The most important issue facing trombonists today

[AtomicClock]

My counterweight has writing on only one side. Should it face out, so my fans see the logo when I'm playing:

Or in, they see it when I'm just standing around?

[BGuttman]

Your fans won't see the logo while you are playing (unless they are positioned over you). I like to have the logo facing forward while the instrument is at rest (2nd picture).

[ghmerrill]

Giving do attention to the date of those postings, I do want to observe that you can avoid this dilemma, as I have, by using the Hickey's "Standard Trombone Counterweight Kit - generic". It doesn't have a brand name or logo engraved on it, and the appearance of the two sides is identical. In addition to the significantly reduced cost, this will completely eliminate the stress and anxiety that you'll otherwise face by using your branded counterweight.

Then the only question is whether you should use the yellow brass screws that come with it, or go in a different and individualistic direction. I've chosen the latter and have replaced the original screws with flat black screws from the local hardware store -- which yields a distinctive contrast in the appearance, and sets it apart from others who use this counterweight. Okay ... it's true that I did this partly because I lost one of the original screws. But that doesn't detract from the artistic contribution of my choice to replace them.

[officermayo]

Okay ... it's true that I did this partly because I lost one of the original screws. But that doesn't detract from the artistic contribution of my choice to replace them.

Pics or it didn't happen.

[Kbiggs]

OMG! No wonder I suck!! My counterweight is turned the wrong way around!!!

[ghmerrill]

OMG! No wonder I suck!! My counterweight is turned the wrong way around!!!

Yes, quite possibly this is the cause. Minute differences in counterweight balance can affect resonance and pitch. I read that somewhere.

Or maybe I made it up -- but that doesn't mean it isn't true. Just look at all the testimony about LefreQue Sound Bridges!

[AtomicClock]

Minute differences in counterweight balance can affect resonance and pitch. I read that somewhere.

You're right. I flipped my counterweight around. I still suck, but slightly differently.

[ghmerrill]

Well, at least that's progress. Now you can focus on the correct path to improvement -- which is getting a more expensive and adjustable counterweight.

[robcat2075]

If Bach isn't paying you to endorse their product, a "this space for rent" sticker would do.

[AtomicClock]

a more expensive and adjustable counterweight.

I always thought a counterweight should move in and out, adjusting its moment arm to account for the slide's position. Haven't quite figured out the engineering, though.

[ghmerrill]

I always thought a counterweight should move in and out, adjusting its moment arm to account for the slide's position. Haven't quite figured out the engineering, though.

I suppose you've already tried a rod (cumbersome when playing) and a flexible cable (ineffective). I think you should move on to a servomechanism attached to the counterweight and under the control of a microprocessor and transmitter (Bluetooth is very popular as the technology now) that controls the servo.

Please list this contribution of mine when you file the patent application. Thank you.

[harrisonreed]

This is a trick April Fools question. The answer is that you actually need fans in the first place for them to be able to see your counterweight when you play

[PhilE]

I solved this dilemma by removing the cw altogether and as a result sleep much better at night

[JLivi]

When I was a junior in high school I brought a new (to me) King 3b to my first jazz band rehearsal of the school year. It was a HN White horn with the 3-piece counterweight. I had the text facing in towards me so I could see it.

My band director notice and said, “you just got a king 3b! Let the world know!”

Ever since then my counterweight has been facing out. That was 22 years ago

[ghmerrill]

I would proudly display an Edwards/Getzen counterweight in place of my generic Hickey's counterweight. But at $185 compared to the < $30 I paid for the Hickey's ... I just don't have that much pride.

I guess I could write "Getzen" on my counterweight with a Sharpie.

[JLivi]

I would proudly display an Edwards/Getzen counterweight in place of my generic Hickey's counterweight. But at $185 compared to the < $30 I paid for the Hickey's ... I just don't have that much pride.

I have that generic CW on my King 2b+. It does the job, and I prefer the blank canvas. If I wasn't planning to sell the horn I'd probably by some Rusoleum and paint the metal to look cooler.

