Hi Everyone,

I have been playing a Bach 42G* with a 50 Lightweight slide. I recently purchased a straight 42 with a regular

50 (brass) Bach slide. The regular 50 slide really plays better in my opinion. It is more open feeling and the low tones really pop. My question is ; Would I gain a similar effect by replacing the nickel crook on my lightweight slide with a brass crook? How much does the slide crook material effect the sound?

Thanks,

Randy

Sounds like that’s more of a leadpipe change, try pulling the pipe on one and try some different leadpipes in it

Leadpipe, general construction, oversleeves... there's no telling what the difference really is. I wouldn't say it's the crook for sure.

Leadpipe is the first place I would look. Is more open something you really want for tenor, though? Even the LT50 slide is pushing the tenor sound concept IMO.

Could be the weight, could be the material.

For me, I do NOT like the nickel slides. For my playing, I just don't feel like i can really get the nickel to resonate. (even for listening to others, I prefer the sound of brass slides, but that is another discussion).

Similarly, when playing around with Edwards slides in the past, I don't like the same slide in a lightweight brass... but for a different reason. I find them harder to center and way easier to break up and chip notes.

Again, this is all FOR ME and MY PLAYING ONLY; the LT Bach slides are the worst of both worlds, both weight and material. Have I ever tried to make a heavy weight Nickel Bach slide? No. Have I tried a lightweight Brass Bach slide, also no. But I prefer the heavier slide, brass sound from what I have so I just live in that realm now. (Unless I'm using the carbon fiber... that has some of the lightweight issue, but not as much as I have had before and brings other benefits).

FWIW, I played a regular Bach 50 slide on a 42 for a while until I decided that was just silly and unnecessary. Sounded pretty good, but also was a little woofy and bringing a howitzer to a knife fight for most the ensembles I played in.

Cheers,

Andy

Is the alignment on both slides similar enough that you can try both outers on one inner? Otherwise, unless they both have loose pipes, you can't know how much of a difference the leadpipes are making.

Beyond that, overall weight/oversleeves probably makes the most difference, followed by outer material, and then crook material. If you like it, fine, but you probably can't say it's the crook 'that did it'.

(Also, any change in balance may change the feel on your face. Speaking as someone who wouldn't know... I think you have to be pretty settled in what you're doing chop-wise to be completely immune to this effect.)

I was surprised at how little difference I could tell between a 42 standard slide and 50 standard slide on the same bell section. I don't know, but I suspect that the leadpipes are nearly identical.

[quote="jbeatenbough"]I was surprised at how little difference I could tell between a 42 standard slide and 50 standard slide on the same bell section. I don't know, but I suspect that the leadpipes are nearly identical.[/quote]
Totally agree with this... I borroved a 42G with Both 42 and 50 lightweights... Surprisingly small difference..

[quote="elmsandr"]Again, this is all FOR ME and MY PLAYING ONLY; the LT Bach slides are the worst of both worlds, both weight and material. Have I ever tried to make a heavy weight Nickel Bach slide? No. Have I tried a lightweight Brass Bach slide, also no. But I prefer the heavier slide, brass sound from what I have so I just live in that realm now. (Unless I'm using the carbon fiber... that has some of the lightweight issue, but not as much as I have had before and brings other benefits).[/quote]

I also tend to stay away from the factory Bach LT slides. My approach to articulation must be a little too aggressive for them……I have always tended to chip notes on those nickel slides. This is not a problem for me on the standard Bach slides.

I have done a little experimenting with adding weight and changing the crooks on nickel slides. I have done the “full combination”……added long outer sleeves to both nickel slides AND changed the crook to yellow brass. I did this “full combination” to a couple of Bach 42 slides for customers and they both liked the playing characteristics. They claimed that the sound held up better on the loud end, but still had a fast response. Whenever players are satisfied with modifications like this, I often wonder……Is the modification exactly what they needed for their physiology, or is it primarily a psychological change that makes them FEEL better about their instrument? This is one of the great mysteries of playing and modifying instruments.

In my personal collection, I have a dual bore .547 - .562 Bach nickel slide with long over sleeves on both tubes. However, on this particular slide, I kept the nickel crook. Very nice slide……plays a little bigger than my standard 42 slides, but again....the articulations seem volatile and pop out almost too easily. I must be careful if I play with this slide because I will start to chip notes if I get a bit articulation-happy. I will never perform cold-turkey on it. Again, it’s that psychological thing I have……a fear of chipping notes on a nickel slide.

Crazy,

THANKS for your imput. At some level the difference in slides my come down to how they FEEL.