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 CCC complaining about the problems of his horn. |
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| STEP 1 To start with, I unsoldered the braces on the leadpipe to see if this crucial part is under stress. Observations: The placement of the last brace on the leadpipe is found to be of extreme importance in the response of the horn. The horn will response correctly only at one position (it was a big pain to locate it). Move it up by just 1 mm or so, the higher notes will become too resistant to play. Move it down by about 2 mm, the high notes will stop responding altogether. Repairmen should pay special attention when they have to work on this brace! |
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The top brace of the leadpipe is also important to a certain extend. It cannot be under stress for the horn to speak well. The horn improved noticeably after I just soldered the brace off and on again. The brace has not been repaired before but I suspect it was subject to some impact in the past and therefore under certain amount of stress. The design of horns seem to place the beginning section of the leadpipe in a vulnerable position. We believe horn players should take extreme care to prevent any damage or even a slight bump in this area. |
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| STEP 2 CCC noted the horn sometimes has problem playing the F or G at the top of the staff and would stop responding from time to time! We located the problem to be at the waterkey! Observations: No horn will be playable if the waterkey leaks. Players may think the cork is still sealing even after it got thinner and thinner with time. Actually it is not true, before the horn finally becomes unplayable, the thinned cork will not provide full sealing to let the horn play at its best. We found that the notes around the top of the staff (F, G, etc.) will place extreme pressure on the waterkey in this horn. When the cork was thin and worn, the waterkey was sometimes popped open after those notes being played loudly. A new piece of cork rectified the problem. (To install an amado waterkey may be another option.) It is therefore advisable to replace old waterkey corks from time to time. Don't wait for them to fail completely! |
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| STEP 3 The 3rd valve slides on any Alexander horn easily get damaged when players remove them to drain the spit. After many previous small repairs, CCC is annoyed any note played involving the 3rd valve (e.g. the 2+3 G#s) is muffled and difficult. I re-soldered the braces on the 3rd valve slide and carefully aligned the slide tubes. Observations: Again, locating the correct placement of the braces is important to have the 3rd valve responds correctly. |
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 Searching for the correct placement of the slide brace. |
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 CCC is finally happy with his horn again. What a relief after years of suffer! |
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| An audience may not be able to tell the
difference. CCC is perfectly capable to play nicely even on an inferior
instrument. But the player will understand very well the joy of playing
a good instrument instead of fighting against a problematic one! |
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 Project #2 |
Project
#4  |
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