[ghmerrill]

... I'd probably by some Rusoleum and paint the metal to look cooler.

I have the capability of making my own decorative inserts for the sides of that counterweight, but I'm just not into it. I'm not much of a bling guy, and so pretty lazy about that sort of thing, though I definitely don't think there's anything wrong with that approach. And it could look classy. Copper, brass, or aluminum sheet metal is pretty easy to work with, and there are different ways to create patterns on it or in it. I can imagine a line of products as "add-ons" to the generic Hickey's weights -- but again, I'm too lazy (also just to old) to do it.

Or ... you could buy a cheap little electric engraver, learn to use it, and then engrave the generic weights yourself.

[tbdana]

I own a Tesla. Because of all the hate for Elon Musk, Tesla owners are rebadging their cars with other brands, and putting stickers on the cars saying things like "I bought this before Elon went insane," in order to protect them from vandalism.

So I started wondering: What if Elon Musk owned King? Would King owners be turning the counterweights around backwards? Putting Bach counterweights on their King trombones? Keeping their horns in Conn cases? Selling them for new Shires?

[ghmerrill]

That probably depends on where the King owners live. Much of such behavior appears to be geographically determined. Around there, I wouldn't expect to see it.

I have to confess that all the other guys in my section are Bach players. And the only Tesla owner in the band is an 84 year old Bari sax player -- who doesn't seem concerned about his car.

[AtomicClock]

This is a trick April Fools question. The answer is that you actually need fans in the first place for them to be able to see your counterweight when you play

Believe it or not, I was just butchering some Arban's in a local park, and two 8 year-old girls told me they liked my songs. Arban! Not even real music!

Maybe it was THEIR April Fools joke.

[CharlieB]

I replaced the screws with wing nuts so that the position of the weight is easily adjustable to fine tune the timbre of the horn. Now, my section mates are calling me "Wingnut." They always laugh when they say that. Not sure what that means. ????

[BGuttman]

...

And the only Tesla owner in the band is an 84 year old Bari sax player -- who doesn't seem concerned about his car.

That's probably a good thing. It's almost as likely to self-immolate as be sabotaged. I just hope he's not inside when it decides to flame up.

[ghmerrill]

That's probably a good thing. It's almost as likely to self-immolate as be sabotaged. I just hope he's not inside when it decides to flame up.

He's had it for quite a while. In fact, this area is surprisingly rife with the little Teslas -- at least it's surprising until you reflect on the fact that NC (for various reasons, mostly related to weather, taxes, cost of living, and access to good/exceptional medical facilities) is a Mecca for the elderly -- and full of elder-living communities and assisted living communities. And a significant number of those people seem to buy Teslas -- in large part because for them it turns out to be fairly economical (only short trips, fairly available charging stations). The little white ones (Tesla cars, I mean) are all over the place in the parking lots of those communities.

And around here it is almost as likely to self-immolate as to be vandalized -- which means, "extremely remote", if at all. Maybe that's a regional phenomenon as well.

Anyhow, I'll be seeing him at practice in another four hours and will pass on the warnings. We usually have at least a brief chat about how many deer we've managed not to hit on the way to practice. Also, I pilfer some of the parts off him for those cases where there's no 4th 'bone part and I double (parts of) the Bari instead of the 3rd trombone.

[tbdana]

Whenever I hear someone imply that Teslas are dangerous because they catch fire ("self-immolate"), I roll my eyes and think, "There's someone to stay away from." The truth is that gas cars catch fire much more often.

Data from the NTSB and BTS shows that there are approximately 25 fires for every 100,000 EVs sold, compared to approximately 1,530 fires for every 100,000 gas-powered vehicles sold. That means a gas car is 61 times more likely to catch fire than a Tesla.

[CharlieB]

Fires in fossil-fueled vehicles can usually be easily extinguished with equipment carried by the local fire departments, or by the driver, with an on-board extinguisher.
Not so with the lithium ion battery equipped vehicles. If that battery ignites, about all you can do is watch it burn.

