Double Bell Trumpets
First, I apologise for the low quality of these photographs.
They are from earlier in my career when I struggled to get
decent photographs with an old 35mm camera, bad lighting
etc. The concept in these trumpets is the same as in Echo
cornets and similar duplex instruments but having two
similarly size bells allows for flexibility in mute choices. In
both cases, the rotary change valve is controlled by the left
thumb.
The first I built in 1982 out of all new Olds parts;
Ambassador/Special valve section, single French horn valve,
Studio tuning slide and Custom bells. I believe that I made
the mouthpipe myself. I was experimenting with such things
at that time. I made the change valve lever and linkage as
well as a very short tuning slide (out of view behind the first
valve slide) that was just long enough for tuning the second
bell with various mutes. It was quite a decent player and was
fun to put different mutes in the bells. I eventually sold this
trumpet to Franz Streitwieser of Trumpet Museum fame.
The second photo is of a trumpet that I modified about ten
years later for the late Patrick Delile, who was an avid
collector in Paris. He sent me a standard Conn Vocabell 48B
and a spare bell from a 40B Vocabell. It was important to
Patrick that the bell rims be in the same plane. I explained to
him that getting exact length measurement of curved tubing
and precisely bending the bell (which had to curve around the
original bell stem to be positioned on the right side) without
trial and error is difficult and it may be a little off. He was
OK with that and it turned out almost exactly right. The
rotary change valve is very similar to the Olds other than the
angle which allows the auxiliary bell to hang below.
Projects like these are a lot of fun, but the cost of labor makes
for a very expensive novelty.
They are from earlier in my career when I struggled to get
decent photographs with an old 35mm camera, bad lighting
etc. The concept in these trumpets is the same as in Echo
cornets and similar duplex instruments but having two
similarly size bells allows for flexibility in mute choices. In
both cases, the rotary change valve is controlled by the left
thumb.
The first I built in 1982 out of all new Olds parts;
Ambassador/Special valve section, single French horn valve,
Studio tuning slide and Custom bells. I believe that I made
the mouthpipe myself. I was experimenting with such things
at that time. I made the change valve lever and linkage as
well as a very short tuning slide (out of view behind the first
valve slide) that was just long enough for tuning the second
bell with various mutes. It was quite a decent player and was
fun to put different mutes in the bells. I eventually sold this
trumpet to Franz Streitwieser of Trumpet Museum fame.
The second photo is of a trumpet that I modified about ten
years later for the late Patrick Delile, who was an avid
collector in Paris. He sent me a standard Conn Vocabell 48B
and a spare bell from a 40B Vocabell. It was important to
Patrick that the bell rims be in the same plane. I explained to
him that getting exact length measurement of curved tubing
and precisely bending the bell (which had to curve around the
original bell stem to be positioned on the right side) without
trial and error is difficult and it may be a little off. He was
OK with that and it turned out almost exactly right. The
rotary change valve is very similar to the Olds other than the
angle which allows the auxiliary bell to hang below.
Projects like these are a lot of fun, but the cost of labor makes
for a very expensive novelty.
Click on images for larger view.
