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Thread: First impressions of my new silver Wessex Dolce

  1. #71
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    Central North Carolina
    Posts
    2,369
    Here's the response I got from Matt Simianier concerning the odor of the Resilience #1 valve oil:

    "...It has 33% more cutter in then the #2 as well as the inhibitors. You may have a faint smell from that. But the PAO is all synthetic and the solvents are highly refined. Some days I can smell it more than others but as far as purity it is the purest I can find. All synthetics are petroleum based at a certain point and then changed from manufacturing process. At least all of the ones I know of."
    Gary Merrill
    Wessex EEb Bass tuba (DW 3XL or 2XL)
    Mack Brass Compensating Euph (DE N106, Euph J, J9 euph)
    Amati Oval Euph (DE 104, Euph J, J6 euph)
    1924 Buescher 3-valve Eb tuba (with std US receiver), Kelly 25
    Schiller American Heritage 7B clone bass trombone (DE LB K/K10/112/14 Lexan, Brass Ark MV50R)
    1947 Olds "Standard" trombone (Olds #3)

  2. #72
    Still waiting on my #1 shipment, but that would perhaps explain why you can detect it in the #1 and I can't in the #2. I learned that Matt's day job is working for the least ethical person I've ever encountered in the musical instrument industry, which makes me a little bit nervous, but I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
    --
    Barry

  3. #73
    My first impressions a week on.

    I received my Dolce last Monday (08 April). Taking the advise from the many users on this forum my first task was to give my new horn a good clean. Having had two new horns before, this was the first time that I have cleaned a new instrument. One very small problem I experienced was the protective cork of the main tuning slide water key coming adrift. Fortunately I was able to recover the cork and glue it back. I don't think I will let this slide and the other water key slides soak in the water for the next wash.

    Havjng played my horn almost every day since receiving it, I again have taken the advise to oil my valves evry half hour or so using the valve oil that was supplied with the instrument. The valve action so far has been good, and generally quiet, however, at band rehearsals last evening there were a couple of instances where the third valvie was sluggish for a brief moment. Fortunately this was only brief. Furthermore, I have had no issues with the re-screwing of all the valve caps top and bottom. I have been able to re-screw the valve caps with the instrument lying in my lap.

    The intonation of my horn last evening at band rehearsal was general good. The principle Euphonium plays on a Besson 967 and the third euphonium plays a Yamaha 842. My intonation with them was acceptable.

    Most of the tuning slides have been easy to take out and re- insert. The tuning slides of valve 1 and 2 on the outer side of the instrument has a little bit of resistance when taking out. Hopefully this will be come easier with time.

    Regarding sound quality using my trusted Denis Wick 4 al mouthpiece:

    a. Lower register below concert b flat is quite ieasy s to play with a good sound without much effort
    b. I found that in the middle register the instrument offered a little resistance and I felt that I needed to give more effort to get a big sound. This maybe as a result of playing a 1970's medium bore Boosey and Hawkes Imperial for the last year or so.
    c. The sound of the upper register of the instrument was a little on the thin side. Again this is probably me having to get use to playing a large bore instrument. (The last time I played a large bore horn wss 14 years ago)

    The zips of the horn case has been okay. I initially had a small problem with the left main zip which got stuck occassionally. I have lubricated all the zippers and the zip action has improved

    So given the above, I am still happy with my purchase a week on and would recommend this instruemt to anybody who is looking for a good low cost value for money instrument.

  4. #74
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    Central North Carolina
    Posts
    2,369
    Quote Originally Posted by bbocaner View Post
    the least ethical person I've ever encountered in the musical instrument industry
    I've got only a couple of candidates for mildly to moderately unethical, but then I don't get out much.
    Gary Merrill
    Wessex EEb Bass tuba (DW 3XL or 2XL)
    Mack Brass Compensating Euph (DE N106, Euph J, J9 euph)
    Amati Oval Euph (DE 104, Euph J, J6 euph)
    1924 Buescher 3-valve Eb tuba (with std US receiver), Kelly 25
    Schiller American Heritage 7B clone bass trombone (DE LB K/K10/112/14 Lexan, Brass Ark MV50R)
    1947 Olds "Standard" trombone (Olds #3)