[ghmerrill]

That reminds me of a conversation I had many years ago with the VP of Bioinformatics at Novartis when I was working with a group in Basel. We were talking about things in that area, and he had a chalet in the mountains just east of there. He mentioned that one of the risks was an accidental house fire because no fire department could get there in any reasonable time. When I said, "So what do you do then?" The reply was "You get a beer and watch it burn."

[CharlieB]

When I said, "So what do you do then?" The reply was "You get a beer and watch it burn."

^^^^^
Maybe I should invest in beer. ????
Old Elon is making lots of Teslas.

[ghmerrill]

When I said, "So what do you do then?" The reply was "You get a beer and watch it burn."

^^^^^
Maybe I should invest in beer. ????
Old Elon is making lots of Teslas.

Beer is always a good investment. But betting on any random Tesla bursting into flame is a truly irrational move.

[AtomicClock]

I think I've convinced myself that on a closed wrap horn, a logo peeking through to the outside doesn't do anybody any good.

[ghmerrill]

I think I've convinced myself that on a closed wrap horn, a logo peeking through to the outside doesn't do anybody any good.

A judiciously placed LED used to tastefully highlight the logo might produce just the right degree of panache.

[BrassSection]

Imagine if Elon bought Harley Davidson…wonder what would happen to the malcontents trying to deface a Harley outside the biker bars??

[ghmerrill]

I don't like Harleys and wouldn't have one, but there's just something fundamentally wrong with the idea of an electric Harley. I wonder if there's an add-on "audio enhancement" product to make it sound like a "real" Harley. 0-60 in 3 sec. isn't too bad for a cruiser, but 113 miles range is pretty discouraging.

[tbdana]

0-60 in 3 sec. isn't too bad for a cruiser, but 113 miles range is pretty discouraging.

I imagine it would be much better than that. My Tesla goes 0-60 in less than 3 seconds and its range is 363 miles on one charge. Electric Harleys would blow those away.

[ghmerrill]

Thats not ehat the specs say.

[BGuttman]

0-60 in 3 sec. isn't too bad for a cruiser, but 113 miles range is pretty discouraging.

I imagine it would be much better than that. My Tesla goes 0-60 in less than 3 seconds and its range is 363 miles on one charge. Electric Harleys would blow those away.

I think he's confusing the Tesla range with the Chevy Bolt, an all electric vehicle with a rather short range on a charge.

Modern all-electric vehicles get much better range due to improved battery technology. Still, my old Volvo S-80 with its 25 gallon (95 liter) tank would go nearly 500 miles on one tank.

[ghmerrill]

I think he's confusing the Tesla range with the Chevy Bolt, an all electric vehicle with a rather short range on a charge.

Modern all-electric vehicles get much better range due to improved battery technology. Still, my old Volvo S-80 with its 25 gallon (95 liter) tank would go nearly 500 miles on one tank.

I was referring to the electric motorcycles marketed by Harley under the LIvewire brand, and their advertised characteristics on the web: https://www.livewire.com/.

For the record, a 3 sec. 0-60 speed is quite good overall (and I'm surprised that the Tesla can do that -- but good for it!). The last sport bike I owned was a Honda VTR1000F (aka, the Firestorm (Europe) or SuperHawk (US)). It was the street-legal road version of the RC51 Superbike, and would do 0-60 in a bit less than 3 seconds, and a quarter mile in less than 12 seconds. It was the only bike I ever rode where I had to be careful NOT to wheelie it coming into second gear -- the torque was amazing. On the track or in the mountains it was amazing.

So to me that Tesla performance is pretty impressive. But the range of the Harley/Livewire bike makes that bike pretty silly. Range and refuel (recharging) issues are still a major issue with electric vehicles in most of the US, and for a variety of scenarios that don't involve scuttling around an urban area or spending most of your time looking for a charging station, or waiting for the charge time to elapse.

[BrassSection]

Modern all-electric vehicles get much better range due to improved battery technology. Still, my old Volvo S-80 with its 25 gallon (95 liter) tank would go nearly 500 miles on one tank.

