Thein Factory trip
Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2005 6:29 am
Just got back from visiting the Thein brothers' shop in Bremen, Germany and had a wonderful time. The Theins are gracious hosts and have a shop full of all brass instruments, some fairly odd to our American eyes. Go to http://www.thein-brass.de and look at some of their models. In particular is a triple horn with non-traditional tubing wrap and use of rotory valves. Once our horn players figured it out, they were all over it. They have also spent a lot of time on how to make playing more comfortable. For example, their trombone slides can be equipped with a remote water key that is activated by depressing a button near the right thumb, when holding the slide in the playing position. The button is connected by a thin cable to the water key and the player never has to reach again. Their trumpets were described as "sick good." There was only an F tuba assembled in their showroom, and it was a modified version of an older model. The tuba, in its previous form, was a typical 4/4, rotory F, with the leadpipe entering the fifth at the top of the cluster. Now, the leadpipe has been significantly lengthened, and the fifth relocated to bottom of the cluster. The first and second valves have been replaced by larger ones, producing a graduated bore, just in reverse to what we normally see. It played very well and had a deceptively large sound. It sounded much smaller behind the horn than in front. I believe it would fit well with the European use of the F tuba as a primary instrument. It would be a great solo horn in the US. Their big horns are made on a special order basis, unless there is time available to begin work on one. Their staff has been busy making the smaller brass and demand for those horns is much greater. If you're ever in Bremen, drop by their shop, play some horns, enjoy a coffee and share some stories with the Thein brothers. Thanks to them for a great visit.
