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Twice before in Horn Matters we have turned to the topic of Dimes:
Which brings us to Part III. I don’t have small hands, but ultimately I felt after a year with my new horn that I could not quite reach the levers and that palm key risers were not cutting it as a long term alternate:
And this is not at all a slight to the maker either, but I have tried other horns by the same custom maker where the location of the levers was different. I have to believe they are constantly evolving their design to a point, and part of the issue is buyers have relatively long and relatively short fingers. You won’t please everyone.
In any case, I have now applied pre-1965 dimes to the levers. Why before 1965? Because they stopped making solid silver dimes in 1964. 1965 and later dimes are made of a clad material that has copper in the core. The outer layers will wear through in use on your horn, leaving a rough finish, while the silver dimes have a nice soft feeling (if that makes any sense).
I had a few of these around from coin collecting years ago, and opted to put the 1962 one in the middle face up (as I was also made in 1962).
I’ve also moved them twice now, I think I have them at an optimal point for my hands. You need to reach your valves comfortably! Get dimes if you need them.
