Leadpipes (Mouthpipes) and Long Solder Joints

I recently had a an older model Conn 11D in the shop. The owner (an adult student of mine) and I had done some testing and decided that upgrading his horn with a Cantesanu leadpipe (link to Felix Cantesanu's website here) was going to really help him in his development as a player. He purchased the 11D a few years ago and while developing as a player, eventually found some hinderances to his playing stemming from his horn. These issues were things like a sharp, difficult high Bb, and the upper register of the horn just being generally out of tune and difficult. My own playing and testing the horn confirmed the problem was the horn and not him (YES, that is most certainly a possibility!). This doesn't surprise me, as the high register on Geyer wrap horns is commonly problematic especially with factory made Geyers.

A Cantesanu pipe just before installation.

I rigged together a demo Cantesanu leadpipe (bent for an 8D, but able to be tested on many horns) for my student, taped it on his horn next to the original leadpipe, and let him try it for a week (here is my old, but decent video on how to do this yourself). After some testing, he told me that the new leadpipe made playing "10-15% easier".

(As a side note, I personally played on a Steve Lewis horn (number 253) for a year, and had some fairly significant issues in the high register on that horn. That showed me that even one of the most esteemed custom horns can have issues, so always make sure you can test a horn before committing to buying it!)

Sub Tones and Acoustical Transients

But the horn wasn't going to be perfect in my mind with just the new leadpipe. While personally testing the horn (with the rigged up test leadpipe), I noticed that the sound of the horn was much richer and warmer and the horn was certainly easier to play; but I also noted a 'slotty' feeling to the horn. The slurs were OK, but they were not "liquid" (so to speak) in their characteristics. Also, air attacks were a bit on the difficult side. Instead of being able to start notes from nothing and ease them into soft, clear sound, the notes would start suddenly and to get softer I had to back down from there, sometimes loosing the note.

I have started noticing this in particular after reading Jacob Medlin's article "5 Characteristics of the Best Horns". In this article, Medlin references the presence of "sub tones" (or "breath attacks") which indicate whether the horn will have "open articulations and playing characteristics and great efficiency." Medlin links to Andrew McAfee's video where McAfee demonstrates subtones from a pedagogical point of view.

Medlin also notes that "the very best horns have smooth, bump free, note changes". "Acoustical transients" (discussed more by John Ericson in this article) are a very common issue in Geyer horns. Their presence means slurs are less smooth on certain notes when the the valve is pressed or depressed. Needless to say, both the presence of sub tones and absence of acoustical transients are both things I want to pursue when modifying a horn.

Long Solder Joints

So, I clearly needed to do something about this problem on the 11D. I am by no stretch a trained engineer; I'm rather a musician with some mechanical skill and a torch that has been learning through reading, watching, listening, and then the process of trial and error through repair and rebuilding. But at this point I had several horns in the shop and had been taking careful notes on dozens of horns. So I was led to a conclusion. I'll do my best to let you in on my thinking process.

My Schmid's braced off F branch

1. I have dozens of horns go in an out of the shop all the time, and I extensively test and observe every single one of them. Here are a couple of highlights from the past few months.

   • My Engelbert Schmid horn is almost completely braced off. Interestingly enough, this is a very responsive horn, but sub tones are more challenging than other horns. The slurs are very nice, but this may have to do with Schmid's special valve design (more details here). (There are many variables!)

   • I had an older Patterson Geyer come into the shop. Very smooth and responsive. The F branch is braced off but the leadpipe has a long solder joint. It was a nice mix of smooth and responsive, and I would put it in the category of one of the best horns I've personally played, especially when it comes to versatility and power.

   • A Keith Berg horn from the 1990s came in also. It has a long solder joint on the leadpipe, and a 7-inch long solder joint on the long F branch at the part closest to the bell tail. The F branch is braced in two places (6 inches apart) as the tube goes up to the valve block. This horn was completely smooth, but articulations were a tad more challenging and the low register of the horn is not as strong (at least for me) as other horns. This horn has, by far, the sweetest soloistic sound and is a special instrument.

   • Medlin does both the F branch and the leadpipe as a long solder joint, and pairs it with a large venturi (the venturi is discussed in this article by John Ericson).

2. Since Cantesanu made the pipe, what does he do?

   • Felix has photos of his horns, but all of them that I've seen have a hand guard installed over the leadpipe joint. Thankfully, there is one photo in his video at the bottom of this page that has a photo where you can see the leadpipe joint. It is a long solder joint.

There are other horns I've looked closely at, and overall I noticed that often horns with completely braced off F branches have a long soldered leadpipe joint. Pair that with the fact that a long joint is Cantesanu's apparent choice for his horn, I decided to do this on the 11D to see if it would smooth out the slurs and optimize this horn even farther for my customer and student (yes, I consulted the customer as well).

The Result

And the result? Exactly what I wanted. The sub tones are completely present and the slurs are what I would call "liquid" or "buttery." I do believe that this particular characteristic is due

to the long solder joint. The leadpipe fixed the other problems (high range security, better sound). A before and after comparison can be heard at the end of this video that I made of the installation of the leadpipe (especially listen to the big slur in the phrase starting at 22:40 in the video).

Conclusion

There are certainly more things I have to learn about this particular topic, and certainly each individual player will have a somewhat different experience based on their mouthpiece and embouchure setup. But this particular topic is one that interests me significantly and I plan to research it further as I learn more about what makes a great horn great!

The Cantesanu leadpipe complete and on the 11D!