Bad feeling with my insturment.

[tikethor]

Hello folks,

My main axe is a Shires, with gold brass bell (9.5'' BI 1G), Trubore valves and dual-bore in gold brass.
I do like the sound I get with it but I hate the sensation while playing, It's like playing a rock, too hard, tough, I feel that it has a looooot of resinstance, almost back pressure.
I think that's only because I did put too much gold on it, so It's a lot heavier than a normal Shires or Edwards, but I don't know what I should change to make the instrument more "Free blowing", do a yellow brass dual bore makes the deal?

Thanks,
Tike

[Matt K]

You didn't mention which leadpipe you were using, which is arguably the most crucial part for how a horn 'feels'. If you aren't already, try switching to a '1' (assuming you have the 3 ones you got when it was new) and see how that feels. Also, how long have you been playing? Have you had a tech check out the horn to make sure it isn't leaking, valves are sealing etc? Last time it was professionally cleaned? What mouthpiece are you using with it?

Also note that the 1G bell is actually equivalent of a Bach heavyweight bell; in the 90s heavy bells were in vogue so their 'default' weight is heavy. I'd suggest tha tis far more important than the gold tubes on your slide too but try swapping around the leadpipes first and see what you think of that. It can seriously make or break an otherwise good horn.

[tikethor]

I've currently doing my bachelor, I play for about 10y. Since I bought i have been doing the clean myself. I use a Schilke 59 and the leadpipe 1, of course. Stills feels bad at some positions (5th to the 7th), and pretty heavy to hold. It just tires me off about 1h after started practicing or doing an orchestral gig.

When I try a Edwards or a Bach they just start singing and veeeery free blowing.

[Fafner]

Things to consider switching out to open up the horn:

C taper tuning slide
More open leadpipe (3 is the most open)
Dual-bore handlside
Mouthpiece with more open backbore

My experience is that gold brass affects articulation more than anything. Putting too much on a horn tends to make the sound dead unless you apply a lot of energy with your air.

Sometimes when people have gone for a very open horn, the pitch doesn’t center right and the interpret that lack of focus as backing up. Have someone who’s playing you admire try the horn out and see what they think.

[tikethor]

Things to consider switching out to open up the horn:

C taper tuning slide
More open leadpipe (3 is the most open)
Dual-bore handlside
Mouthpiece with more open backbore

My experience is that gold brass affects articulation more than anything. Putting too much on a horn tends to make the sound dead unless you apply a lot of energy with your air.

Sometimes when people have gone for a very open horn, the pitch doesn’t center right and the interpret that lack of focus as backing up. Have someone who’s playing you admire try the horn out and see what they think.

My tuning slide is exactly that one, "C" taper. I use the leadpipe 1 just because the insturment itself is big enought, with the 3, it just gets very very, but very big to play. The slide it is already dual bore but with gold messing.

[Fafner]

P.S. I played that same bell for 10+ years with great results.

[Burgerbob]

Too open can feel dead/stuffy as well.

[Doug Elliott]

Sometimes when people have gone for a very open horn, the pitch doesn’t center right and the interpret that lack of focus as backing up.

Too open can feel dead/stuffy as well.

^These.
Too open can feel like tight.
And a lot of the feel can be related to the way you play, and not the equipment at all.

When I try a Edwards or a Bach they just start singing and veeeery free blowing.

Then why...
...never mind.

[tikethor]

Sometimes when people have gone for a very open horn, the pitch doesn’t center right and the interpret that lack of focus as backing up.

Too open can feel dead/stuffy as well.

^These.
Too open can feel like tight.
And a lot of the feel can be related to the way you play, and not the equipment at all.

When I try a Edwards or a Bach they just start singing and veeeery free blowing.

Then why...
...never mind.

Yup. I know what are you thinking. When I purshased this Shires, I did not had the opportunity to try other brands before. But it was some years ago, now I've got a lot more experience in the bass world.