Bach 16 bell section with XO 1632 LT slide

[gdurity]

Here is something I sort of stumbled across. I have a mid-1970’s Bach 16 LTM. I’ve played this horn as is for a long time. I took a very long hiatus from any regular playing (20+ years). Over Covid I decided to resurrect this horn and start playing a bit again. Nothing like a pandemic to bring you back to something you truly love doing.

The 16M needed some slight repair work and a couple of years ago I was able to get a great deal on brand new XO 1632 LT. I thought this would be a good back up horn whenever the 16M was out of commission. I ordered a Brassark 32H lead pipe for the 16M and while the tech was working on it started fooling around with horn configurations inspired by some interesting topics in this channel.
Anyway, I tried attaching the XO 1632 slide section to the 16M bell section. The threads meshed nicely and everything was locked into place. Much to my happy surprise this configuration played very nicely. I like the way you can steer the sound of the Bach, but I also like the way the 1632 locks in partials and has an open low register for such a small bore. The 1632 slide is also very light and quick which added to the fun. It was sort of a best of both worlds situation. Tuning is very slightly different in some positions and partials, but nothing a small hand position adjustment by ear can’t resolve. I’m playing on a standard Bach 6 1/2 AL these days for the most part and seems to work well with this set up.

Not sure if anyone has ever tried this configuration before, but thought I would share.

Gordon

[hsparks1]

Good to know! I've been playing on a 1632 for about 5 years now and love it, but had been daydreaming about getting a second bell of some kind to modify for a screw-bell situation- travel, etc. Opens up more options...

[baileyman]

Could it be the .500 bore?