Do you ever wonder how some things just seem to come together as if they were planned? This has been a common occurrence in my life, yet without explanation. If I had done one little thing differently, then something great may have never come to be. This includes such life events as going to college (rather than getting a job), learning to play trumpet, becoming a police officer, curing carpal tunnel and most recently, meeting the great jazz trumpeter Charlie Sepulveda. Let me start by saying Charlie is an amazing musician who I have heard on many recordings, but up until now I hadn't connected his solos to his name. He played on the Mambo Kings soundtrack, in Tito Puente's band, with the Talking Heads and of course on an impressive array of his own albums. He has over a hundred recording credits to his name and his latest album, "After Hours" has me ordering more cds. This album is trumpet and acoustic guitar only and I have to say I love it! He is incredibly expressive with every vocal line and after 3 times through this album, nobody in the shop even noticed it had repeated. I hear something new with every new listen. You can check it out here. You will never believe how I happened to meet Charlie last week. I was on vacation with my parents last week in Puerto Rico. I wanted this vacation to be free of any work so I intentionally did not line up any masterclasses or lessons, nor did I tell any of my PR friends I would be visiting. This was going to be my week of forgetting about building trumpets.
While planning our trip over the phone, I learned that my Mom wanted to see old San Juan since this was her first trip there. I recommended booking the Sheraton Hotel in old SJ to make life easier. By the time we decided this was the best place to stay it was quite late so I told her I would book the hotel in the morning. The next day I was greeted with an email from her apologizing for "accidentally" booking a different hotel nearly an hour from San Juan. She entered a low price on www.priceline.com that was too good to be true and assumed it would be denied. We were both surprised that her bid was accepted and the next step was to rent a car now that this will be a driving trip. We arrived at the resort hotel after an hour drive to the east side of Puerto Rico near Fajardo. This place was very nice with two impressive golf courses (I don't golf), beachfront property and very expensive restaurants. After our first meal, I suggested we try a little local place for dinner that I saw earlier in the day. We started with $1 cornmeal appetizers sitting on the outdoor patio surrounded by the beautiful sound of Coqui frogs chirping in the darkness. My Dad stepped out for a smoke and struck up a conversation with the owner of the restaurant. He was a jazz fan so my Dad mentioned that I play jazz trumpet and build horns. Call it random luck or fate, but this man replied with, "one of my friends is Charlie Sepulveda, he lives just a few minutes away and I'm sure he would like to meet your son". The rest is history as I met Charlie the very next night. The following day, he was kind enough to take me to Rene Perez's music store (Pro Music) in San Juan to meet several of his friends, colleagues and students, all of which play tested my personal Summit One trumpet. We had a great time playing horns, sharing stories and talking trumpet. I am grateful that I met Charlie and his friends and owe this honor to either random luck or something else. I'm not a believer in fate as the successes in my lifetime have never come without tremendous sacrifice. But it makes me wonder considering the circumstances of meeting Charlie. If my Mom hadn't been messing around on the internet, we would have stayed in San Juan. And if Priceline.com hadn't booked us at that specific resort, we wouldn't have come across that restaurant. And if I hadn't suggested that specific place, since there were other options, we wouldn't have met Charlie's friend. And if my Dad hadn't stepped out and started a conversation about jazz with someone who happened to know Charlie personally, etc. Sometimes things just happen...
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_As a test of machining more complex shapes with the latest CAM software, I have designed the new SWE Summit Trumpet. This instrument was commissioned by an incredibly fluent young jazz musician in his senior year of high school in the pacific northwest. Tree Palmedo's new Summit trumpet was specifically designed to be much more efficient than a standard Summit, hence the SWE designation. For those of you unfamiliar with SWE, this is an acronym for Standing Wave Efficiency, which is a basic physics principle used in my instruments. The new SWE Summit is not available for order as the production process is not streamlined. However, I did build two of these instruments and the second one will remain in our showroom for sale. _What's so great about the new Summit? It features 1/2" thick top bracing that span over 14 inches, making this one of the most efficient horns built in the world. The leadpipe is also designated as SWE, built from two milled halves that are soldered down the length. I have created two variations of the SWE leadpipe thus far, one with the receiver and tuning slide tubes extending from the rectangular sleeve and the other flush. The Satchmo and previous New Orleans trumpets built in 2011 were the very first to incorporate the SWE leadpipe system. _ I'll be adding photos of the finished SWE Summit trumpets later this week. This model is approximately one pound heavier than a standard Summit with the weight evenly distributed around the valveset. Future variations will include this design milled from Aluminum, reducing the weight by 65% while providing a solder-less dovetail slide lock assembly system. Other ideas that may come to the prototype stage include; adjustable dovetail finger rings, skeletonized material reduction, full artistic deep milled aesthetics and modular multi-part leadpipe segments. Now that I'm finished with this project and have "graduated" from my FeatureCAM software training on the mill, it is time to apply my knowledge to the mill/turn center...