My 2013 F150 4-door long bed EcoBoost (Pre-aluminum model) gets me 750 or so miles out of a tank of gas. Said tank is 36 gallons. But I normally fill it every about once a month after 100 or 200 miles. Just something unpleasant about watching the pump go over $100, and I normally don’t like to let any tank get too low. It’s basically the supply truck for the farm, or bringing big remodeling stuff home. (Drywall, lumber,,doors, etc) I’ll just drive it once in awhile to keep things working.

[ghmerrill]

My 2013 F150 4-door long bed ...

Ditto on my 2016 Chevy Silverado (2WD long bed). It's got a 26 gal. tank. But it's the big 4.3L V6 "flex fuel" engine (amazing engine). Range is up to approx 600 miles on the highway with 18-24 mpg. My wife likes to build landscaping things for her plants out of stone, and has discovered that the guys at a local rock and gravel supply place are happy to dump a half ton of stuff in the bed at a fraction of the cost of buying bags of crap at Lowes. So now she just drives it over there and loads up.

There are times when I regret not getting the 4WD version, but we very rarely need the capability

[AtomicClock]

half ton of stuff

I know it's a counterweight thread, but this is ridiculous.

[ghmerrill]

I know it's a counterweight thread, but this is ridiculous.

Depends on how front-heavy the horn is. With a cup mute in an Indy bass, it feels like a half ton.

[tbdana]

For the record, a 3 sec. 0-60 speed is quite good overall (and I'm surprised that the Tesla can do that -- but good for it!).

Yeah, Teslas are capable of 0-60 in 1.9 seconds.

[AtomicClock]

Narrator is talking about "letting off the gas". Must be one of those internal combustion Teslas.

[ghmerrill]

That's some impressive engineering. It's all about the power to weight ratio. My wife's Suzuki 750 couldn't even do that. Among commonly available street bikes, there are very few with sub-3 sec 0-60 accelerations, and none that I can see with sub-2.0 sec performance (including one of the current electric ones).

Also, the automatic transmission is a big aid in that kind of acceleration test.

My wife's comment is "That's like a horse starting out at a gallop. I can happen, but ...".

[tbdana]

Also, the automatic transmission is a big aid in that kind of acceleration test.

Teslas have no transmissions.

[tbdana]

Narrator is talking about "letting off the gas". Must be one of those internal combustion Teslas.

Ya know, a lot of us Tesla owners still say "gas pedal" rather than "accelerator" just because we're used to it. I do. I say "step on the gas" when I know there's no gas. I kinda like the irony of it.

[officermayo]

Narrator is talking about "letting off the gas". Must be one of those internal combustion Teslas.

Ya know, a lot of us Tesla owners still say "gas pedal" rather than "accelerator" just because we're used to it. I do. I say "step on the gas" when I know there's no gas. I kinda like the irony of it.

And probably "hang up the phone" too.

[AtomicClock]

I'm still struggling with "gas", when it's really a liquid.

[ghmerrill]

Do you likewise feel the need to properly use the terms "diesel pedal" and "propane pedal"?

"Throttle" is probably the best general term.

[BGuttman]

I'm still struggling with "gas", when it's really a liquid.

Well, when it's used it actually is a gas. The carburetor or the fuel injector converts the petrol into a gas so it will burn. You can actually extinguish a lit match by plunging it into liquid gasoline (but don't try this at home).

[ghmerrill]

Also, the automatic transmission is a big aid in that kind of acceleration test.

Teslas have no transmissions.

Actually, they do have transmissions -- strictly speaking. They're not "direct drive" and have a "single gear transmission" (earlier versions had a 2-speed transmission) which, together with varying motor speed, accomplishes change in speed. So it is kind of an"automatic transmission".

However, that dodge doesn't excuse my antiquated thinking.

What I really meant to get at is that with a multi-stage transmission -- and a clutch operating it -- you're faced with an issue of "wheel spin" (loss of traction) if you change gears at less than the optimal point as you're accelerating. And that's virtually impossible to do with complete precision. The wheel spin decreases the rate of acceleration.