Medlin Horns

The official horn queue has been posted, see the “queue” tab!

August seems like last week, this year has flown by! I just wanted to update everyone on the status of the shop in this really bizarre year.

Most importantly, I have decided to post the list publicly and no longer give estimates of waiting time. I just have no way to anticipate things that interrupt the horn making schedule. When your horn comes up on the list you can still expect weekly updates as your horn is in progress, but I am finding that giving estimates for horns 6  months to two years away is extremely difficult and unsustainable. Also complicating matters is that I still make time to experiment and innovate which I will continue to do for what I hope is a long career.  I will be more than happy to give you a pseudonym if you would rather remain anonymous.

For those who do not yet know, I will be relocating the workshop to North Carolina next year, sometime between April and July. I will be most likely be in a city within driving distance of Elon university (Greensboro, Burlington, Hillsboro, etc). I do not yet know how long the relocation will take, as I’ve never moved 2 tons of equipment across the country before! There will be some period of delay during the first half of the year, hopefully no more than 1 month.

This unplanned move was the result of a great opportunity as my very talented wife got a new job at Elon University, but has turned a 5 year plan into a 9 month plan. I went back and finished my masters at IU on an accelerated schedule and am finishing up the renovations that I began on the house in preparation for selling it (hopefully) early next year.

I have returned to a full time horn building schedule and hopefully horns will be coming fast and furious!

I hope everyone has a safe and restful holiday with family and friends!

The 2012 list has now been filled. New orders will be scheduled starting in 2013. Thank you for all the business!!

I am sharing a private exhibit room this year with Rick Seraphinoff and am very excited! You will be able to come by and play horns in a quieter setting and hopefully really take them for a test drive. The official IHS exhibit schedule is:

• Monday 10- 1, 2- 5
• Tuesday 9- 1, 2-5
• Wednesday 9- 1, 2-5
• Thursday 9- 2
• Friday 9- 1, 2-5
• Saturday 9-noon

Since Rick and I will have keys to our room, I am able to schedule private showings any time the official exhibits are closed. Please send me an email at jacob@ medlinhorns.com if you would like to schedule a time to meet and play the horns.

I will be at the Southeast Workshop in a few weeks and will be bringing 2 borrowed horns to show.  One is a custom double made last June that is being updated for the occasion. The other is the original Yamaha 667 conversion on loan from Scott in NJ. I am very much looking forward to seeing everyone, hope you can make it!

http://www.southeasthornworkshop.org/

The available slots for horns delivered in 2011 are now filled! I am currently accepting orders for 2012.

I am now happy to announce the arrival of my conversion 667, an affordable option for people not in the market for a top of the line custom horn. Many makers have worked on modifications of this horn, but none have taken it quite so far. My conversion takes a stock 667 and converts it into a horn that enjoys the sound and feel of a hand-made custom horn at a fraction of the cost! The cost of this build includes a new 667 which I will order with the specs needed for a successful conversion.

I feel that the 667 is the best stock Geyer style horn out there with the fewest mechanical issues and good workmanship. The layout of the valves is great and it is put together in a way that makes it easy for me to work with.

The conversion targets a couple of common issues with the 667. The first is that playing at A=440 requires the main tuning slides to be pulled over an inch. This causes a gap at the bottom of the tuning slide and increases the distance between bracing points. A solution for this is to add that length to the new branches and after conversion, the pulls are less than half an inch.

Secondly, the way that the short F branch is bent causes internal stress on the main F tuning slide. On many 667s, you must squeeze the outer legs together in order to get the slide back in after emptying. I have another post about that here. The conversion rebuilds that branch to make the slide pull nice and smooth and also to release that tension.

Additionally, the new F branch is bent in order to allow for long solder joints to be added between the F branch and the 1st branch. I also introduce some hard tubing to give the horn better “grooves” or “slots”. The new mouthpipe give nice interesting colors to the sound while increasing the security in the high register.

The base conversion involves:

1. Stripping the instrument of lacquer
2. Hand lapping the valves and slides for smooth action
3. Cutting the bell with an Alexander compatible ring
4. Adding a brace to the first branch/ bell connection
5. Rebuilding and lengthening the F side (short and long branches)
6. Adding long solder joints between long F and first branch
7. Installing a new longer Medlin mouthpipe with Amado waterkey
8. Testing and balancing the instrument.

Extras that are available for an additional cost include:

1. New Medlin bell flare
2. Adjustable pinky hook
3. Clebsch strap
4. Rebuilt thumb lever which includes an adjustable paddle.

New orders are added to the wait list in the same fashion as the double horns. No deposit is necessary however the balance is due in full before the horn is started. The build takes approximately 1-2 weeks.

Happy New Year!

Its been a great year out here in Indiana! I wanted to start out with a recap of some highlights from a great 2010!

Attracted professional interest- This was a huge benchmark for me and let me know that my philosophies for building horns and working with players was a good and sustainable one. I mailed a horn to a member of the Sydney Symphony, the retired principal of the North Carolina Symphony and took orders from members of the Cincinnati, Portland, and Dallas Symphonies. The fact that professional players are willing to trust my horns with their careers is humbling and something that I plan not to forget.

Switched to Meinlschmidt valves- I am enjoying the new valves, they are well finished and accurate. It makes building good parallel valve slides much easier because I can use the spacing jig that I built for every slide and know that it will fit every valve section that I use. They also wear extremely well and should be at least 20 year valves.

New mouthpipe designed and turned- The new pipe is a mathematically improved version of the old mandrel that I discovered while working in Rick Seraphinoff’s shop a few years ago. The pipe had amazing qualities but was rather bumpy as the lathe it was made on was too small to do an accurate job. I used some calculations to get the taper dimensions and then turned a new mandrel on a much larger lathe. The new pipe has the same great intonation and complex sound but has a more stable note center and better accuracy.

Moved into the new shop- My moving the shop eliminated an hour and a half daily commute which has contributed to more horns being made last year compared to 2009. It is filled with machinery and tools that I picked or made to combine my love for artisan craftsmanship with technology that helps me make accurate, repeatable parts. Come for a visit!

2010 was a great year and I am looking forward to an even better 2011!

Mouthpieces matter. I think that as horn players we all knew that but I have found the mouthpiece to be an annoying game changer when it comes to the final balance of a horn. A horn that I am able to get playing really well with my Laskey, suddenly plays stiffer and stuffier with a different mouthpiece. This is a problem for customers who are unable to pick the horn up at the shop.

So there are a few solutions:

1) Check your equipment. My horns love the Laskey 775F (only because its my usual mouthpiece and the one I do my play testing on.) This means that deeper, more funnel shaped mouthpieces play the best on my leadpipe. If you play a smaller one, its possible the horn might feel “tight”. **Try to avoid a European shanked mouthpiece with my horns!** They will not hit the right depth to meet the venturi.

or even better…

2) Send me a copy of your mouthpiece. All problems caused by a mismatch can be solved if I use your setup to balance the horn. It might be an extra 50 bucks to send me a mouthpiece, but it will pay off in the long run. This however will make your horn slightly different, something you will want to mention should you (heaven forbid) ever want or need to sell the horn.

Since I am a horn specialist, I only 80% understand the intricacies of mouthpiece design. It is something that I am continuing to learn to optimize the mouthpiece to mouthpipe connection. For some good articles about mouthpieces try one by John Ericson and one by Tom Greer (a mouthpiece designer/ builder).

*Update* 9/08/10- Fixed those two links!

Two recent articles about the horn shop!

A blog post from Dr. James Boldin about me and the “upcoming generation of horn makers”.

Article from the IU Jacob’s School of Music newsroom about the beginnings of the shop.