I’m guessing a lot of orchestras are putting together their spring/summer concert series. A few of them will be performing “An American In Paris” and are looking for sets of tuned horns. Especially following the more recent discovery of the 1929 version pitches. Happy to say I’m having some success at helping folks out. Still more of an art and I hope to be making my own reeds sometime this year but…
On his custom motorcycle build.
Thanks for sending David!
Jeff sent this along. This is one of our KOTRs. What a great fit! Thank You Jeff!
My wife loves it. We go to steampunk conventions and she drives it around on her car. It’s perfect. Thank you so much.
Behind the scenes I’ve been fascinated with the horn reeds. I’ve been learning about manipulating pitches etc. But there’s only so much you can do with a hack. So my friend Alvin in India has had the word out about my search for custom reeds and we may have finally found our reed guy. Fingers crossed. In the meantime I recently discovered a whole other world of reeds around the topic of ‘game calls’… these are calls hunters use to attract their prey. It turns out I can use them in our horns. Probably just for novelty, but it may eventually lead to a way I could manufacture my own reeds here or have them made for me. Because what I’d really like to have is the ability to sell pitched horns or sets of horns. Though I have made a few ‘Gershwin Kits’ for smaller orchestras over the last few years successfully, I’d like to have more control and more precise tuning.
Here are some recent videos I shot showing off the horns with game call reeds installed. You probably just need to watch the short one 😉
Allyne sent along some photos of this beautiful, I think 1940s, BSA, now outfitted with one of our 18″ straight horns. Great match. Love that we can help folks add that extra touch. Thanks for the photos!
Allyne fabricated their own attaching bracket. I would love to find a source for all-brass attaching brackets. I had some custom made at one point but they weren’t strong enough. Still on the case though.
Check it out!
I did write Eric back to suggest attaching his horn to the larger tube. When I hear of folks damaging their horns, the issue is usually that join where the thinner tube meets the fitting to the larger tube. By the way, that’s a fairly easy repair with some JB Weld or a bit of braze if you’re handy with a torch. Also want to link to another more permanent method of mounting your horn with a bit of kit from the hardware store. Thanks for the photos Eric!
The Kinetic Sculpture Race in Arcata CA, since 1969!
Team HalfFast matched one of our replica King of the Road squeeze horns with their amazing ‘The Knights Who Say Bee’. A perfect fit! They took 2nd prize in the Art category, and 1st price in the Pageantry category. Check out the flaming antennae! Watch videos from this amazing event here.
