Musical Instrument-Fi!! - Page 2

I still have my old plastic Bundy bass clarinet, a (now antique) Le Blanc wooden clarinet, and an old silver Elkhart clarinet. The first two play fine but the Elkhart needs to be repadded. It's in great shape otherwise.

Still have my old Vincent Bach 18 tuba mouthpiece, as well. I'd love to get my own tuba one of these days.

I've also played tenor sax and trombone, but always used school instruments.

I'd like to pick up a few other instruments and possibly build them. One is a dulcimer. Fairly easy to build and I'd love to play some traditional folk with it. My favorite jazz instrument is the vibraphone. I've run across some DIY plans for them and am interested in building one. I've done a bit of woodwork, so I think it wouldn't be too bad. The other instrument I like is the pedal steel - my favorite in country.

Black Parker P65 and metallic red Westone Raider Bass already mentioned in Guitar-Fi, but if we're talking about things I actually know my way around...

 

Pair of 1978 B-flat and 1982 A Boosey & Hawkes Imperial 926 clarinets as a holdout against the Buffet Mafia.

Being so outdated, and wide bore, they are powered by Ed Pillinger custom mouthpieces (45B lays for the ternminally nerdy). I can't recommend his work highly enough.

 

Possibly 1970s Dolnet M70 Bel Air Tenor Sax. The one with the hexagonal stuff. Looks like it's been run over by a burning tank, and tricky intonation (flat low, sharp high) but can't complain for £100... :) Helped immeasurably by an Excalibur mouthpiece from the late great Ralph Morgan.

 

http://www.saxpics.com/dolnet/index.htm

 

Weighs as much as a small elephant. I have no idea what Lefevre and Piges were using for metal, but I bet a lot of Parisian Churches leak.  I really like it.

 

So much so that I got a matching 1959 (possibly) hexagonal Dolnet Bel Air Alto. That's pretty and has spot-on intonation everywhere. Again, a Ralph Morgan Excalibur does the honours. Loudly.

 

This weighs in about the same as a normal (Carreras, rather than Pavarotti) Tenor.

 

A King 613 alto that I used until the Dolnet happened by. I got that in a School sale in Montpeeelyer NY and took it home in the luggage. Even declared it at Customs, and was waved through because the duty wasn't worth the paperwork. Which was nice.

 

It may be just a student model, but I like the good big sound that comes out of it. It's got a nice character to it without being anywhere even remotely approaching fancy.

 

Loaned indefinitely to a friend, a silver plated Lyriste (an actual A E Sax sax....) Soprano. Curiosity value only, as it's 1920s or earlier, only has a couple of palm keys and is high pitch. OK sound, but I'm not mad about it, and am happier down in the bellowing regions.

 

Anyway, very expensive. Went out to get it repadded, and came home with a house. I was surprised, but my wife always was a bit of a rascal with the Rohypnol. I'm still not entirely sure what happened...  

 

Recorders of various sizes. Nice Alexander Heinrich pearwood descant and treble. No tenor, as they sound rubbish, and my mitts are too small to reach the holes, and a really shockingly good plastic Aulos sopranino.

 

All I need now is some ability...

Edited by David - 3/11/11 at 10:16am

Why thank you, I certainly have a lot of fun with them.

I ended up not majoring in music performance (much to the surprise of many) but somehow I still ended up playing in three music groups at college. Hmm.

Currently playing an early Selmer Mark VII alto saxophone with a Meyer 7M mouthpiece.

I just got a P.Mauriat System76 2nd edition tenor.

 

I really like it. Although I found it's really hard to play with the mouthpiece that came with it, so I am using the mouthpiece from the rent instrument. Do you guys know some good mouthipeces? I am an intermediate sax player.

Sorry. Not been on the board for a while.

 

Mouthpieces. Normal Otto Links are pretty good, but safe and a bit bland and boring. They call them Tone Edge. I've not noticed a lot of either :)

 

You really want to take yourself off to a music shop and try out everything they have (if it is a practical proposition).

 

I can't really tell a great difference between the mainstream Selmer C* or Yamaha pieces.

