Water Catchers

[DelVento]

James Jackson and I have been doing some research and we've come to the conclusion that water catchers do chance the sound quality of your horn, although it may seem ever so slight!

James is great at picking apart and analyzing sounds, and I noticed a huge difference when I removed the water catcher from my 4052...James decided to do the same with his new Willson celebration horn. His rationale was that the air can move through the bell, and the open "nipples" of the horn.

In his own words..."I'd get my pants wet to sound good". He's of course not suggesting that you won't sound good with a water catcher...but we do believe that it affects the sound.

What say you all?

-John

[pmeuph]

I put a towel on my lap. Easier and Cheaper plus it serves to boost up the horn a bit .

[Nuck81]

I made my own grime gutter on a variation of instructions by Dave Werden on this forum. It works great for me.

[DelVento]

The reason for posting this is to discuss how the clip on water catchers that are gaining popularity affect the sound of the instrument...not what we use to stop spit.

But thanks for the input.

[Nuck81]

well, excuse me.



Mine is a piece of threaded PVC tubing, has open air running through it from either side with just a little pulled cotton to soak the nasty. I can't tell a difference, but what do I know....

[DelVento]

I'm sorry if I sounded a bit jerky...no intention!

Thanks for the feedback...I think these need to have some kind of open air movement to be most effective.

[Nuck81]

No sweat bro....



Sometimes it's hard to tell with a message board.

[euphos456]

I see what you mean, John. For me, it wasn't the catcher, it was the pad inside. The pad made the valves sticky and noisy, and the sound rather stuffy. What I did was replace the pad with an old kitchen sponge, cut into .5 cm thick strips. The strips are thick to absorb moisture effectively, but thin enough to allow air to move through the valves. Hope this helps. Also, how is your professor's new Willson? I have heard its a mix of the 2900 and 2950.

Phillip

[prototypedenNIS]

aside from possibly dampening vibration or causing poor vertical venting if the water catcher seals too tightly and doesn't allow air to move when the piston is pressed, I don't seem much rational reason why it would change the sound.

[euphdude]

aside from possibly dampening vibration or causing poor vertical venting if the water catcher seals too tightly and doesn't allow air to move when the piston is pressed, I don't seem much rational reason why it would change the sound.

If there is an observed effect, I would guess that the dampening is probably the most likely mechanism. Neither of my horns have water catchers at the moment (although Kurt from Yamaha is supposedly sending me one if he finds one), but from my memory of using the water catchers I have used previously (on a Prestige and a Yamaha 642) is that you have to use a bit of force to put it on and take it off. Perhaps there are newer designs out there that don't require such force or perhaps I was putting it on incorrectly (although I sort of doubt that). Although I never thought about it until John raised the issue, I could easily see something like that dampening resonance.