For those who have this, how much experimentation have you done? How did you log your findings? Do you have multiple loadouts for different situations? Would you share your load outs for others to try (I am curious how different loadout affect different players, and are there common ones or less common). I also wonder if we should share our bell materials/weights as those may change what the harmonic brace is doing... so many variables, I am just curious how you approached the process.

Thanks!

Controversial opinion content warning: I can't help thinking the whole thing smells a bit like some audiophile gear, or using biodynamics in making wine. While changing it all around might be making noticeable changes to player feedback and how the instrument feels (in many ways a worthwhile pursuit), is it really making any perceptible changes to the sound out the front, where the audience is? That said, that probably applies to a bunch of things I suppose. I just can't help thinking it's a bit like buying wooden volume knobs for your amplifier to make it sound warmer (not kidding, a straight-faced claim in some audiophile circles!)

[quote="tbassboneskippy"]For those who have this, how much experimentation have you done? How did you log your findings? Do you have multiple loadouts for different situations? Would you share your load outs for others to try (I am curious how different loadout affect different players, and are there common ones or less common). I also wonder if we should share our bell materials/weights as those may change what the harmonic brace is doing... so many variables, I am just curious how you approached the process.

Thanks![/quote]

I have done quite a lot of experimenting with it. It doesn't change the sound all too much but drastically changes the response and feel. To the point where I have a specific setup that is easy to change (just using the depth of the long copper pillar) based on the size of a room and how live it is.

Tiny rooms are difficult to play in, but the setup with the long pillar screwed in all the way feels much more open. In a concert hall I'll have it out almost all the way, which gives a lot more resistance and feels very responsive.

The secret is that changing the way it feels to play changes the way I play, which changes the sound in is own way. Someone who is at ease playing sounds different than someone stressing out and being tense.

My setup is the #2 copper on the bell side hole, facing towards the bead, and the long copper facing towards the tuning slide in the middle hole (various depths). That's it.

I would agree with Harrison's description- they change the feel more than the sound, but there is a slight difference for discerning listeners. I have played my T396AR for members of the brass section in my orchestra with and without pillars and they heard a difference. The general public? I doubt it. There are a lot of variables that we sometimes switch on a horn where the difference is subtle, but make it a bit easier to get a sound or response difference that we are looking for (leadpipes, tuning slides, etc.). The pillars are just one tool, and you don't have to take a torch to the horn, or risk destroying an expensive mouthpiece by having it altered.

Jim Scott