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Thread: My new Adams E3

  1. #1

    My new Adams E3

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    I picked up my new Adams E3 Custom last weekend after having ordered it last fall. I thought I'd share some photos.

    I ordered the E3 model in yellow .60 brass, with a bright silver plate finish, no AGR, tuning trigger, and natural abalone finger button inlay.

    I will post my impressions of the instrument in a follow-up to this post shortly.
    --
    Barry

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Location
    Summerfield, Florida Sturgis, SD (summers)
    Posts
    1,867
    Congratulations, Barry!! Awesome looking horn. I know you are going to really like that horn. I didn't even realize you had ordered an E3. Was Adams at the TUSAB event last weekend? Is that when you got it?

    What kind of mouthpiece, receiver, etc. setup do you have? I couldn't quite make it out from the close-up of the mouthpiece. What is the nut-like looking thing?

    Anxious to hear your impressions.
    John Morgan
    The U.S. Army Band (Pershing's Own) 1971-1976
    Adams E3 Custom Series Euphonium, 1956 B&H Imperial Euphonium,
    1973 F. E. Olds & Son Studio Model T-31 Baritone
    Adams TB1 Tenor Trombone, Yamaha YBL-822G Bass Trombone
    Year Round Except Summer:
    Kingdom of the Sun (KOS) Concert Band, Ocala, FL (Euphonium)
    KOS Brass Quintet (Trombone, Euphonium)
    Summer Only:
    Rapid City Municipal Band, Rapid City, SD (Euphonium)
    Rapid City New Horizons Band (Euphonium)

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    West Palm Beach, FL
    Posts
    3,853
    Wow, that's a beauty! Congratulations Barry. Looks like you're using a Doug Elliott piece, but with a silver plated shank.
    Rick Floyd
    Miraphone 5050 - Warburton BJ / RF mpc
    YEP-641S (recently sold)
    Doug Elliott - 102 rim; I-cup; I-9 shank


    "Always play with a good tone, never louder than lovely, never softer than supported." - author unknown.
    Symphonic Band of the Palm Beaches
    El Cumbanchero (Raphael Hernandez, arr. Naohiro Iwai)
    Chorale and Shaker Dance
    (John Zdechlik)

  4. #4
    OK, so my very first impression was that this instrument has a HUGE sound. Bigger and with more body and heft in the sound than my Besson, and I think louder, too. It's a sweet and rich sound with a lot of character. It has very little resistance. The low register really barks out. It doesn't speak quite as quickly as the Besson did, I suspect that the .60 metal is thicker than what the Prestige is made from.

    It's a fairly heavy instrument, I'd guess about the same weight as the Prestige. The valves being spaced apart a little further and the large finger buttons and relatively heavy springs give me the impression that I'm driving a truck rather than the sportscar that the Prestige was, but I feel like I'm actually able to play technical stuff cleaner on this instrument, so maybe it's all in my head? The valves were pretty sluggish when I first got it, I think the Adams-specific formulation of Monster Oil it comes with is probably better suited to their trumpets, where there is less surface area, than to euphonium pistons. They move much faster with the Yamaha synthetic oil, regular weight. Valves 2 and 3 are still a little slower than 1+4, I need to give it a really good clean-out and hopefully this will improve.

    The instrument was pretty dirty when I got it, not fingerprints and stuff like that, but there was a lot of buffing compound around the bell wire, inbetween the tubes, etc. Lots of gunk in the valves, too. Wiping it down with a soft microfiber cloth turned the cloth totally black. The valve slides are fairly tight and they also had some stuff in them, so the shorter ones (2nd valve, and the two removable compensating loops) were totally stuck and required some work to get them free. They are working better now, but they are still very tight. One of the compensating loops I think may be poorly aligned as it's extremely difficult to get back in once you've taken it out.

    The silver finish is, unfortunately, one of the worst I've ever seen on a new instrument. Lots of small scratches introduced in buffing, and there are a few spots on the instrument where the finish is rough like sandpaper: on the front of the leadpipe, a couple spots around the bell rim, and on the bottom bow guard. This is easily fixed by a local repair person, but most of the inexpensive Chinese instruments have a better finish on the silver plating than this -- I would expect it to be better. There is also some very slight pitting where the bell flare meets the bell stem, it's not the smoothest brazing joint I've ever seen. My Besson looked better after six years of ownership than this does brand new. It also came with one tiny dent on the bell! Not the kind of thing that happens in shipping, more the kind of thing that happens when being handled. As my dealer did not put it on display or anything before giving it to me, I can only assume it was there at the factory.

    It looks great from a few feet away, but it's disappointing to see some of these easily corrected flaws up close.

    Two of the four finger button pearls also fell out in the first hour of playing. I used contact cement to put them back in and it's been fine.

    The trigger paddle could be larger. It comes about halfway down my thumb rather than lining up with the pad of my thumb itself. I like that the height is adjustable with a stop screw. The spring is unbearably heavy, I will need to get a new spring for the trigger assembly made which is lighter. However, the tuning slide itself is somewhat corroded and even after a perfunctory cleaning and application of Hetman tuning slide oil it does not work properly and return to the closed position. It is getting better, but I think I'll have to have it lapped a little to clean it up and get it a little looser so that it works well. I also don't love that you need a screwdriver to disconnect the trigger assembly and take the tuning slide out. It would not have been difficult to make some sort of quick release mechanism like the ball joint you can easily pop out on the Besson.

