Testing A Possible New Way To Tune A Trumpet- Part 2

written by on

tunerAfter doing my own tests on this theory, I came to this conclusion-

Matching the pitch of both the bell vibrations and the pitch of the air passing through the lead pipe and tuning slide did make a difference in how the instrument sounded and responded.

The only problem with the thought that the instrument is more in tune with itself is that any change in the position of the tuning slide will have similar affects on your instrument.

I found nothing note worthy in this experiment and would compare the basic sound and response of a Bb trumpet to that of an A trumpet (cornet). Each instrument plays differently as the length of the tubing is extended.

For me, I’ll be back to the old settings and hope I get all the notes on the page this Sunday.

Bruce was a member of the faculty at the University of Northern Iowa, School of Music in Cedar Falls from 1969 until his retirement in 1999. He has performed with many well-known entertainers such as Bob Hope, Jim Nabors, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, Anita Bryant, Carman Cavalara, Victor Borgie, the Four Freshman, Blackstone the Magician, Bobby Vinton and John Davidson.

You Might Also Like

6 thoughts on “Testing A Possible New Way To Tune A Trumpet- Part 2”

  1. Geffen

    Hi Bruce,
    I read your results and got a couple of questions:
    1.What type of trumpet did you test?
    2.Did your tuning slide (once you divided the length in half) end up in pretty much the same place as when you are tuned up?

    As for me, my Bach Strad 37ML did tune up using this method. The tuning slide ended up in the same place as if I tuned it the regular way.
    There’s a list of horns that were tested and the results posted on TrumpetMaster. Several horns were tested by different people. The results seem to suggest that this type of of tuning might have merit.
    Geffen

    • Bruce Chidester

      I tested a some Bachs, Yamahas, Getzen and even a Conn Flugel horn and found little difference on any of them.

      On my Yamaha trumpets, I found that my mid point was about an inch farther than I normally tune.

      This was only my results and I encourage our readers to try the test themselves and let me know what you find.

  2. Geffen

    I tested a some Bachs, Yamahas, Getzen and even a Conn Flugel horn and found little difference on any of them.

    ———————-
    Does that mean you found little difference between where the tuning slide normally sits and where the tuning slide ended up when you tested it?

  3. Geffen

    Hi Bruce,
    When you did the test you said you found very little difference. Does that mean when you did the test, your tuning slide was back to where it normally would be? Is this what you mean by very little difference?
    Geffen

    • Bruce Chidester

      I found no significant difference in response, intonation or tone quality other than the extended slide did mellow the sound due to the longer tubing.

      • Geffen

        Hi Bruce,
        Did any of the trumpet’s tuning slides end up where they normally would be when tuned the traditional way? On trumpetmaster, there are around 20 or so trumpets that were tuned using this method and it seemed to work for these various people.
        I tested a bunch of Bach strads 37 and all lent themselves to this type of tuning.

Comments are closed.