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It occurs to me that there may be a niche for a more conical version of the tenor horn in the brass band setting. We have both euphonium and baritone horns in these groups; each with a distinctive voice. Perhaps a more euphonium shaped tenor would add some interesting timbre opportunities in that range of the band. Anybody know if this has been tried?

bloke wrote:more like this...??



.562" bore
11" bell

No. More like an alto euphonium. That's an "American" baritone horn.....neither fish nor fowl, Saxhorn nor euph.

bloke wrote:E♭...??

Yes Eb alto euphonium. Guess I'll have to build one in my spare time. Maybe the bell on an American baritone is the place to start?

I can post a picture of a more conical Eb alto, but don't think it would answer the question - can't really say how much it would contribute to the tonal palette of a brass band. I like it, others who've played it liked it, but I think the usual alto can sound sweeter. The fat one, of Soviet origin, has a rather bold sound for an alto horn, possibly for reasons that go beyond just the profile.

My intuition is that the narrow saxhorn profile is for higher members of the family (flugel, alto), the wider profile is for tuba, and baritone is the grey area or overlap.

Donn wrote:I can post a picture of a more conical Eb alto, but don't think it would answer the question - can't really say how much it would contribute to the tonal palette of a brass band. I like it, others who've played it liked it, but I think the usual alto can sound sweeter. The fat one, of Soviet origin, has a rather bold sound for an alto horn, possibly for reasons that go beyond just the profile.

My intuition is that the narrow saxhorn profile is for higher members of the family (flugel, alto), the wider profile is for tuba, and baritone is the grey area or overlap.

I'd like to see the fat one. Although I think the Flugel has the broader profile of the euph. Thanks

Well, it's svelte compared to what you might have expected from the Russians


(or whoever made it - is that "Kiev" in the center?)

This?
http://www.voigt-brass.de/gxshop/produc ... j-230.html

Sam Gnagey wrote:more conical

ultra conical

http://www.voigt-brass.de/gxshop/produc ... der-c.html" target="_blank

Hup

58mark wrote:This is my alto horn. It' both Eb and F

It has a fat flugel tone

That's what I envisioned. What make?

The defunct Dutch maker Schenkelaars made an Eb ALTO horn that had a bell profile more similar to an alto euphonium. It was badly out of tune with itself and projection wasn’t good.

The current Besson Sovereign model already represents a wide expansion over the older Imperial/New Standard alto horns, which had a bore of 0.434" and a bell width of 7".

Denis Wick tells that when he was involved in the development of the Sovereign alto horn there were two given elements: the bass trombone bell (cut to 8") and the 0.466" trumpet valve block. That model was pretty good. Only it missed a main tuning slide trigger.

I am sure a wider alto horn would blend better with the euphoniums, but I am also sure that the function of bridging up to the cornets would suffer.

Klaus

As for the terminology:

http://www.chisham.com/tips/bbs/jul2001 ... 61604.html

My oval alto horn is a Weltklang. I like it, but never would use it in a brass band, as it does not have that bite to the sound, that the top valved alto horns have.

The receiver of the oval alto is slightly smaller than on a tenor trombone, but the difference is so small, that it only sits further 1 or 2 mm out than on the tenor trombone. I have used 12C mouthpieces by Denis Wick and by Kelly. Preferring the latter, which I only use otherwise on the soprano trombone that I bought from the late Harvey Hartman. On alto and tenor trombones the plastic 12C gives to light a sound.

Klaus

Is it something like this?

We already have in the Wessex range. Sam, you are welcome to try - just let me know.

bloke wrote:E♭...??

in the british brass bands, Eb alto horns are called tenor horns...not alto horns, that is an american thing.

k

No it is the British that are off in their terminology, as they are the only ones that carry on using Sax's long outdated classifications.

In the first edition of Bevan's book he tells of being a very young player wondering why he plays the alto line in 4-part chorales on a ‘tenor horn'.

Klaus