Sterling & The Dreaded High B
Felix and John,
Wonderful to hear about the new Sterling (drool, slobber, etc.). I hope to be able to get to a venue where I can actually try one sometime. In the mean time, I will soldier on with my Prestige (which aside from its high-B I love!)
As regards the trigger mechanism, I am pretty certain that at least as much of its weight is tied up in the various mounting brackets (for the slide guard, trigger itself) as in the trigger, spring, and linkage. I agree with Felix that the total weight is not really too significant.
To me, the biggest hangup with the trigger mechanism is that adjusting the basic tuning of the horn cannot easily be done on the fly with the horn in playing position. You need more than 4 beats of rest to put the horn in a position where you can reach around or through the 4th valve slide to spin the adjuster on the tuning slide and change basic pitch.
On my old 967, I could reach down with my left hand, feel the slide, and pull or push in to make minor adjustments if my pitch or that of the group had changed. On my Conn Connstellation, I can spin the tuning slide adjuster using my right or left hand with the horn still in playing position. With the Prestige, it is almost impossible to use the left hand to spin the adjuster, so I have to take my right hand off the valves, hold the horn in my left, and then make adjustments. Good thing my embouchure is pretty stable so I rarely have to adjust during performances. If I am tending sharp, I can at least use the trigger until I get enough time to make an adjustment. If I am tending flat, this is not possible.
Doug
Adams E3 0.60 Sterling bell - Prototype top sprung valves
Concord Band
Winchendon Winds
Townsend Military Band