There’s an old saying that if you love something, send it to the factory where it was made and have them make it brand new again, and if it comes back to you, then you know it was meant to be. I might have messed up the first part of that, but whatever, point is, my Kanstul WB trumpet is back in my hands and it feels so good!
To summarize the work for my own later reference, I sent my horn to the Kanstul factory in Anaheim California for a replating, and the installation of Saturn water keys. I’ve never liked Amado water keys so this was the ideal time to swap them out for something better. Saturns are a pretty unusual design but I heard they are great so I ordered some from the inventor in Scotland. Kanstul inspected the horn and told me it had “red rot” on the inside of the leadpipe and the crook of the tuning slide and both would need replacement since they refuse to work on instruments with this condition. We discussed the acid bleed which was coming out of the inside of the bell lip/curl and they said once it starts, even if the horn is replated, there is no way of guaranteeing it won’t return again. With that said, I told them to go ahead and put on a brand new bell, since the bell has to be removed during this process anyway.
They completed all the work and I also bought an alternate tuning slide with an identical finish. Instead of being D-shaped like the default one, this alternate slide has a C-shape and a solid-plate brace. I’ve long been curious about the effect of a smoother bend in the piping right there, and I always thought solid braces look real cool. My initial impression is there isn’t a dramatic difference however the D-shape feels ‘zingier’ and I think I prefer the original. The only way to know was to try! I think I will use the alternate slide now and then just for novelty’s sake. Who knows, maybe if I invest enough time it’ll begin to grow on me or reveal some other characteristics I haven’t yet noticed.
Along with the work on the horn I also got a copy of the book “Zig Kanstul: Last of the Great Masters” which offers a detailed lineage on where Zig picked up his talents before he had his own company. It was a pretty interesting read if you’re a brass geek, especially the parts about brassmakers King and Benge. My cornet is a King and it plays exceptionally well, so I found that link personally relevant.
Speaking of the King cornet, it was interesting to play on the Kanstul for maybe 9 months, then switch back to the King while the trumpet was in the shop, and now back to the Kanstul again. When I first got the Kanstul I knew it played better than the King but having returned to cornet and spent some quality time on it, I’m now realizing that the gulf between these two axes is wider than I had initially appreciated. Either I missed having it around, or the replacement of leadpipe/bell actually improved it a bit; either way it feels noticeably zippier and more powerful. A California supercar…
Like I said back when I first got it, the horn is only as capable as the musician piloting it, so time for me to step up my fundamentals and deliver with my tools here. When practicing recently I’ve caught myself thinking “trust the horn” when it comes time to strike into the upper register. There’s definitely a give-and-take in terms of using too much effort to play a difficult note versus relaxing and having confidence that what you go for is going to simply come out. Right now I need to play with mental balance between those two ideas, and concentrate my attention on accuracy, intonation, and “clarity” in terms of hearing a phrase in my mind as I execute it. More than ever the limiting factor is just my own self and that’s pretty inspiring.
