FAQs and how to choose
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"Can I try it" / "What's the return policy"?
Absolutely. We have 30 day returns on all standard models and sizes. No two horns, even the same model, are the same and there's no substitute for trying it out.
We encourage you to try out any given model in the default size before ordering a different one. Our sizes have been picked carefully from field trials to give the best all-around playing experience and it's very helpful for us to know how the standard one felt and what you'd want different so we can advise appropriately. We also keep the standard size in stock - and with shipping times of just a few days we can start to get that feedback about how the design works on your horn very quickly.
While non-default sizes are made to order and take 3-4 weeks to ship, they are still covered by the 30 day return window. Full custom orders, however, are not - but that's why we go through the 3D printed prototyping process with you first.
"I'm a low / high player and your models names / types don't give me much guidance on which is best for me?"
We really spent a lot of the R&D time on making sure all the models work in all the ranges. Every design needs to open up in the low register to let you develop a big, resonant sound. And up top they need to give you a little bit of resistance and brighten up to keep everything efficient. None of our models go into production without these characteristics.
"Do I want a deep or shallow cup?"
If you want a bright, clear sound and narrower, more accurate slots you want one of the shallower cups (G, LA, and MD). These are efficient and project very well. This comes at the expense of some ability to bend and form the pitches - they're "slotty". High horn players tend to prefer this tradeoff.
If you want a darker, rich sound you want a deeper cup (GS, C, M). These come with better pitch bending for slurs & the most demanding intonation matching, but they're less "slotty" and don't project as intensely.
"My horn isn't either a Geyer or a Kruspe, what do I need?"
The whole "Geyer/Kruspe" think is a bit over indexed at the best of times; does a large belled Geyer/Knopf really play differently than a small bell Kruspe? No, not really - it's a continuum and the leadpipe + bell combo is much more impactful than the shape of the tubes. I use this as a shorthand for "large belled" and "small belled" horns - most of the time to balance them a large belled horn is accompanied by a more restrictive leadpipe (think a Conn 8D) which we're calling a "Kruspe" horn. "Geyers" have narrower bells and more open "free blowing" pipes. If your maker has supplied you a large bell horn with a restrictive leadpipe - regardless of the bends in the tubes - we'd steer you towards the models LA or C.
"Ok but that wasn't actually that helpful, tell me which to choose."
Ok first you're going to figure out what shank you have. If it's American you want to choose from the American shank family (G, LA, GS, C or in rare circumstances the H American). If you have an Alex or other "European" shank horn you want the M series (M, MD).
Let's break down the American shank options first; and it's going to start with what feel you want.
If you feel your horn pushes back to you and won't let you play with as big or open an air stream as you want, you want to shop the "kruspe" line - the LA and C.
If you feel the opposite - that your horn just takes too much air and doesn't provide you the power or efficiency you need, you want the "geyer" line - the G and GS.
Now you need to decide deep or shallow (see above) with the GS & C representing "deep" and the G & LA representing "shallow(er)".
On the Mainz shank we offer the deeper M and shallower MD. The larger, open receivers on these horns require a small throat and a semi-narrow backbore so the only real choice is on the depth. If for some reason your European shank horn is playing really tight and bright on the M with it's standard 18 bore we can open it up to a 16, 14 or even 12 as a special order.
We're also here and happy to work with you by email - info@strachan-brass.com.
"For full-custom orders how do the plastic prototypes differ from the brass finished items?"
The plastic prototypes tend to play kinda "dry" - they don't have a lot of ring to the sound and can feel kind of "dead". What we're looking for is that they're in tune, they open up in the low register to support good tone and volume production in the basement, and that they add resistance in the high register to let you play efficiently. We also want to make sure the octaves are even on every valve combination available on the instrument. Once we've gotten all that worked out we would move on to the brass finished piece.
The brass versions have consistently "wow"ed compared to the plastic prototype. When we get to the "the plastic one plays pretty good" stage we're quite confident going into production that the final mouthpiece is going to deliver great results.
"Where / how do you make them?"
I'm not a machinist nor do I have space for the 0.1mm-tolerance industrial lathe needed to make these in my San-Francisco-sized house. What I do is design them in CAD and produce a model + technical drawings and then rely on one of the many "on-demand" manufacturing businesses to push the "go" button on the lathe for me. When they come in they're in "as machined" finish and need to be QA'd then polished up to create the final surface finish.
When we QA we're checking for concentricity of the two cuts (that the bore meets on precisely the same axis as the cup), shank tolerances, thread tolerance, and weight as a proxy for how faithful the cut was to the design accepting a deviance of less than 3% (ie less than 1% deviance in any linear dimensions). I also play the lightest, heaviest and median cups in each batch to make sure there are no perceptible differences.
(When we were first starting out it was a learning process with the shop; we had a pretty high defect rate and sometimes entire batches weren't usable. These are actually a pain to make - you have to machine them from all 4 directions, there are no flat surfaces, you can't use a tail stock to center them & they have gnarly tolerances right in the middle at the entrance & exit to the bore. After a few batches though and the quality has been really stable with 0 defects on delivered cups.)
Cups are machine polished with a jewelry tumbler to a smooth finish and rims are hand polished to a mirror finish then tumbled with stainless steel media + dish soap to clean off any polishing residue. Everything is then fit tested and ready to send out.
"What are they made of?"
Cups are made of standard industrial brass. Brass contains trace amounts of lead though so it's unsuitable for rims. You can either coat it with silver / gold plate or just use a different material for the rims.
We don't bother with silver plate; a decent number of people are allergic to silver. It also tarnishes which people clean up with metal polish - thinning the coating and eventually exposing the brass.
Therefore we can make rims out of Steel, Titanium. We stock and default to Titanium because the lighter weight at the rim gives the mouthpieces a slightly faster response, but there's nothing wrong with stainless steel. Both metals offer excellent bio-compatibility and don't corrode or degrade over time. Since they're uncoated any nicks or scratches can be polished out too giving them an unlimited useful life.
We're also able to offer gold plated brass - since the gold plating doesn't corrode or tarnish, there's no need to polish the surface giving these a good working life provided you don't beat them up too much. Some people like the surface feel of gold (which is very slippery) so we offer these. Gold plating is unfortunately very expensive these days and the pricing unfortunately has to reflect that.
"When will it get to me?"
In-stock items (the default bore of each mouthpiece) ship within a day or two and ship from San Francisco via USPS. If you order express they get sent priority mail and usually transit in 2-3 days anywhere in the USA. Regular shipping is USPS ground. International orders are also handled by the USPS and handed off to the local carrier; it varies a lot by region. If you have questions just email us and we'll get you a shipping time estimate.
Special orders ship in 3-4 weeks, that's governed by the turnaround time of the machine shop we use. We've shopped around in the past for expedited manufacturing and gotten quotes on the order of $1000 / mouthpiece so... yeah, 3-4 weeks is what it is.