What is this?

[Bill B]

https://imgur.com/a/pJGRH
I assume it is some kind of "tone intensifier". Has anyone ever tried this?

[Tom]

Lefreque.

See: https://www.lefreque.com/

EDIT: No, I don't have one of these. No plans to buy one either.

[Bill B]

Wow, for a hunk of metal, they are not cheap!

[Ken Crawford]

The fact that they come in different finishes that supposedly produce different results makes them extra ridiculous. They have some big name endorsers, which just proves how hard it is to make a living as a musician I guess.

[Bill B]

Were I so inclined, I think I could make similar shaped one out of brass for less than $10 and a hour of my time.

[Walter Webb]

The price of snake oil just keeps going up...

[PaulMaybery]

It's imaginable that manufacturers could incorporate the very effects into instruments from the get-go.

These aftermarket devices, when endorsed by such notables as are on the list, tell me that they are not totally satisfied with their instruments. If not why the endorsement for these further contraptions.

So for example, why then does not Besson build them right onto the euphonium, unless perhaps they may think there is something neu in der Kaiser's Kleiderschrank.

I seem to remember a certain stepped down mouthpipe, a plastic insert to be inserted in the tuba lead pipe, weighted valve caps, mouthpiece gap adjusters, cryogenics and a plethora of attempts at the most accoustical water key. There is even ideas as to the weight or mass of a tuba rest so that it has sufficient density as to send the resonance into the floor rather than being lost into the air from a less dense and light weight stand.

It also kills me that these highly engineered metal plates attach with simple elastic fasteners.

If some of our instruments are touted as being so good, why all the aftermarket contraptia?

[Ken Crawford]

If not why the endorsement for these further contraptions.

Making a living as a musician isn't easy, not even for celebrity euphonium players...Diversified streams of income.

[windshieldbug]

[obreitys]

I’d like to see a blind study undertaken:

Get a group of professional musicians (people who know what they’re listening for) to hear alternating “Lefrequed” and natural instruments, completely unseen.

It would probably cut out the power of suggestion.

[PMeuph]

Why do guitar strings come in increments of thousandths of an inch, and why do differing sets not have the same ratios of thickness between them?

...Obviously, though, one can by several sets of strings for the price of this contraption
____

Why do mouthpieces come in various shapes, profiles, depths, materials, etc?

Why do all instruments vary in design(if only a bit) from manufacturer to manufacturer?

Wouldn't it make sense to not have a receiver and just have a one-piece mouthpiece/receiver/venturi soldered to the horn.

[PaulMaybery]

So to the Reflexive Axiom... What is this? Then "it is what it is." (That is the metal tone bridge.)

But are you asking, what is this contraption, or what is the whole presentation or the sales strategy?

I'm every bit of a gear jock as can be. I love to see what can make a difference and if it is beneficial.
I could see installing one of these, or possibly constructing my own version of it. Or... adapting the theory of it to enhance the accoustics of my tubas by creating something quite different in approach.

At this time I am not arguing the results. I am only questioning the ethics of the endorsing artists.

When certain artists endorse certain instruments, I ask the question: Can it be construed as a betrayal to the endorsed instrument that it still needs improvement and that such improvement is provided by yet another company? I suppose it all depends on the agreement between the artist and the instrument manufacturer that they are endorsing. To me though, it makes things harder to believe.

I do not doubt that there is a difference from pre and post Lefreque. The physics have been altered. Thus all things are no longer equal. For better or for worse? But there should be some difference in the spectral analysis. But it could be that such leFreque devices could be placed on areas that have little or no effect.

There is still so much that is unknown between one instrument and the other or even between individual instruments.
In this case, as we line up multiple experiments, are all the 'a's equal?

Paul (who is obviously neither a scientist or mathematician) Maybery