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davewerden

One Way to Solve Valve-Combination Intonation Problems

Rating: 2 votes, 3.00 average.
Whether or not you read my article on the Euphonium Compensating System, you probably know that each valve on a euphonium can be made in tune, but when they are used in combinations they create problems. The inventor of the modern low-brass family, Adolphe Sax, made the instrument below to deal with this problem. Each of the six valves directs air to a different bell. It's like the double-bell euphonium's last valve in that regard. The valve set is broken up, with three in one location for the right hand and three in a different location for the left hand.

I can't tell for sure, but I think a further advantage of this system is that the conical nature of the instrument can be more consistently maintained. Because the valve tubing doesn't return to the main flow, it doesn't need to stay cylindrical.

The photo was taken in the Musical Instrument Museum in Brussels, Belgium.

Click image for larger version. 

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Photo used with permission:
By Charles Hutchins (Flickr: 7 Bells) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Comments

  1. dsurkin's Avatar
    Has anyone ever played that thing? I wonder what key it's pitched in, and how much it weighs.