TromboneChat

Bass player in the near market for an f attachment tenor. Kanstul has good reviews, but I don’t see anyone playing them. Am I missing something? Tuning in slide. Great intonation. Sturdy builds. Great CR rotors. What gives?

Some guys in the LA area are playing them, particularly for recording.  Alan Kaplan comes to mind, but don't quote me on that.  I had a large bore but it was mechanically sort of not put together very well.

I don't know anyone, I know a couple of cats who play their small tenors and basses but I don't know anyone who plays their large tenors.

I had a 970 many moons ago and I wasn't a big fan. I really enjoy their basses and tubas though!

I tried the TIS horn a few times and it plays very nicely, but has some foundational issues (that are easy to miss when trying out) which I think keeps it from being more popular.

I know a number of professionals who owned the TIS large bore. They all ended up selling them (or having it live in the closet) primarily because of the ergonomic issues they had. It's a weird left hand grip that's fine when you play it for 5-10 minutes, but caused issues they held it for a long time. One friend found it uncomfortable even after getting a bullet brace (or some equivalent). Two of them also found that it didn't even come close to having a real 7th position.

It's a bummer cause they sounded nice on the horns.

I've had a few students with their Bach-like copy (sorry don't know the model numbers of either). Really disliked the way they played. Just felt like bad Bachs...

I knew they discontinued the 1688 tis tenors, but didn’t know why. That could be a reason. It’s just s shame because zig was a helluva maker. I may have to get my hands on one. His basses are phenomenal.

Drum corps.  Or so that's what I've been led to believe.

They seem to be popular in Califrornia and haven't broken out of that very much.  May boil down just to needs of studio musicians in particular that stick to the West Coast.  I only know a small handful of players who have used them.  The ones I've played briefly at, say, Dillon have been pretty good.  Seems like there aren't a lot of distributors too.I can think of at least 6 stores that I'd been to in the North East US that have a Shires distributor, bu tnone of them with (new) Kanstuls

Lee Stofer, the fine tuba repair technician here in Iowa, used to have a Kanstul franchise and stocked some of their horns-- mostly euphoniums and tuba-- but he doesn't any more.  A friend of mine bought a nice Kanstul euph from him.  I don't know if he still can order them but I think so.

Other than that, I don't know of any Kanstul dealers in the Midwest.

Kanstul trombones are very good but today many horns are good. Why something gets more attention is probably depending on marketing. Kanstuls were cheaper some years ago, that was then a major reason to buy them. They are still cheaper than many other high quality horns but not as they used to be. I have five Kanstuls.

/Tom

I have a 1570 and a 1588. Great horns, but a bit lighter weight wise than a lot of horns, so they don't really fit the "sound cannon" mold of many symphony bore horns.  They are definitely more popular on the west coast near their home in California. You don't see them as much out hear near New York.

I’m going to try to locate a tis tenor and bass from them and see how it works out.

Dillon Music had a killer 1570T (thayer) for several years. Someone bought it before I managed to get the funds together, and I don't play tenor enough to justify buying another one of the things anyway, but I often wonder who bought it and what has happened to it in the interim.

There's apparently a perception that they lack projection, though.

Quote from: John Beers Jr. on Jan 31, 2018, 08:06AMThere's apparently a perception that they lack projection, though.

The large trombones I've got project well. Nothing wrong with my 1570 or my 1662 bass. No problem to project on my 1555 small tenor (good as a lead horn). The Williams copy is the one who is maybe a little unfocused. I'm waiting for a copper 32 seamed leadpipe from Noah Gladstone for the latter. I hope it will focus the sound a bit. Nothing wrong as it is but I would not use it on lead. It is certainly good as a solo horn on 2:nd. The dual bore KBT-760 (.500-530) is a great horn too. Not as good as my Bach 36BO but for a cheap price it was a steal. If I had to sub on 3:rd in a big band (unfortunately I rarely do) I would consider that horn. All have great slides and plays easy, and even. Intonation is superior and sound is beautiful.

/Tom

Quote from: John Beers Jr. on Jan 31, 2018, 08:06AMThere's apparently a perception that they lack projection, though.

The large trombones I've got project well. Nothing wrong with my 1570 or my 1662 bass. No problem to project on my 1555 small tenor (good as a lead horn). The Williams copy is the one who is maybe a little unfocused. I'm waiting for a copper 32 seamed leadpipe from Noah Gladstone for the latter. I hope it will focus the sound a bit. Nothing wrong as it is but I would not use it on lead. It is certainly good as a solo horn on 2:nd. The dual bore KBT-760 (.500-530) is a great horn too. Not as good as my Bach 36BO but for a cheap price it was a steal. If I had to sub on 3:rd in a big band (unfortunately I rarely do) I would consider that horn. All have great slides and plays easy, and even. Intonation is superior and sound is beautiful.

/Tom