I have never cared for the 8D for 2 main reasons. First, was the up close sound. Admittedly, that isn't what is heard in the audience, but when I played with a local Professional orchestra( subbed with while in College ) the Principle horn and second horn played Conn 8D's. And I always found the sound sloppy and unfocused sounding, especially when playing technical passages. Second, is when I played the 8D, I found it incredibly difficult to play technical passages cleanly. Which explained to me why I heard what I heard when playing with the orchestra. I played a Yamaha 868 at the time and playing cleanly was easily accomplished. Based on those experiences, I have always thought of tubby, unfocused, and sloppy when thinking of a Conn 8D. And never understood why they are so coveted by such a great many. But then again, look at the number of 8D's for sale on hornplayer.net compared to the other makes and maybe that trend of favoring the 8D has changed. I did play an 8D for a little while in the military and that one played better than with first few I played. But it was still far inferior to my Yamaha and the Lawsons available ( Band owned ) to play. just my 2 cents.
-James ----- Original Message ---- From: John Dutton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: horn@music.memphis.edu; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, April 22, 2007 3:20:15 PM Subject: re: [Hornlist] What makes Conns desirable? [quote] Can anyone tell me what makes the tone of the Conn so nice? [/quote] Well, since no one else is actually answering your question... The 8D "sound" is made up of the particular nickel alloy, the tapers of the mouthpipe, 1st branch and bell tail/flare, and thickness of the flare. The basic design of the 8d is from (circa 1937) Arthur Berv's Kruspe-Horner model with modification of the mouthpipe (some say to a CF Schmidt style pipe) and no doubt other slight design differences. First production 8D was circa 1938-moved to Abilene TX in1972-moved to current location in Eastlake OH 1988ish. *In the most **generalized** fashion* of description: 1. The mouthpipe affects the intonation and slotting and focus of the tone. 2. The bell and first branch affect the carrying power and tonal characteristics of the sound. 3. Type of metal can alter either of the above to a greater or lesser extent. Given ***identical*** parts the color of sound would progress dark to light: sterling silver-rose brass-yellow brass-nickel silver (sometimes referred to as German silver). Some mix and match materials ie a rose brass mouthpipe with a yellow brass corpus and nickel bell. P.N. could probably give a better description if he chimes in. --- One of the most important things one needs to accept about horn shopping is that the sound up close is not the sound the audience hears. Test drive a horn with TRUSTED ears listening in a performance venue. Now swap so you can hear the horn too from the back of the hall. People often make poor choices based upon the up-close sound they perceive. Don't misunderstand me, the horn should sound good up close too but that is definitely not an indication of how the sound develops and blooms in a hall. Don't deceive yourself. The Jack Attack! _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/ndspmustang%40yahoo.com __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
