I suspect Christian Knopf wants to hold the horn in his hands to be able to determine the age of the horn, just which type of valve it actually has and the condition of the casing. It's not a matter of just getting a Knopf rotor and throwing it in there. That would be like trying to put a piston from a 2010 Chevy into a '52 Chevy stovebolt 6 (used to have one of those). Well, chances are not good. You didn't say how old the horn is, but the older valves are not the same and are not made anymore. Making a one-off replacement would be quite expensive. There are many possibilities, so it will take somebody who actually knows what they are looking at. Cutting the bell may make the horn play better, it may make it worse. It will make it different. Some careful experimentation before chopping could give an idea. If it's a rare antique, all original, irreplaceable, fantastic playing horn that bends to your every whim and plays better than any horn you've ever had, why would you even consider hacking it? Just as an aside, a very light screw ring may seem like a good idea, but on the other hand, I get lots of people coming in who have dropped their flare or bumped the end of it while in the dent bag and now it won't screw on anymore. Now that's inconvenient. A pain in the a-- to fix too! A lighter one would definitely be more fragile.
- Steve Mumford _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
