source file: mills2.txt Date: Wed, 28 Aug 1996 13:27:43 -0700 Subject: 19TET trumpet From: Kami Rousseau Hi, Here is an interesting question : I dream of having a microtonal trumpet. A trumpet that would play third tones. It would be perfect for playing blues. (Yes, Neil Haverstick inspired me this idea.) Would it be possible to take a 4-valve A/Bb piccolo horn and modify it like this: cents cents Valve # 12/oct 19/oct 1 200 126,32 2 100 63,15 3 300 189,47 4 500 252,63 (The big numbers are hundreths of a normal semitone) Using this set of slides, the fingering would be similar to a regular trumpet. Is it possible to cut the valves' tubes to play these higher notes? (for exemple, on the chart, the 3rd valve lowers the note by a major 2nd, that is 189 cents.) The practical difficulty comes in trying to make an even shorter 2nd valve crook than a piccolo trumpet already has. As you know the 2nd valve crook is already barely a half circle. Maybe it would be possible to shorten the valve casings and try to get an alternative set of slides. Also, it would be practical to find an instrument with a larger casing than a piccolo. I have heard of flugel horns out there that have four valves and would have large enough ports to work better for the project. Can any one help me find an instrument suitable for this, and a good technician to do the job? Is 19 a good choice, or should I go for 17, 22 or JI? Also, can anyone post the latest infos on ordering a microtonal guitar (with fixed frets)? How do you calculate the frets' positions? Regards, Kami Received: from ns.ezh.nl [137.174.112.59] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Thu, 29 Aug 1996 00:50 +0200 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA04164; Thu, 29 Aug 1996 00:51:49 +0200 Received: from eartha.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA04076 Received: from by eartha.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) for id PAA16568; Wed, 28 Aug 1996 15:51:47 -0700 Date: Wed, 28 Aug 1996 15:51:47 -0700 Message-Id: <71960828224917/0005695065PK2EM@MCIMAIL.COM> Errors-To: madole@ella.mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu