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Thread: Besson Frankenhorn

  1. #11
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    West Palm Beach, FL
    Posts
    3,853
    Looks really nice Will. There are some folks who swear by the advantages of keeping a Euro shank. I know some of the Willson 2900 folks feel that way. Dr. Brian Bowman, Carlyle Weber to mention two. But my old mentor/teacher Fred Dart, who played a '68 Besson, changed his out to large shank and never regretted it. There are more choices for sure.
    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)

  2. Will,

    I preferred the euro shank on these horns. I felt that the intonation, response, and sound was slightly better. If you already play a Doug Elliott, Wick, or DEG mouthpiece, the euro shank is not terribly limiting. Also, Besson shipped the New Standards with an adapter that allowed use of a tenor shank mouthpiece.

    Doug
    Adams E3 0.60 Sterling bell - Prototype top sprung valves
    Concord Band
    Winchendon Winds
    Townsend Military Band

  3. #13
    I had a 1971 New Standard with medium shank and a 1976 NS with large shank. I agree with Doug's observations. The only advantage I found with the large shank, other than making it easier to buy mouthpieces, was that the horn could handle more "input" when I needed to project more.
    Dave Werden (ASCAP)
    Euphonium Soloist, U.S. Coast Guard Band, retired
    Adams Artist (Adams E3)
    Alliance Mouthpiece (DC3)
    YouTube: dwerden
    Facebook: davewerden
    Twitter: davewerden
    Instagram: davewerdeneuphonium

  4. Well having made the 4 valve Besson look so good, the 3 valve I already had was looking pretty shabby in comparison. So off it went to the repair shop at Rosso Music along with what remained of the 3 valve parts horn. The lacquer was quite worn and there were numerous small dents in crooks and tubes in the valve section. The bell was fairly straight but had something wrong in the rim area. The bottom bow had a few larger dents. So, the bell and bottom bell were de-soldered and removed. All slides were pulled and valves disassembled. Everything went for a bath in the ultrasonic cleaning tank. The bell was rolled to be dent free and burnished smooth. Beneath what seemed to be an old re-laquer job a crack was uncovered near the bell rim. This was silver soldered and the entire bell polished. The bottom bell too was rolled smooth in the Z60 dent machine, then polished. Nearly all of the dents in the valve section were removed with dent balls and crook tools. A moderate amount of polishing was then done on the valve section. The bell and bottom bow were soldered back in place. Spray lacquer was applied to the stripped and polished areas.

    Photos below:
    Before (sorry it is out of focus) with 3 valve keeper on left, 3 valve donor on right.
    Bell and bottom bow on, re-laquered and ready to reassemble.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails 20191004_185805.jpg   IMG_20191024_164326190-1.jpg   IMG_20191025_160114490.jpg  
    Last edited by Will; 10-27-2019 at 01:05 PM.
    Weril H980 euph
    Besson 4v comp euph 314xxx
    Besson 3v comp euph 455xxx
    King 3v bari. 20xxx
    King 4v double-bell euph 50xxx
    Conn 5v double-bell euph 355xxx
    Buescher 3+1 double-bell euph 285xxx
    Olds bell-front 3v bari
    Holton alto horn
    Holton 3v tuba
    Belleville Helicon
    Some of the performances of the Mid-Shore Community Band:
    http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...ty%20band&sm=3

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