    I like the position of the fourth valve a lot, it feels extremely comfortable to hold. This is also the first euphonium I've ever owned where the leadpipe meets my face when I'm holding it in my lap and I don't need to either hold the instrument up or use a pillow. I am not sure if this is because the leadpipe is high, or because it extends out from the body a little longer and I can angle it to meet my face.

    The water trough has a metal spring inside to hold it tightly against the instrument. While this is a nice design, it prevents you from being able to put some absorbent material inside the trough.

    The intonation is excellent, nothing is very far out at all although there are a few notes that are worse than others. My results are a bit different than Dave's E1 graph, but his results are definitely in the same ballpark as what I'm seeing. The instrument tunes to 440 with the main tuning slide about 1/2" out which I believe is perfect. Curiously, the 4th valve tuning slide tunes properly pushed all the way in. It works fine, but seems a little unusual to me.

    I have experimented with some paper shims and also some alternate mouthpiece stems I have, and I believe I did the right thing in ordering the instrument without the AGR. It seems to play best right in the middle with my normal shank. The receiver is a thick chunk of metal, and it reminds me of the one on the Willson celebration.

    I'm also delighted by how easy it is to really lock into notes. I literally can't miss when slurring big jumps up to high notes such as in the Bydlo excerpt. Some of these were very squirrely on my Besson and it feels so solid and easy on this instrument. The high B natural which was almost impossible to nail on the Besson is so easy on this instrument!

    So, overall I'm extremely pleased with this instrument. The sound is just fantastic, and I really like the way it plays. I wish some of the fit and finish items were a little better, but overall I would buy it again in a second.
    --
    Barry

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by John Morgan View Post
    Congratulations, Barry!! Awesome looking horn. I know you are going to really like that horn. I didn't even realize you had ordered an E3. Was Adams at the TUSAB event last weekend? Is that when you got it?

    What kind of mouthpiece, receiver, etc. setup do you have? I couldn't quite make it out from the close-up of the mouthpiece. What is the nut-like looking thing?
    I did pick it up at the Army Band workshop. I ordered it through Baltimore Brass and they were great. Adams was not there themselves, but Baltimore Brass had several Adams in different specifications on display.

    My mouthpiece is a Doug Elliott, they're modular so you can switch the cup, stem, and rim. The stems have a hex shape to them so you can use a wrench to take them off if they get stuck. I was not able to find any stock mouthpiece which I thought was the perfect size and depth for me, and being able to fine tune all of these things with Doug's help has been fantastic.
    --
    Barry

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Location
    Summerfield, Florida Sturgis, SD (summers)
    Posts
    1,867
    Hey Barry, thanks for the write-up. I am REALLY surprised at some of the fit and finish and cleanliness items you described. I certainly do not think this is standard procedure from Adams. If I had received the horn in that shape (and a dent in the bell), and valve cap inserts falling off, and poor silver plating, I would have VERY RELUCTANTLY sent it back and demanded that they fix it, everything, and pronto, or send another horn in first class condition. I would hate to have to do that, but I would not accept it like that. I am really distressed that you received a horn in that shape from Adams, who I think do excellent work. I can't imagine what happened.

    As for the trigger and getting the main tuning slide off, you can simply keep screwing the barrel adjustor out (by hand) until it completely unscrews from the top and bottom. Then you can easily remove the slide. Just be careful with the screws that they don't bang into the horn. I agree, though, that a quick disconnect would be a plus. Perhaps Adams can engineer one that would work good and fast.

    Mine came with Monster Oil which I quickly put aside. I have been using Yamaha synthetic, too, and like it a lot. I use the Yamaha light. It took a few weeks of cleaning the valves pretty regularly and putting oil on frequently before the valves settled in. They work fine and easy now. I think the action is easy and light, and my springs seemed to be smaller than any I have had before, but they allow the valves to go as fast as I do.

    The nut idea on the Doug Elliot is brilliant. I would have never imagined what that was for.
    John Morgan
    The U.S. Army Band (Pershing's Own) 1971-1976
    Adams E3 Custom Series Euphonium, 1956 B&H Imperial Euphonium,
    1973 F. E. Olds & Son Studio Model T-31 Baritone
    Adams TB1 Tenor Trombone, Yamaha YBL-822G Bass Trombone
    Year Round Except Summer:
    Kingdom of the Sun (KOS) Concert Band, Ocala, FL (Euphonium)
    KOS Brass Quintet (Trombone, Euphonium)
    Summer Only:
    Rapid City Municipal Band, Rapid City, SD (Euphonium)
    Rapid City New Horizons Band (Euphonium)

  7. #7
    Duh... I didn't even consider just unscrewing the adjusting barrel all the way, thanks for the tip! Still, a quick pop-out ball joint would be really nice.
    --
    Barry

  8. #8
    I should mention that I'm playing The Planets in April, I'm really excited about being able to use THIS instrument for that. It's the perfect sound.
    --
    Barry

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    NYC metro area
    Posts
    523
    Quote Originally Posted by bbocaner View Post
    [snip]My mouthpiece is a Doug Elliott [snip]
    It looks like you had the shank plated in silver, is that correct? I thought Doug only sold his shanks in raw brass.
    Dean L. Surkin
    Mack Brass MACK-EU1150S, BB1 mouthpiece
    Bach 36B trombone; Bach 6.5AL and Faxx 7C mouthpieces (pBone on loan to granddaughter)
    Steinway 1902 Model A, restored by AC Pianocraft in 1988; Kawai MP8, Yamaha KX-76
    See my avatar: Jazz (the black cockapoo; RIP) and Delilah (the cavapoo) keep me company while practicing

  10. #10
    Doug will plate them for you on request.
    --
    Barry

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