Today's entry is unrelated to trumpets. This is a review of FeatureCam, which is part of the Delcam family of software designed to make cnc machining easier on 3-6 axis machines. I say easier, because cutting complex designs is never easy even with the very best equipment, software and training. Coming from RhinoCam, I can say with certainty that FeatureCam is a huge upgrade in almost every way. _This is the third object I have cut with FC. This is a keychain I designed as a holiday gift for my neighbor who owns a machine shop across the street. I designed this in Rhino, saved it as an iges solid file and imported it directly into FeatureCam. After 20 minutes of creating features and adjusting cutting parameters, I had a post file for my VMC. Below is the part in the vise just after it was cut. This program used the following endmills; .250 Rough, .125 Rough, .0625 Rough, .0313 Rough and .015 Finish (for the smallest text). Total cut time was 32:48, which was longer than expected due to running my spindle slower than capacity. Spindle speeds ranged from around 5,000 to 18,000 rpm. I always use coolant when cutting brass despite what most machinists recommend. My tools last longer and I definitely achieve a better surface finish with coolant. These final photos show the keychain design after buffing and minimal surface finish blending. The raised text is 0.05" above the surface and the recessed text is .02" below. Check back for reviews of much more complicated trumpet parts in the coming weeks.
We've had the idea around HT to create a series of "How to" demonstrations on trumpet-related topics. Since projects like this take time and get lost in the shuffle of a very busy office dealing with multiple daily orders, I thought I'd start here in my blog. Feel free to chime in with suggestions on topics or critique my demonstrations.
A few topic ideas include;
This message is for everyone. Yet it is mostly directed to those in a hurry to receive a unique custom-made brass instrument built to their exact specifications. Do you have what it takes to be patient? To illustrate, I would like to share with all of you one of my favorite holiday memories.
Two years ago, Cindy and I thought it would be fun to go ice skating at Rockefeller Center. I flew into Newark, met her in Rutherford then we took a bus into Manhattan and walked down to 5th and 48th. It was a cold sunny day in December and NYC was buzzing with Christmas shoppers. We arrived to find a very long line and a ton of people filling the square. After a brief huddle, we decided we definitely wanted to wait in line no matter how long it took to get on the ice. We were in the midst of making a great memory so nothing would stop us. After we stood in line for about half an hour, we started asking people if they had noticed the line move. Nope, nobody noticed it move one inch. An hour went by, nothing. Then about 90 minutes into waiting, the line started moving...finally, we'll get close to the ice soon! Or not, we had moved up one row. We entertained each other as we passed the time and it eventually got dark. Hours went by and we forgot how cold we were, now it was time to find a restroom! After 4 hours (I am not exaggerating), we finally got into the little run down room at the bottom of the stairs to fork over our $42 plus the cost of renting skates! My day had begun at 5am getting on a plane to do this and, at maybe 7pm, we finally hit the ice. That night was magical. Cindy wasn't much of an ice skater, so I mostly pulled her round and round the rink while we laughed and played. It was one of those moments that makes all of life's hard efforts worth while. We stayed on the ice for two hours only getting off because we couldn't stand anymore. Our photo in front of the lit up Christmas tree truly tells a thousand words. :) I could have told you how much I disliked standing in the cold for hours on end amidst strangers who often cut in line using every trick in the book. How there were no restrooms and the employees were rude or did not attend to our needs. I could have suggested we leave and find something better to do. After all, NYC has a lot to offer over some expensive crowded ice time! I could have remembered this experience as one of the worst customer service situations in all of history. But I didn't for two reasons...I was with someone who cared about my moment as much as I did hers AND I chose to make a good memory. Hiring me to build your trumpet is very similar to skating at Rockefeller Center. I am 100% committed to fulfilling your needs and expectations in your new trumpet. After all, it is my trumpet too and I take great pride in everything I do. However, like waiting in line to skate, there is sound logic in place here. Not everyone will fit on the ice at one time and there is no room to make the ice rink any larger. There is magic there, you simply must wait your turn. And when it is your turn, the world is yours! Some trumpets get on the ice (my work bench) once and then they are finished. But the special projects with receiver text or art must wait in line twice. There is no way around this. I am one man designing and building all of these parts myself. I could hire twenty people to man the phones in the