Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: buying a brand new horn......and playing it in

Posted by Tom on April 23, 2008 in reply to Re: Re: Re: Re: buying a brand new horn......and playing it in.:
I know horn makers who debate whether an instrument should be left work-hardened or annealed - annealing is the heating process that softens metal that has become hardened through being bent and moved about. One acquaintance insists he has never encountered an historic instrument that was hard - removing the lead use as a filler in teh bending process would also anneal the metal. More recently fillers (low temperature alloy; ice) make it possible to produce a 'hard' horn - but whether it plays any differently, who knows. Also, whether freezing a horn makes the metal more like work-hardened brass or annealed brass is beyond my metallurgical ken. Physicist?
Tom
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