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Today I had the opportunity to try the so called "lefreque", a gadget that bridges sliding joints in your instrument. With a lot of scepticism I bridged the joint between mouthpiece and leadpipe with it. And ....big surprise: it is effective indeed. It makes a remarkable difference regarding to response and flexibility.
For more information see http://www.lefreque.com" target="_blank" target="_blank.
Hubert

Was it introduced on the market 2 months and 22 days ago?

Klaus

I thought this sounded familiar:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Freak
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqupk71a-O0

It seems there's also an upgrade in development:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Freak
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYHxGBH6o4M

Anybody else try this?

Seems too simple ...

Not quite cheap enough to give it a go for me, unless a few others say it is worth it ...

This idea may have been borrowed from the Thein bros. Whenever anyone goes to them with a "problem instrument", they first tape little pieces of brass at magic voodoo points, and later solder them on, charging thousands of Euros for this "fix".

Color me skeptical.

UncleBeer wrote:This idea may have been borrowed from the Thein bros. Whenever anyone goes to them with a "problem instrument", they first tape little pieces of brass at magic voodoo points, and later solder them on, charging thousands of Euros for this "fix".

Color me skeptical.

Still cheaper than buying a Thein...

bort wrote:Still cheaper than buying a Thein...

I've seen 'em have to do this on their own 'miracle' horns. No reduction in price for the extra voodoo.

hubert wrote:Today I had the opportunity to try the so called "lefreque", a gadget that bridges sliding joints in your instrument. With a lot of scepticism I bridged the joint between mouthpiece and leadpipe with it. And ....big surprise: it is effective indeed. It makes a remarkable difference regarding to response and flexibility.

Did it make an objectively demonstrable difference or did it simply SEEM to make a difference because you were LISTENING for a difference when you tried it?

More importantly, does it make a difference out in the audience?

Why don't you perform a series of double-blind tests and report the results back to us.

I would think one could accomplish just as much with a roll of golfer's tape or some stick-on automobile wheel weights.

TubaTinker wrote:I would think one could accomplish just as much with a roll of golfer's tape or some stick-on automobile wheel weights.

No voodoo.

UncleBeer wrote:

TubaTinker wrote:I would think one could accomplish just as much with a roll of golfer's tape or some stick-on automobile wheel weights.

No voodoo.

No doo-doo?

Kevin Hendrick wrote:

UncleBeer wrote:

TubaTinker wrote:I would think one could accomplish just as much with a roll of golfer's tape or some stick-on automobile wheel weights.

No voodoo.

No doo-doo?

No, you do!

It is always possible that there will be places on a horn that resonate to nodes or antinodes, sucking out the tone just like a leak in the wrong place does. Cannonball trumpets actually have a small semi-precious stone set in a collar at the point the return of the leadpipe goes into the block. I'm sure, if it has any effect at all, it's the mass of the metal damping resonance in an effort to mitigate interference with nodes or antinodes, instead of any magic or voodoo from the stone. Moreover, we've all been there in a little bit different context, all going after the same results with similar applications: the aforementioned lead tape, heavy mouthpieces, heavy valve caps, "the dent," etc.

A friend of mine got a few of these for free. We are going to try them out and let you know. In my opinion, I don't expect much difference.

BRSousa wrote:A friend of mine got a few of these for free.

Free's a whole 'nother matter. These LefreQues start at $57 each for the cheapest scrap of metal they sell, all the way up to $184 for the special silver voodoo model.

TubaTinker wrote:I would think one could accomplish just as much with a roll of golfer's tape or some stick-on automobile wheel weights.

UncleBeer wrote:No voodoo.

Kevin Hendrick wrote:No doo-doo?

iiipopes wrote:No, you do!

Guess we'll just have to weight and see ...

The joint between mouthpiece and leadpipe is a force-fit metal to metal contact which should transmit any vibrations without much difficulty. How a metal bridge held on with silicone "rubber bands" would "improve" this, and whether an improvement is necessary since most of the energy in a note is transmitted through the air column and not the metal is beyond me. And doesn't the silicone band make inserting a mouthpiece more difficult? I'll await the promised tests on this unfortunately named item with barely restrained apathy.

bloke wrote:Is this the Mac version or the Windows version?

In this context both are flush.

K

I tie a live mouse on the node, and set a python to coil upon it. Works for a few minutes, but man, while it's in action, the tone is soooo phatt.

This sounds like the scientifically designed "Mahler Tape". This black tape when wrapped around the bottom bow gives your horn the perfect deep sound for playing Mahler.

Also made is a Tchaikovsky model. The "Tchaikovsky Tape", in red, when wrapped around the bottom bow, provides that extra brightness when playing Tchaikovsky.

Both have been scientifically proven to provide the timbre needed when playing either Mahler or Tchaikovsky.

I saw both of these demonstrated years ago by Keith Brown.

Ken S.