Frankenbone Bach question

[jeterbone]

Hello! Now I own a custom Bach 42 with an Innovations rotor and I don't think there is anything wrong with my setup. However, I'm curious to know if there are people out there who have done other projects with Bach and found the Valve/Tuning slide/Slide etc. work particularly well with Bach components? I know this is an interesting question but I have been thinking about this for a while and want to see if Shires or Edwards or even something like M&W works?

[Burgerbob]

Bach bells take to good vakvs and slides pretty well. I play Bachs with Bach, Shires, and Edwards slides, stock and Hoelle tuning slides, stock and many other valves.

The only Bach left in my main bass is the bell and occasionally a 50 leadpipe, and it sounds great.

[calcbone]

I use a Shires 47-62 slide on a “corporation” Bach 42 bell.

The slide tenon is almost a perfect fit—I have to make sure it’s on fairly tightly, but I have found them to play well together. I do not plan to modify the tenon or receiver in the bell so that the Bach can still be played as a complete horn, or I could decide to put a Shires bell together for it at some point.

Mine has a standard rotor with a custom-made open wrap (probably done before the 42BO was offered, but honestly mine is designed better anyway). It started out as a straight 42, with the valve taken from a different 42B later on.

[elmsandr]

I think they play nicely with others. I would definitely not say that they need a Bach valve.

For basses, I would try to keep them with a Bach style tuning slide. Not that a Bach bell won't work well on an Edwards (I did this for a while), but that it works better with the Bach tuning slide taper.

FWIW, I play a pair of basses that I have modified Shires valve sections to fit. Seems fine, as long as I don't worry about the threads not being quite right.

Cheers,
Andy

[MBurner]

My daily driver is an early Corp 42 bell section that I had rebuilt by Eric Edwards to be stress free. Half the battle with Bach’s, in my opinion, is getting them to play up to their potential. The hand-slide had a wonderful rich sound, but the action had certainly felt its 48+ years of service. So, I replaced it with an Edwards .547 slide. The tenon fits as perfectly as I can tell- the bell doesn’t move around or flop over at all. The difference being that Edwards slides are a bit shorter than Bach slides, the slots aren’t as secure and “set” as a Bach slide, but the sound is great and flexibility is easy. Personal opinion- Getzen/Edwards make the best slides on the market, and leadpipes are relatively cheap and easy to experiment with.
Tuning slides are an easy thing to try out- Brass ark has their name brand and Hoelle. More copper makes the horn warmer… For me this wasn’t a desire.
I’m probably the only person on earth that likes Bach rotors, but that’s after having my wrap opened up in a Minick/Kitzman style. There are so many good valves out there, it just comes down to preference.

[Kbiggs]

I have two Bachs—a 42 and a 50, both with Instrument Innovations valves. I played Bach instruments for 25-30 years, then played Edwards horns for about 10 years, and then moved bach to my old Bach horns. While I had both horn makers available, I tried the Edwards slides on the Bach bell sections, and vice versa. I thought (at the time) that an Edwards slide on a Bach bell section worked well, but the reverse not as well. I particularly liked Edwards’ slide action—an A or A+ out of the box. Every Bach slide I’ve owned I’ve taken to a tech for work.

The Edwards slide-Bach bell section combinations that I thought worked best were an Edwards .547/.562 slide on both the tenor and the bass section. On the tenor, it gave a wonderful low tenor/high bass sound that worked well on pieces where I played the 3rd of 4 trombones. On the bass, I played several concerts with Classical and early Romantic pieces where the combination worked very well. For Beethoven’s 9th, 4th movement, I produced a clear bass sound that projected well without overpowering the men’s voices. For Schumann and Schubert, it was similar, especially when the 1st and 2nd players scaled down. I eventually sold that slide as I hadn’t used it 5+ years.

That’s my 2 cents. YMMV.

[jeterbone]

These are all so cool! Thanks for your input! I was thinking of getting an Edwards/Shires slide down the line since I know my Bach slide has seen some rough days. (Probably a 7-7.5/10 in slide action). I also may try out one of those tuning slides from Brass Ark, as I already own a Mt. Vernon replica leadpipe from them and I love it on my Bach.

[hornbuilder]

Yes, Bach and M&W are a very good pairing! We have done many valve section conversions on both 42's and 50's.

[SwissTbone]

My daily driver is an early Corp 42 bell section that I had rebuilt by Eric Edwards to be stress free. Half the battle with Bach’s, in my opinion, is getting them to play up to their potential.

Absolutely agree! The trombones I use the most are a Bach 42 and a Bach 50. Well kinda... the bells are Bach, the entire bell and valve sections have been rebuilt by Hagmann. With Hagmann valves of course and the vibrabell system.

On the 42 I play a Shires and on the 50 an Edwards slide. And it works great.

I'm a Bach fan. But thinking about it I think I never liked a Bach slide that I played for more than only a few weeks.