office, yet calling will not speed up the process. Not even calling every single day for months, will your order go any faster. Most likely, it will slow down the entire waiting list because more of my bench time will be taken up working with Jen and Paul answering repetitive facebook messages and phone calls. I encourage you to check up on your order if you want to hear some news, but that does not mean there is news to be heard. ;) Ask Cindy herself, she waited an entire year for her trumpet with anxious phone calls, re-scheduling photo shoots and recordings that were missed again and again. Her horn was the most complicated ever at the time it was built and the build process was slow. Now ask her if it was worth the wait. The simple truth, there are 200+ individual extremely important people ordering very custom trumpets each year and ONLY ONE OF ME. Just like the ice rink, you will not all fit on my bench. I must take each of you individually, one at a time, sometimes more than once, maybe more than twice and for the Summit One and Art projects, as many as 14 times! It cannot all be done at once due to the nature of the building process. I have dedicated 80-100 hours/week of my life to your individual unique needs in your trumpet orders. I AM FULLY COMMITTED TO YOU. I receive a great deal of beautifully written praise and testimony on a daily basis. In fact, my collection of notes and letters is in the thousands. Sometimes these are written by people who have only briefly tried one of my horns or accessories, yet they feel compelled to share. Happy customers raving about their new equipment is really good for business and boosts company morale, so we look forward to hearing from our clients. However, a small percentage of soon to be new owners crack under the anticipation of receiving their dream horn. Patience is perhaps not a refined trait or possibly forgotten in our world of fast anything if you flash the cash. That attitude doesn't get you any further ahead in my shop. I guess I'm old-fashioned in some ways and waiting in line has always been a fair system. So every month or so, someone calls or writes quite upset that their 4-month order is now overdue. In almost every case of a late order, either all orders are running behind for good reason OR they modified their order to include elements that add to the wait time. In both cases, manufacturing is a physical process that cannot be easily rushed. Getting upset about this does nothing to solve any problems. When this happens I usually wonder how anyone (no matter your stature in the "trumpet" world) could say or do some of the negative things I have heard and witnessed. Did they lack the simple patience, understanding and mutual respect for a process that is both logical, necessary and inherently slow? Would they rather I rushed every horn out the door cutting corners? Am I expected to compete with the speed by which their fingers can type an angry message and press send to all of the world via facebook or an online forum? Would anyone want a trumpet built that fast and easy? I have heard complaints that my work is too slow since I began working when I was 11 years old. Take a moment to consider the facts and someone out there may someday realize that I could in fact be very productive and efficient...maybe even prolific. Very few people comment on speedy production of their dream horn, but if you could see everything I design and build in a week, you may start to wonder why anyone would say I am, "slow". I challenge anyone reading this to introduce me to the one person (not a factory) on this planet that will produce the trumpet you ordered built with better craftsmanship, design and care, faster and with better customer service. I'll make it easy, just give me the name of the person that will build you a simple custom horn with no innovations in less than six months. There's only one of me and it is somewhat on your shoulders to give me the benefit of the doubt now and then. I am the one taking all the risk learning new techniques, manufacturing processes and putting up the capital to purchase machinery year after year to make your dream trumpet a reality. I have a proven track record of extremely satisfied customers from all walks of life in over 50 countries. I am here for you. Happy Holidays and please remember Rockefeller Center :) Jason Harrelson So I had six appointments and one surprise visitor yesterday. It is freezing here, like all 6-month Minnesota winters, so it seems unusual to have so much activity from the outside world. Seemingly everyone wants a new trumpet this month, which is great news since we build trumpets! Today the largest local music store chain (family owned) buyers are stopping in to hopefully place their first order to be delivered in time for the ITG Conference. I have resisted the temptation and offers from dozens of dealers in the past, most of them international due to the simple fact that production has been limited by the number of hours I can work. However, thanks to new machinery, 21st century production techniques and efficient teamwork, I (we) are finally in a position to produce horns of a much higher quality, fit, finish and about three times faster than the previous methods.
