diminished) along with the mid and low frequencies. The slotting gets squirrely (this is what you can execute the smooth gliss), and the pitch gets inconsistent as well.

If your valves are out of alignment, it’s as though you are half-valving all the time but not as much as you do to perform a gliss. It may be only a 1/32″ or less but it can definitely affect how your horn plays and sounds.

More to come…

Have great gigs!

After spending close to 20 years talking about sound in person, via the phone, and through email, I have found the following to be helpful. Think of sound as a mixture of bass, midrange, and treble.

With this in mind a “dark” sound still has treble, or high frequencies in it. It just has the bass turned up. It is the treble that gives it clarity, or definition.

A “bright” sound still has midrange and bass in it, although the treble is turned up and predominates.

In other words a “good” sound should have all the colors in it. Whether it is “bright” or “dark” is dependent on the mix of these frequencies.

I’ll end with what I believe is a good example of a desired “bright” sound. There are lead trumpet players that cut through a band with a sound that is mostly treble without much midrange or bass. This can often sound shrill. Then there are lead players who have a full resonant sound full of midrange and bass but with a predominance of treble in their sound. They can be described as “tunneling” through the band with a very full, resonant, and exciting sound.

If you listen to your sound and the sound of others with the above in mind, you will be better able to define what you’re looking for in your sound and how to go about getting it.

Have great gigs!

Unfortunately, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible to answer. Their are a few reasons for this. One reason is that a brass mouthpiece rim has a shape to it. How round the bite is, for example, has a huge effect on how big (or small) the rim will feel on a players’ lips.

Another problem is that some mouthpiece rims have varied in diameter over the years. As result comparisons of rim diameters become even more complicated. In order to deal with this possibility, I always digitize more than one example of any given rim in my stock line. For example, with my Bach sizes I digitized a minimum of 8 versions of the same model and averaged the results to end up with a good representation of sizes from the Mt. Vernon era.

As a mouthpiece maker, one must decide where you are going to base your diametric measurement. In other words, how far down into the mouthpiece you measure the diameter will obviously affect the size. Different makers use different depths at which to measure which makes things even more difficult.

IMHO, the best way for a player to deal with above is to go by how a rim feels on your lips. In short, if it feels good, use it no matter what the specifications say.

When working with players I always start with a mouthpiece that has a measurement close to what they are playing but then ask them to tell me how it feels. If it feels differently size-wise to them than what the measurement says, I believe them. Remember that tooth structure and whether a player has a “groove” in their lips from playing will also affect how a rim feels.

I have been asked to make every kind of rim and rim modification that you can imagine. I was even asked to make a magnetic rim once as the trumpet player believed in the healing power of magnets and was convinced that a magnetic rim would eliminate fatigue. By having a magnetic rim he could play trumpet until he fell asleep, without a loss of performance!

This is just the tip of the iceberg regarding rim diameters. Again, the best way is to go as a player is by feel, not by measurements.

If you have any great rim stories, please share them.

As always, have great gigs!

I don’t mean the ability to play in tune as that can be accomplished with equipment that is not in tune with itself.

What I am referring to is getting the “resting intonation” of your mouthpiece and trumpet system as good as possible. You can do this by adjusting the gap. The better in tune your mouthpiece and trumpet are, the more resonant the sound will be. In addition, pitch and slotting will be better and all of this leads to an easier upper register and better endurance. It really works!

Below are some links to some more information about this on my website.

General Gap information. - Be sure and check out the three short videos at the bottom of the page.
Flex Coupler information.

More on this as time goes on…

Our Spach recalibration is killer! It’s a great option to give yourself the Bach sound with amazing intonation. I can use either a 229 or 239 bell. If you get a good deal on a Bach, I’d do it in a second. More information on our process can be found here: Spach C Trumpet

Of course, as you mention,  our Elite C trumpet is another great option…

Away we go!

Check out the videos of our new S3 Bb Trumpet

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KO and Forrest Play first Stomvi-USA S3 Trumpet

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Lynn Nicholson plays new Stomvi-USA S3 Trumpet

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Jon Ruff Plays Stomvi-USA S3 Trumpet

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Mark Morel Plays Stomvi-USA S3 Trumpet

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Lynn Nicholson Plays Maria on the Stomvi-USA S3 Trumpet

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About Stomvi USA and Stomvi Spain

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Stomvi-USA VRII C Trumpet World Premier

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Lynn Nicholson Plays Stomvi-USA VRII Bb Trumpet

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Jim Manley on Flex Mouthpieces by Stomvi-USA

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Lynn Nicholson and Dave Kness play their LynnFlex Mouthpiece

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Calvin Price on Stomvi-USA equipment choice