A couple years ago, I bought an E3 with SS bell and trigger. It's a great horn! After spending time on Sterling, Miraphone, Willson, and Besson, I felt I had found the horn I wanted, both in terms of sound concept and in terms of playability, intonation, etc.
Prior to buying my miraphone (which I subsequently ended up selling), I'd trialed a prototype E3 with short throw valves that eventually ended up in the hands of daruby.
After living with my E3 for a while, I'm still super happy with it; I find that it fits well in the brass band playing I do (which is my primary playing), as well as the small bit of wind band playing I do.
Long story short, I've got some weird neuro issues in my right hand/arm that have made it difficult at times to play for long periods. As such, I reached out to Miel Adams and Trent Austin about the possibility of building me a copy of my E3 with the short valve set. After a conversation with Miel on the phone, I decided to go ahead and do it. 6 months later, and I've got the horn and have had a chance to play it against my existing E3. There are a few small differences, such as with the AGR in the same position, there's a bit more resistance on the short throw valves, but not enough to really matter in the grand scheme of things.
I'll post some side by side photos a little later, but suffice it to say I'm very happy with the way it turned out. I'm going to keep the existing E3 around for a little while to make sure after a break in period I'm still happy with it, but I will likely sell it in the coming future.
Hilariously, the most common question I get asked is whether I think the short throw valves will make it easy to play faster; in this case, what they're accomplishing is allowing me to continue playing at all, so I'm delighted!
Mike Taylor
Prior to buying my miraphone (which I subsequently ended up selling), I'd trialed a prototype E3 with short throw valves that eventually ended up in the hands of daruby.
After living with my E3 for a while, I'm still super happy with it; I find that it fits well in the brass band playing I do (which is my primary playing), as well as the small bit of wind band playing I do.
Long story short, I've got some weird neuro issues in my right hand/arm that have made it difficult at times to play for long periods. As such, I reached out to Miel Adams and Trent Austin about the possibility of building me a copy of my E3 with the short valve set. After a conversation with Miel on the phone, I decided to go ahead and do it. 6 months later, and I've got the horn and have had a chance to play it against my existing E3. There are a few small differences, such as with the AGR in the same position, there's a bit more resistance on the short throw valves, but not enough to really matter in the grand scheme of things.
I'll post some side by side photos a little later, but suffice it to say I'm very happy with the way it turned out. I'm going to keep the existing E3 around for a little while to make sure after a break in period I'm still happy with it, but I will likely sell it in the coming future.
Hilariously, the most common question I get asked is whether I think the short throw valves will make it easy to play faster; in this case, what they're accomplishing is allowing me to continue playing at all, so I'm delighted!
Mike Taylor
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