So we welcome this crazy winter busy-ness and remind everyone that our horns are still built one at a time, by me personally, in the order deposits are placed. Jason You could not have convinced me that blogging would be fun six months ago. How could I know, I avoid the internet with the exception of my addiction to learning everywhere possible, which is sadly only a small percentage of the net. And yet here I am laughing at Paul's first two entries and the responses these have elicited.
The photo in his blog of the Bravura hanging in the office is great. I was working on CAD designs the other day and realized I have always visualized everything without any physical example in front of me and exclaimed that I should hang a trumpet above my monitor, so I did. And Paul loves it! I can't believe I didn't do this 10 years ago. I devised a very simple lock system to hold or remove the horn from the harness in a second so I can pick it up and play it or simply point to a part on the suspended horn when answering one of Paul's sixty-two thousand four hundred and thirty-nine questions. Here's a shot from my desk... I've been designing a new brace as the foundation for my latest modular leadpipe and bell system for 5 days now. In reality, I started designing this part at least 7 years ago, but I'm working out the final details this week as the first prototypes will soon be cut. After all this time, I only have a profile 2-D line drawing on a few layers...nothing 3D. I spent hours yesterday isolated in a completely quiet dark room visualizing the entire system, each component, every union, joint, moving part in vivid detail. I feel like I've already used the system and this revealed a few mistakes that became design changes, which is why I am finally moving to 3D.
I've tested every modular system I can get my hands on in this vast world...all the trumpets, most of the educational and children's construction sets, industrial extruded aluminum sets, home and business construction techniques/products, the list goes on. But you know something? I don't see what I'm looking for in any of these places. I've kept my eyes open since I was 4 years old and I may soon conclude that there is no simple, reliable, industrial strength, flexible modular system in use today, maybe not even in existence. Why? It seems every company or product reinvents some new way to put things together if they don't want to use the standard screws, fasteners, heat, glue, snap fit or sheet metal techniques. So what do they do? Create a cheap variation on one of the above that can only be used with their specific product or part. Why not create a modular system that universally translates to most applications? Design a system that is smooth, accurate, easy to use, reliable, very strong, offered in a variety of materials for various applications, offers multiple locking options (magnetic, thumb screw, cap screw, tamper proof head, etc.), offers pneumatic and electronic lock and release options that interface with standard servo, actuator and motion control systems? Maybe this has already been done by Allen-Bradley or some other conglomerate, but I haven't seen it and it obviously hasn't reached out from industrial automation like it could. Hence, my 5-day visual mind quest to design a magnetic dovetail adjustable slide lock system. The main brace on my latest trumpet must allow multiple bells, leadpipes and adjustable pinky rings to slide on, lock in place and stay put while being extremely easy to use. I like to design things that work, without the possibility of failure, user error or confusion and aesthetics as primary goals. It should be so simple that anyone just picking it up could look at it and think, this goes there, that fits here and voila, it's assembled! And when you purchase a second leadpipe or new finger rings, it will be easy and obvious how to interchange the parts on your horn. That's what the customer should demand and exactly what I intend to offer. However, I am seriously considering licensing the new design to be used in a multitude of new applications. Industrial and home door locks are an obvious weak point in 95% of the US. I know this as I was a former police officer who every morning responded to burglaries, home invasions and the like simply because door locks are so incredibly easy to pick (give me 2 minutes) and if all else fails, they can be quickly drilled out or kicked in by anyone over 150 pounds. This is the perfect application for my new dovetail slide lock! Of course I can think of a thousand others...windshield wiper refills, containers, modular suitcases/bags/instrument cases, modular cabinetry, entertainment systems, cabinet and window locks, automobile hood and trunk locks, anti-theft systems, modular closet systems, mounting almost anything in construction, retractable pens, utility belts (hold each item with dovetail locks), the list goes on... So maybe it's complicated to design, but thankfully I see applications and great usefulness far beyond my modular trumpets. Does anyone know of a system (in use or on paper) that fits the description above? I'd be very interested in hearing your thoughts. Time to build a trumpet (my goal is to finish a trumpet each day get out of my design brain now and then)... So I worked around 30 hours over the weekend, 15 hour days and can't believe how much I've accomplished! I've been putting in extra hours for the past 6 weeks to make up for my absence while in Europe and so far I'm ahead of the game! I revised my ergonomic finger ring programming to run on the vmc with coolant and aggressive feed rates cutting machining time down to an obscene low number I don't dare admit. Let's just say I machined the next 3 months of finger rings in 5 hours. I also finished the cylindrical finger ring programming and cut 20 of those, but that design will need more work next time.
