Bell Damage and Effect on Performance
Posted: Mon Oct 21, 2013 6:26 pm
I have an F tuba on trial that received bell damage during shipping. With the box obviously dropped on the bell side, there was some significant flattening and wrinkling of the bell, displaced at least one inch on one side vs. the other.
It seems to play relatively well; the sound may be a bit on the thin side,but that may also be by design. My specific situation is that I will likely have to decide whether or not to keep the horn before repairs are actually made. My question is how does this flattening/wrinkling affect performance - compromise to the tone, intonation, response, volume? All of the above or none? Put another way, should I expect any specific improvements after repairs are done, or should I expect it to be more or less the same?
It seems to play relatively well; the sound may be a bit on the thin side,but that may also be by design. My specific situation is that I will likely have to decide whether or not to keep the horn before repairs are actually made. My question is how does this flattening/wrinkling affect performance - compromise to the tone, intonation, response, volume? All of the above or none? Put another way, should I expect any specific improvements after repairs are done, or should I expect it to be more or less the same?
From my personal absolutely non scientific experience horn dropping and resurrection has in almost all cases resulted in instruments that the players liked better than before, played more focused, more 'clear' (lighter, brighter?) sound, slotted better, better intonation etc. My avatar is a pic of one horn that had a really bad accident, almost totally flat, that now after some massaging plays very well, it happened to other of my instruments too. Colleagues has told me the same.