the following is from one of our current Ebay auctions...

Q:  Hi Jason! Cool looking horn-As always. Looks heavy. What is the weight? what would you compare the blow to? Still kinda looking for a horn with french horn blowing characteristics without a muddy sound and intonation anomalies to the moon. Any suggestions?

Be well Jason.
Scott

A:  Hi Scott, did you watch the video? I believe the weight is discussed in the first shot. It is not heavy, almost the same weight as a Bach Strad. What do you mean by french horn blowing characteristics? Send me an email and I'll give you options!

Jason

http://youtu.be/23T3MptYNMQ

Q: Hey,
   No. I'll watch it before bed.

   As far as FH blow goes, I've always liked the tight but fluid blow of a french horn.Conical horns all share aspects of this. It makes the extreme altissimo pretty easy. I realize a trumpet cannot replicate this, but I have always been looking for a smaller horn that had the elastic feel of a french horn without feeling stuffy and tight. The tighter leadpiped horns i've played just stop accepting air at some point.FH accepts air into infinity pretty much. The smaller horns i've tried throughout my career just back up and tend to be very bright in color.

   obviously, the FH does have other characteristics that would be quite negative on a trumpet.
    Seems like the trumpets that have more of theses characteristics I describe suffer greatly in slotting, pitch stability,tonal balance and intonation. Maybe the feel and sound I'm looking for simply doesn't exist.Anyway. thanks for the reply. God bless.

Scott

A: I see what you're saying and used to relate to your experience where the french horn was easier to play in all registers, especially very high. However, I discovered the trumpet mouthpiece was mostly to blame. I'm currently revising the trumpet mouthpiece design to better facilitate the upper register without a shallow cup design. There are other advantages to french horn, mainly that when playing in the trumpet range on fh, you in fact playing several partials ABOVE the fundamental in comparison with trumpet. By the laws of nature, all notes in the trumpet range will be easier to play on a longer instrument. This is primarily because there is more "room" to hit each note while they are closer together, a kind of double advantage scenario. If I built a trumpet twice the length BBb, it would have similar characteristics, however finding the correct note and not hitting a 1/4 or 1/3 tone partial would be more difficult. I hope this makes sense. Do you mind if I move our conversation to my blog? I think others would be interested in hearing your questions.

Thanks,
Jason

response: Please do. I can't be alone in this analysis. I've experimented very little with mouthpieces. I am on a Monette B2L right now.It rides pretty sharp on the horns I own. Its comfortable and pretty efficient up to high g, then its quite a bit more work. Thanks for your input Jason. Good to talk with you.

Scott

I often wonder what people are thinking when I respond to their question, "so how have you been?" I respond with, "there's so much happening..." and ramble on about a dozen different projects and ideas I'm currently exploring, building or planning. Do they realize I eat, sleep, dream and work trumpet? Aside from the occasional walk with Oscar (my shop dog), I rarely stop to think about anything unrelated to trumpets. I take breaks to play trumpet, that's my way of getting my mind off of trumpet! And my closest friends often warn that it is too much and not healthy. Hmm...I've been this way since 2001 and as far as I can tell, I'm still addicted to building them!

I have many topics planned for upcoming blog sessions, but have to run out the shop floor in a few minutes. Here's a quick outline of future topics:

- New Orleans, my first home, thoughts on my latest visit for Satchmo Fest
- Performance breakthroughs, understanding how and why we evolve when we don't practice
- Modern machining & machines will change our industry forever, how I will evolve the trumpet, mouthpiece and bell designs in the coming months using a new amazing cnc machine and the very best software
- The future vision of HT, where I thought I'd be, where I want to be and how I'll get there
- Montana, the west and living in the real world, my thoughts on desk jobs and the office sector of society
- Taco bell or McDonald's, my exploration of how to enjoy fast food when you cut eating time out of life

Keep your eyes on our Harrelson Trumpets Facebook page for photos of FOUR new Summit Art trumpets!