I had a chance to buy a beautiful nickel silver Kruspe that had been owned by a famous player. It had a "custom leadpipe". I tried it out for a few weeks in the orchestra and it had such a great sound that string players were coming up to me asking if I had a different horn because it sounded so cool - string players! I loved that sound and I really wanted to love that horn, but the problem was the pitch was really difficult, one note sharp, the next note flat, no pattern to it. That kind of a horn can turn you into a bad player eventually because you can never play anything just "straight ahead". It also had a really narrow/treacherous high Bb - and I played the Schoenberg Chamber Symphony on it! Anyway I very reluctantly decided it was just too dangerous to play it for a living. Now I know how to fix those problems, but back then nobody had a solution that worked for it. Happily, about 10 years later I lucked into another beautiful nickel silver 1920 Kruspe. This one is all original and its in great condition. The pitch is excellent, the only unusual fingerings are open and 2nd for high A and Ab, they're right on with those fingerings. I never could forget "that sound" so I'm very happy to be able to have it. So, two of the same horn, but one was the wrong horn and one was the right one.
- Steve Mumford _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
