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In general, are there any downsides to adding a water key to a horn? There's one spot on my horn where water always collects, and I have to do some spinning to get it out (on the "loop" behind the 1 water key I have now). It's not a huge problem, but I have to do it a few times daily and can be a real annoyance.

Any thoughts?

Do it.... but keep in mind that in remote situations, additional features such as waterkeys have been known to cause minor intonation problems. I have never experienced a problem with an added waterkey but I've heard of situations where one has had to be moved. I like the Amodo type waterkeys for ease of installation... just one solder spot and a very small hole in the crook.

I actually plugged up the main water key all the way to the tube on the Marzan that I used in the orchestra, and got a noticable (I thought) improvement/change in intonation. The key was squarely in the middle of a sharp right-angle bend. I didn't mind always yanking the main slide and dumping the water that way because of the improvement I thought I had in the horn (and besides, I was in the back). French horn players do the same, and not many will add water keys just to make that part easier.

I think that when people designed older horns, they used a "trial and error" (mostly trying) method to find the least tonal impact on the horn. For newer horns, I think they know better what they're doing, but with all the notes, it is probably hard to find a spot that will have NO impact.

Unless you know where the tone waves set up inside the tube for evey note, your just drilling and soldering a hole will be hit or miss, and the effects will be hard to judge until you try it. At that point, if it doesn't work out, it's a pain to go back.

The Amado water keys, in my opinion, don't make much of a hole, and are the least painless, making the least inpact on the existing tubing. I think they can make a huge difference on trumpets/cornets/flugelhorns where the wave points are much closer together.

Speaking of Amado water keys, has anyone tried an instrument equipped with one of these?



http://www.deniswedgwood.com/saturn.htm

Pretty danged pricey, but it looks pretty cool.

Chuck(G) wrote:Speaking of Amado water keys, has anyone tried an instrument equipped with one of these?

Hey, looks like something beer comes out of. I'm there, dude!

i'm considering adding a water key to the 3rd valve slide on my king 2341.