On the single F horn, part IV: Fun with crooks

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As part of ramping up toward the F horn recording project (series starts here) I realized that the crook I was using certainly left the main slide too close to pushed in all the way to be comfortable – and the venue for the recording is going to be cooler than my home, likely I won’t be able to push in enough to get the horn up to pitch. Not acceptable!

IMG_0397Crooks are an interesting part of the equation with any horn that takes crooks. The topic came up in this article a few years ago as well. I came up with five combinations of crooks/couplers that put me in F with at least ¾ inch of tuning slide showing, as seen in the photo.

The winner? It is the one at the top in the photo, the smaller double coil crook with the ½ step coupler. That crook was a cousin to the one I had been using and has similar playing qualities but as a bonus has a better high range. So with that I think I have the setup set! Recording next week. Now my practice focuses on intonation….

Also, while not formally part of this series, see this article for a few notes on working on articulations and accuracy on the F horn.

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