Red House Tavern - October 2011

Comment by Blaine Kelley on January 16, 2012 at 9:31pm

cool looking horn.  what is it?  i always liked the 'dizzy 'bell, and it would be good for me because of my chops/chin ... was looking for an old leblanc 727 bobby harroit horn for the tilted bell.   

Comment by Kerry Martin on January 17, 2012 at 12:19pm

It's a custom order Schilke X4Lb - .468 bore, custom extra-lightweight #1 taper beryllium tunable (removable) bells, and no spit valves. Having the tuneable/removable bell feature, I also have a normal/straight bell, which is gold plated like the body of the horn. 

Comment by Blaine Kelley on January 17, 2012 at 7:35pm

looks great ... love large bore ... but no spit valves?  do you just spin the horn or have to keep removing slides?  beryllium is super light, isn't it?  

Comment by Kerry Martin on January 18, 2012 at 7:34pm

Thanks. Yeah, I just pull slides - no big deal. When I ordered the horn in 1995, I ordered it without spit valves with the intent of having Amato water keys installed (and not knowing that Schilke could have put them on for me - duh). Upon delivery and a couple months of playing, I liked the "clean" look as well as the playing of the horn without the spit valves. A-B-ing it against other Schilke X3Ls and X4Ls, myself and the other horn's owners found my horn to have a better/more solid core/blow, even swapping bells, etc. Some years later, upon seeing a photo of Jon Faddis and his S42L, saw HE didn't have spit valves. Then just a few years back after aquiring some Dizzy DVDs, guess what? No spit valves on his Silver Flair. Ah-HA! THAT"S where Jon got the idea and I just "stumbled" upon it. Schilkes are know for being the lightest horns in the first place. The beryllium bells are about 20% lighter than their "standard" brass bells and my beryllium bells are about 20% lighter than their "regular" beryllium bells for a little more "ring", "livliness", and projection. Tuning with the bell only helps shift the weight back towards the mouthpiece (I play a standard weight Schilke mp) and has great balance in your hands - it actually falls in toward your mouth rather than being "bell heavy".

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