Making an Eb trumpet

[Mark Manges]

I made (with a friend's help) a natural trumpet from a Bb horn the
other night. After dismantling the Bb and really seeing (for the first
time) how a trumpet is made, I got to thinking about what else you could
make out of a Bb. I'm wondering if anyone has made an Eb horn? It seems
like it wouldn't be too complicated. You'd need to cut the bell section
near the third valve (to shorten it), and reattach. Then you'd need to
shorten the main tuning slide, and the tuning slides for each of the
valves.
Has anyone ever done this? If so, what kind of success did you have?
Also, where would I find the measurements for the proper lengths of the
tubes?

Thanks,
Mark

[Russ Schmidt]

used to be a couple articles on making trumpets on the "musical instrument
makers (?) forum" which is located at www.mim.com

I notice the forum is on vacation until sunday, but after that you should be
able to download some info oo slide lenths and such (I think :-))

good luck

"Mark Manges" <man...@frii.com> wrote in message
news:3D6668A7...@frii.com...

[Simon Richards]

Mark Manges wrote:

Eb is a perfect 4th above Bb, and the frequency ratio for an interval of a
perfect 4th is 4:3. In theory then you could turn a Bb trumpet to an Eb
trumpet by shortening the length of all tubing to 3/4 of its initial
length.

However... you will end up with a dog. You've only got to look at the
questionable intonation even of some trumpets which are designed to play in
Eb to appreciate that it is not quite so straightforward. The intonation of
a Bb cut down to play in Eb doesn't bear thinking about. The bell profile
in particular will be optimized for Bb. Schilke (and others) even give you
2 bells for Eb and D on their Eb/D trumpets. Expecting a Bb bell to play in
Eb is asking a little bit to much I think.

Still, I'm an experimentalist, so if you got a gash Bb trumpet laying around
what the hell - give it a go. Just make sure you document it all, record
the results and report it all on a website for us all to see and hear.
Should be fun.

--
Simon Richards
http://freespace.virgin.net/sd.richards

[Russ Schmidt]

my bad

the link is www.mimf.com

sorry I didn't proofread better

"Russ Schmidt" <ru...@teleport.com> wrote in message
news:umcvk38...@corp.supernews.com...

[Scott Miller]

The guy that did that mod Bb to C is named Alan Larsen. he was very helpful.
Here are the dimensions for making a Bb Olds Ambassador a C Olds Ambassador.

"Here are the calculated and final dimensions that I used on my first Bb to
C
conversion of an Ambassador.

Section Original est. cut Actual
Leadpipe/bell 5.905" 4.128"
1st slide 0.369" 0.360"
2nd slide 0.184" 0.193"
3rd slide 0.553" 0.538"

Total 7.011" 5.219"

Try and keep just as much leadpipe length as you possibly can. It's a
tricky
balance between leadpipe and bell tail cuts."

I have done it and it works great. A Note : Leave the brace between the
leadpipe and the bell crook out. The 4th line D thru 4th space E are much
closer in tune with this nodal point undampened.

Scott Miller
Director of Bands
Antioch High School
1900 Hobson Pike
Antioch, TN 37013
ahs...@mac.com

[Jeff Beer]

"Mark Manges" <man...@frii.com> wrote in message
news:3D6668A7...@frii.com...

I bought an Eb trumpet from E-bay that was made as follows:

The valve casings and slides were from an Getzen Eb Short Model Eterna, with
the Monette style O-Rings.
The bell an Elkhart 238 from a Bach C trumpet, modified to be a tuning-bell.
Completing the horn is a Malone leadpipe.

It plays great and has real solid intonation.
I wish a Bb would blow so easily.

Jeff