 

However, I can really recommend Ralph Morgan's Excalibur mouthpieces. Giant chamber, thin walls and they are tiny. I use a clarinet ligature on the tenor. Cheap plain metal one - Fat fabric BG style ligs just deaden the sound too much, I think. But honest to God, the sound is lovely. Clear and controllable all the way from too quiet to as loud as you like. Nearest I can compare it is feeling as if it has a nice warm valve amplifier secreted about its person...

 

Ralph has sadly died, but I believe his workshop continues. Maybe try getting them via Junkdude. Or waiting years for one to appear on EBay (like I did) Then again for the alto. There's no sense in hurrying these things..

 

If you see a dirt cheap Morgan Protone, give it a try. It's their student model and costs hardly anything and sounds great. Better than a Link anyway. Hand-finished too...

 

Or at very second hand  - Pete Thomas's mouthpieces are collaborations with Ed Pillinger. I use his mouthpieces on my clarinets, and I just know that his sax mouthpieces will be astoundingly good. Even though I've never seen one. He just knows stuff.

i am a musician first,recording engineer second. oh, and farmer lol. i did a lot of session work on many albums. my favorite bass is my mtd. my favorite guitar is my prs dragon(on the body). there is a bosendorfer piano in my living room.
we need a microphone-fi thread! i am a big mic junkie.

Got 2 violins, a guitar, an upright piano and a recorder. One violin (handmade) costs above $3000 and the other one (old violin, semi handmade) is way below that. Took them to a famous luthier here in Melbourne and it is confirmed that the cheaper older violin has much much more potential than the expensive one. Tweaked the cheaper violin and boom! never sounded better.

 

Strings: currently using Evah Pirazzi (bright sounding). Going to try the Dominants with the Pirastro gold e string.

Bow: Brazilwood octagonal

Sold my old upright piano (a nothing special baldwin). The only real instrument I have left is my fiddle, a 1904 French made fiddle that my grandmother used to use and I had checked/restored. Nikp - same story with my fiddle. I had a "nicer" new fiddle, but the old french made piece was just better - even if it wasn't technically worth more, so I sold the new one and just kept the family piece for daily playing. It sounds so sweet. 

 

My wife has an ukelele, and I have made a cigar box guitar for my son... a couple recorders and penny whistles and the like. 

Nice! You should try going to a luthier and see if the luthier can tweak the sound better. It will cost though (about half a grand) but the differences are noticeable.

I just would like to share my hobbies before I went in and join this forum(and discovered the audiophile world).  this is the evolution of my music gears and effects. :D

 

 

 

all the pictures are here for those interested and on my sig. :D

2 Trumpets: 1 Bach and 1 Pocket Trumpet

2 Guitars: Squier Fender Telecaster and Stratocaster 

Ooh, I'll sign in with a trumpet I got last year.

 

 

It's a Conn 5B New World Symphony. Apparently they're rarer than hen's teeth and mine still have the high and low pitch slides. All I know is that I bought it for $150 and it's a fantastic horn. It needs some repairs though. And smells horrid.

 

Oh, and I play the bari sax now for my school band. It's really a cool instrument, especially when I attempted to play Flight of the Bumblebee with it.

 

Oh, and about the mouthpieces, Ralph Morgan is/was an amazing mouthpiece maker. I have a Geo M. Bundy mouthpiece reshaped by him and it sound's smoother than silk. It compliments my Conn New Wonder II's warm sound fantastically. I also have a similar Geo M. Bundy mouthpiece reshaped by Greg Wier and it's no slouch either! It's a bit tinnier sounding though.

This was a gift from my grandmother in 1965. Played it till the early 80's then put it away. Came back yesterday from the factory/shop for a complete rebuild estimate, as it has some minor delamination. Anyway this one's built better than current ukeleles, and has a  beautiful warm finish compared to the cold clear tones they like to use these days. I'd rather retire this one, and pay the 1k price for a new instrument. :)

 

 

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I played the french horn throughout middle school, very beautiful sounding if you can get used to it. I wasn't very good, but I was the only one, so I was favored since it was so melodic and overpowering compared to the other instruments.

 

I stopped playing guitar last year, but I've decided to start playing once I get my M50's. Stopped mostly because of the noise the amp makes, too loud=good quality, too soft=bad quality >_< now i'll have headphones to use for it :3