  5. #75
    risking turning this into a valve oil thread rather than a wessex thread, but I thought I'd check back in on this. I got my #1 resilience oil today and this stuff seems to be magical. I bought some of the tuning slide grease as well and he was nice enough to throw in some of the kick slide gel. I do detect a little bit of a kerosene-like odor from the bottle but I don't notice it in the instrument. It's nowhere near as bad as some of the other things I've used in the past. I will report back in a new thread once I've used it for a week or so with a full review, but the early verdict is that this is a great product.
    Last edited by bbocaner; 04-18-2019 at 02:38 PM.
    --
    Barry

  6. #76
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Location
    Summerfield, Florida Sturgis, SD (summers)
    Posts
    1,867
    Gary - how does the kick slide gel work? I am looking for something for my main tuning slide (the Adams horn) that has a trigger.

    Barry - do you have horns with triggers? Are you using the kick slide gel for that or something else?

    Also will be real interested in your verdict on the #1 oil after a week or so.
    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. #77
    My Adams has a trigger, I also have a Thein bass trumpet with a main tuning slide trigger, a Bach bass trumpet that has had an aftermarket main tuning slide trigger put on, and a Besson USA (Kanstul) flugabone with 1st and 3rd slide rings -- so I'll have plenty of opportunity to try it out, but I'll need to clean all the old stuff off first so it'll be a few days before I get around to trying it.
    --
    Barry

  8. #78
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    Central North Carolina
    Posts
    2,369
    I haven't tried the Kick Gel yet. I'm on deck for back surgery on Monday morning and getting other things in order around the house -- and trying not to do anything that might cause me trouble. With any luck at all, I should be able to be playing again in a few weeks and try out the Gel. Based on Barry's report, I'll try the #1 stuff on a couple of instruments. If the kerosene smell isn't obvious on them, then I may go with it.
    Gary Merrill
    Wessex EEb Bass tuba (DW 3XL or 2XL)
    Mack Brass Compensating Euph (DE N106, Euph J, J9 euph)
    Amati Oval Euph (DE 104, Euph J, J6 euph)
    1924 Buescher 3-valve Eb tuba (with std US receiver), Kelly 25
    Schiller American Heritage 7B clone bass trombone (DE LB K/K10/112/14 Lexan, Brass Ark MV50R)
    1947 Olds "Standard" trombone (Olds #3)

  9. #79
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Location
    Summerfield, Florida Sturgis, SD (summers)
    Posts
    1,867
    Quote Originally Posted by ghmerrill View Post
    I haven't tried the Kick Gel yet. I'm on deck for back surgery on Monday morning and getting other things in order around the house -- and trying not to do anything that might cause me trouble. With any luck at all, I should be able to be playing again in a few weeks and try out the Gel. Based on Barry's report, I'll try the #1 stuff on a couple of instruments. If the kerosene smell isn't obvious on them, then I may go with it.
    Good luck with the back surgery, Gary. Isn't getting old just about the best thing going? Sure beats the alternative. Hope you're back to playing quickly and with good results.
    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)

  10. #80
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    Central North Carolina
    Posts
    2,369
    In my case it's mostly an issue of "It ain't the years; it's the mileage." Some years ago during a PT session, the therapist said "I'd really like to see a full body x-ray of you some time." Luckily, a good surgeon can actually fix things. But it's also true that as the years and mileage increase, so do the number of things needing fixing.

    This should be pretty straightforward minimally invasive lumbar neurosurgery, and I've been avoiding it for several years. While it won't put me back to the condition I was in when I was 18 (or even 60 ), it will remove the "looking over my shoulder" feeling every time I need to lift, push, pull, or climb anything.

    The real problem with getting old, I've found, is that your mind and your muscles will write checks that your skeletal structure can no longer cash.
    Gary Merrill
    Wessex EEb Bass tuba (DW 3XL or 2XL)
    Mack Brass Compensating Euph (DE N106, Euph J, J9 euph)
    Amati Oval Euph (DE 104, Euph J, J6 euph)
    1924 Buescher 3-valve Eb tuba (with std US receiver), Kelly 25
    Schiller American Heritage 7B clone bass trombone (DE LB K/K10/112/14 Lexan, Brass Ark MV50R)
    1947 Olds "Standard" trombone (Olds #3)

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