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Thread: Tale of two Sterlings ...

  1. Tale of two Sterlings ...

    Just had the opportunity to take a short test-blow on two Sterling Virtuosos, courtesy of Custom Music and Martin Cochran, who brought them along to IEI.

    Disclosure: when I evaluate the playing qualities of a horn, you can get out your salt shaker. I've played, prior to today, exactly six different euphs in my lifetime, and I also can't claim the ability to play any horn to its limits.

    My main objective was to side-by-side my 10-year-old Sterling with the newest specimens from Paul Riggett's workbench. Admittedly, this won't mean too much to many of you; there are so few old Sterlings extant in the US that your chances of ever playing one are pretty remote. But anyway ...

    The new horns offer noticeably less resistance than mine. I determined this by blowing, sans mouthpiece, directly into the receivers (which got me a horrified look from a couple of IEI participants). Oddly, PLAYING the new horns did not feel that much more open -- at least not until I remembered to relax and open up my throat. Seems like my body was involuntarity trying to make the new ones play like my old one.

    One clear difference was the tone quality. The old Sterling sound was more compact, the new one more expansive. You could make a good case for either type of sound. The new horns seem somewhat more efficient, giving more volume per player input. Hard to tell in that muffled room, but discernable.

    Not-a-big-deal department: the Virtuoso has a Willson-esque grab brace with different mounting points.

    Most striking to me (and here begin the musings) was that the two specimen Virtuosos, made to the same specs except for the tuning trigger, really did not feel the same. Had I been ready write a check, there was no doubt, to me at least, which one was better. And it wasn't just the blow. I wiggled the valves, leaned over to Martin and said, "hey, I gather this one has had more break-in time," to which he replied, "no, it came out of the box just like that. Nice, eh?"

    I'll bet many of you have had similar experiences. I'll share two more:

    Several years back, the band director at the school where I teach (German) took delivery of two new Yam 321's. It was the end of the school year, so he let me take them for the summer to try them and break them in. Yamaha consistency is laudable, but even so, one of them eventually emerged as my favorite.

    Several decades back (in the 70's), my old teacher Philip Jameson, while on a quick trip to New York, dropped into Giardinelli's to select a Conn 88H for one of his students. He played every one in stock before he whipped out the credit card.
    When he got home and compared it to his own, he was stunned. "Carter," he said to his student, "I'll give you my horn plus $500 for yours."

    Is there a moral here? Like, play every horn you can get your hands on before you part with your cash?

  2. Tale of two Sterlings ...

    I recently talked with a very nice young man who is a student of one of the larger euphonium studios in the US with a well respected professor, and he told me that his professor plays at least 25 horns before he selects his personal instrument at the factory. Since this is third hand information, and since I cannot vouch for its validity other than the apparent honesty of the young man, I do not think it fair to name names. However, this would seem to support your point. I am sure there are manufacturing variations in all horns, and I would think that the handmade models would probably have more variation than some of the assembly line goods. The sad part is that few of us have the opportunity to visit the factory and personally pick our horns. Sometimes life is a crap shoot.

  3. #3

    Tale of two Sterlings ...

    FWIW, EVERY brand I have tried has shown variation from one horn to the next. Yamaha is indeed one of the most consistent, but they aren't identical among samples.

    For the most part, though, horns generally get better as you play them regardless of the brand. The valves seal better, the various joints in the horn smooth over as moisture and oil start to coat the inside, etc. There may even be something to the "metal relaxing into its new shape over time" theory.

    Dave Werden (ASCAP)
    Euphonium Soloist, U.S. Coast Guard Band, retired
    Adams Artist (Adams E3)
    Alliance Mouthpiece (DC3)
    YouTube: dwerden
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    Instagram: davewerdeneuphonium

  4. #4

    Tale of two Sterlings ...

    Back in April, I took the plunge to buy a new auto-comp euph, 3+1, and most definitely a Brit instrument.

    There's no way I could've camped out in the Besson distribution center in Florida, or made a sojourn to Dillon's, or TubaExchange, or even WWBW. Somebody's got to bring the bacon home, and that's me.

    I wound up taking a Sterling Virtuoso on trial and after a week or so of trial, I hurried out to Louisville, KY, for the North American Brass Band Association's annual competition (at which most euph vendors were present). After trying out as many euphs as I could've gotten my hands on, I wound up buying the trial horn that I'd received from Custom initially.

    I tried no fewer than four other Virtuosos. None seemed to measure up to the horn I had on trial. One or two sounded too thin and not rich enough (standard bell thickness maybe?), another just didn't feel right, and the other had a beadless rim (not good if you play in ensembles).

    I could rattle on for several paragraphs, but in just getting down to brass tacks, the Besson people turned me off from a customer/vendor perspective (I loved the 2052 they had there, but even the 967 was a great sounding and performing horn) and that single factor made the decision for me.

    I'm happy with my Sterling - don't get me wrong. And I'm sure I'll grow into it a lot more over the years to come.

    But all of this revolves around intangibles and one or two things wholly outside of music.

    More precisely, the York felt like a cheap Besson. Plus, I don't care for nickel all that much (though that's not a huge issue). (I have to admit, though, that Gail Robertson was there playing on a York and she can make that horn dance.)

    Yamaha's - for me, forget it. I just don't like any of 'em. I've never tried a Yamaha I liked - they simply feel and play wrong.

    Miraphone - the Ambassador 5050 (I think) - while I like a large bell horn, this one is just too big for me.

    All in all, shopping for a horn is an exciting, but taxing, experience. It would've been great to take a two-week vacation and map out (and spend) about $2K in travel expenses, not to even mention the cost of the horn.

    But that kind of arrangement was out of the question for me.



    U.S. Army, Retired (built mid-1950s)
    Adams E2 Euph (built 2017)
    Boosey & Co. Imperial Euph (built 1941)
    Edwards B454 Bass Trombone (built 2012)
    Boosey & Hawkes Imperial Eb tuba (built 1958)
    Kanstul 33-T lBBb tuba (built 2010)

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