TubeNet

That's a very good buy for eight Alphorns!

Surely they are not Swiss-made for that price.

Made in China?

TubaTinker wrote:Made in China?

No, made in Austria, as imperialbari writes in the title of this post.

http://www.heimatklang.com/Startseite/

Butch

butch wrote:

TubaTinker wrote:Made in China?

No, made in Austria, as imperialbari writes in the title of this post.

http://www.heimatklang.com/Startseite/

Butch

On my last trip to Germany and Austria I saw LOTS of imported (Asian & Indian) stuff. They are also deeply involved with The World economy and it stands to reason that one would see the same activities with music instruments as we are here in the US.

For the price indicated, I'll just betcha those things aren't made completely in Austria.

You might be right. But they state on their website, that the horn they sell are made in Austria. The price they indicate on the site would be 1'399 €.
But as I never bought an alphorn I have no idea what they cost.

Butch

butch wrote:You might be right. But they state on their website, that the horn they sell are made in Austria. The price they indicate on the site would be 1'399 €.
But as I never bought an alphorn I have no idea what they cost.

Butch

I'm sure there are different levels of quality when it comes to Alphorns. 1'399 Euros might be accurate for a 'beginner' horn. I know the hand made ones for sale here in the US start at around $3,500 and go through the roof from there.

I think I paid a little less than $2,000 for mine used and was surprised to see EIGHT of them for 6'190 Euros.

You're right. I did a quick search on websites of swiss alphorn builders and an alphorn in f (as the ones in the ad) made in Switzerland starts at around 3'500 $.
So they have to be beginner instruments and maybe only part produced in Austria.

By the way, speaking of alphorns. Did you know that Willson developed a system to combine their famous Rotax-valves with an alphorn?

http://willson.ch/rotax/index.html

Regards Butch

butch wrote:.....

By the way, speaking of alphorns. Did you know that Willson developed a system to combine their famous Rotax-valves with an alphorn?

http://willson.ch/rotax/index.html

Regards Butch

Yes. I saw that being played on YouTube and have given serious thought to applying a horn valve section to my Alphorn. The F horn section would fit right into my horn since I have an extension about 8" long in the receiver to drop the pitch from Gb to F anyway. (Yes, TubeNetters... the Europeans refer to it as Gb instead of F#!)

butch wrote:... By the way, speaking of alphorns. Did you know that Willson developed a system to combine their famous Rotax-valves with an alphorn?

http://willson.ch/rotax/index.html

Regards Butch

Thanks for reminding me of this 'chromatic Alphorn' project. It so happens that I have an 8" extension on my receiver to drop the pitch on my Alphorn from Gb to F. I can easily replace that extension with a cluster from an old F horn. Here's what I got accomplished in a couple of hours today. You can see the tapered part on the left side of the cluster that fits into the horn and the receiver for a trombone MP on the right side. That's the way I have my extension set up. I can use a trombone MP to make the low register easier or an F horm MP for the high register. I plan to try this thing out this weekend.

TubaTinker wrote:Thanks for reminding me of this 'chromatic Alphorn' project. It so happens that I have an 8" extension on my receiver to drop the pitch on my Alphorn from Gb to F. I can easily replace that extension with a cluster from an old F horn. Here's what I got accomplished in a couple of hours today. You can see the tapered part on the left side of the cluster that fits into the horn and the receiver for a trombone MP on the right side. That's the way I have my extension set up. I can use a trombone MP to make the low register easier or an F horm MP for the high register. I plan to try this thing out this weekend.

I'm impressed and interessed to see or hear more after you tried it out.

Butch

Curmudgeon wrote:Is there such a thing as an inexpensive alphorn? Something made from resin, fiberglass, or plastic, etc.?

There is a guy in the french speaking part of Switzerland that produces alphorns made of carbon fibre. They are easy to transport - only 75cm in length and they weight onla about 1.5kg - but I don't think they are inexpensive.

http://swisscarbonalphorn.net/

Butch

butch wrote:.... I'm impressed and interested to see or hear more after you tried it out.

Butch

Here you go! Still a solid F through the partials. Plus.... in-tune chromatics! Yeah... I use a 6 1/2al on the horn. THAT makes the 'purists' shivver!

TubaTinker wrote:Here you go! Still a solid F through the partials. Plus.... in-tune chromatics! Yeah... I use a 6 1/2al on the horn. THAT makes the 'purists' shivver!

You're a genious!

Curmudgeon wrote:Is there such a thing as an inexpensive alphorn? Something made from resin, fiberglass, or plastic, etc.?

I once read about a fiberglass alphorn, but it was about 3000$.

And I'm sure you hadn't something like this in mind!



Or this:



Butch

I would love if someone made an inexpensive plastic alphorn. 'i know that is probably blasphemy to the purists but no more so than the p bone or Tiger tuba.... I just want something to play off my deck and hear it echo through the valley, but I am not going to spend thousands of dollars to do it.

k

ken k wrote:I would love if someone made an inexpensive plastic alphorn. 'i know that is probably blasphemy to the purists but no more so than the p bone or Tiger tuba.... I just want something to play off my deck and hear it echo through the valley, but I am not going to spend thousands of dollars to do it.

k

It's totally possible to put together conical sections of scrap euphoniums and tubas coupled to a euphonium bell to make one. If you wrapped it with rattan I doubt anyone would know the difference. I have the internal dimensions around here somewhere.