I'm currently finishing up Gravity #3 and this horn is more precisely machined and designed than the first two versions. Also in the works are an Art Summit, numerous other trumpet builds, the new modular leadpipe system for the next round of demo trumpets, modular/adjustable finger rings and several new variations on the finger ring design. The new modular systems will be dovetail joints with a push button release and ball lock. It blows my mind how many details must be just right to make a system so simple work flawlessly. It's fun, challenging and hopefully rewarding. Other unrelated items... - easy cheese does not melt on hungry man microwave dinners (i tried twice) - Oscar is constantly begging for attention so I've resorted to sewing more treats into his plush toys to occupy him while I work long hours - my christmas tree is still lit in the office and we haven't opened up our "gifts" yet...the three wrapped boxes in the HT facebook photos with bells protruding. - I've been listening to the latest Charles Lazarus cd and love it. He was in the Dallas brass the summer I attended International Music Camp on half scholarship and made a real impression on me at the time, though I took lessons from Wiff Rudd. Lazarus was only a few years older than me and could play circles around just about anyone even when he was 21! check him out and transcribe some of his solos, they're fun Time to get back to work. I'm hoping we can ship at least 6 more horns next by the end of next week, so I better go back to my workbench... Jason I just play-tested my HT30 trumpet, which we have put up for bid on Ebay. I've played this horn several times before and this was a simple video we recorded for our facebook page. THIS HORN HAS SURPRISING SIZZLE! Now, the sizzle is no surprise to me as I designed it to be a focused, screaming lead horn to make the Calicchio 1S/2 and Schilke S42 feel like toys. But I have always wondered how it came to be that so many misinformed trumpet players assume an efficient horn with mass cannot be bright, focused and perfect for lead. I have heard hundreds of times statements similar to, "I could never play one of your horns since I mainly do lead work" or "those heavy horns are too dark for my taste". Well, this is simply bad information. The weight of a trumpet really has almost nothing to do with the vibrancy of the tone, its suitability for lead work, nor does it affect much of the upper partials in the overtone series with the exception of amplitude. I have been building great lead horns as long as I've been build any horns. And the HT30 is an exceptional lead horn that I would choose over anything built in a factory. I also recorded a short video on Acclimation Exercises and my personal Embouchure Exercises. I have recorded similar clips before as I teach these in my lessons and offer this service with every consultation. But this time, I played them on the latest Gravity trumpet. All I can say is, "I want one!". The Gravity is so incredibly efficient that it takes me a few minutes to adjust. I have to literally think about putting half as much effort into playing or I am over-blowing (and hurting everybody's ears). And in these videos, I was playing very soft, yet the recording is really loud. I'll hit on embouchure exercises again and again, especially if you ask for more information as these are a key to playing efficiently.
So what else is on my mind today? One of the comments on my first blog caught my attention...from AEG: "Please excuse/ignore question if inappropriate. Am working on libretto, "Einstein's Wives", and generally intrigued by question of relationships between highly creative people (the Curies, Marilyn and Miller, O'Keefe and Stieglitz, etc). Any thoughts on this?" I have to say this has been a difficult area in my life and I'm not sure I know how to consistently give what is often required for a healthy relationship. I deserve some credit for trying as those close to me know that I probably want a family more than anything in this world, but time and time again, it doesn't work out. I can't really compare myself to Einstein, which was the basis for the poster's question. But, as was common for AE, I disappear from the world working on a project or several projects for weeks or months at a time. I give my all in a relationship, then I go back to my work remaining completely focused, then back to the relationship and it is back and forth like this until my girlfriend loses her mind and leaves me. Wow, that brutally honest and unexpected, but what can I say? That's how it happens. Sometimes I blame myself entirely. I know I'm intense and this can create the illusion that I'll be maintaining this intensity on a daily basis, but at this point I am careful to explain this will not be the case. Regardless, your question is less likely aimed at my lack of success with relationships over time and more an observation of my personal traits. From my perspective, I give the same effort, energy and love in my relationships as I do in my work. Life is about living in the moment, making things happen, creating exceptionally memorable experiences even while making a homemade pizza or a trumpet with 4 bells. It's all the same to me and I love it. I hear that my VMC stopped running, time to go setup another project... Jason |
Jason Harrelson
Inventor, Musician, Educator and Founder of Harrelson Trumpets, Trumpet Momentum and Harrelson Momentum. Archives
April 2024
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