Trumpet

[Steve Schlumpf]

Very impressive! Never seen anything like it! Thanks for sharing!!

[John K Jordan]

Fantastic!

i play trumpet and horn and was also intrigued by the recent article about the wooden french horn. I don't think I have enough years left to make one myself! I did wonder if lignum vitae would be good for valves.

Thank you for posting. Please post more pictures - do you have some of the work in progress?

[Ken Glass]

Eric,
Color me thoroughly impressed. Amazing work and very beautiful Wood also. It must have taken a lot of planning and time to produce a working instrument like this one. Just WOW!!

[John K Jordan]

I forgot to suggest: this belongs in the magazine! You have to at least send them pictures.

[Jeramie Johnson]

Damn...as others, I played one of these for a few years growing up. That looks much better than the brass one.....your seams are all hidden!

Exceptionally well done.

[John K Jordan]

BTW: Awesome. I guess a clarinet would be a piece of cake, right?

The valves on a clarinet (or sax or flute) might send you to the insane asylum!

If building for the sound, I think I'd make something without valves at all!

Just for fun, I built this indian spirit flute/whistle into a magic wand, played here by Billy Whitefox:
JCC_IMG_2632.jpg JCC_IMG_2617.jpg

JKJ

[Eric Gourieux]

Thanks to all for the kind words. I'll work on a video and let you when it's done. The "U" turns are turned as a circle, cut in half and glued back together. Here are some pics of the process. I had to make several jigs in the process in order to get the angles correct for valve attachment as well as drilling out the valve holes.

I didn't take a lot of pictures of the process, but here are a few (I don't know how to rotate the pics, so sorry about that). The first, third and fourth pics are the process of turning the "U" sections. I tried these several different ways and found this to be the best for me. First, I turned to the diameter that I wanted, then parted in half, turned away the inside of the tube from both halves and glued the 2 halves back together. Once the glue cured, I cut the hollowed circle in half creating the hollowed "U". Picure #2 is several of the pieces drying after spraying with lacquer.

[Lori Kleinberg]

Amazing piece of work Eric.

[Dick Mahany]

Eric,
I keep going back and looking at your pics. The more I review them, the more your detail blows me away.

I tried the trumpet for a short time, but didn't have the coordination, so I found the Trombone......Infinetly variable, much more forgiving than the Trumpet , perfectly suited me, so now I just have to think of how to turn those loooong tubes

[Len Mullin]

Wow, what an amazing bit of work. It's very impressive, and it's something to be very proud to have accomplished.
Len

[Wes Ramsey]

Eric,
I keep going back and looking at your pics. The more I review them, the more your detail blows me away.

I tried the trumpet for a short time, but didn't have the coordination, so I found the Trombone......Infinetly variable, much more forgiving than the Trumpet , perfectly suited me, so now I just have to think of how to turn those loooong tubes

Just a SWAG, but the long 'bone tubes would probably be made similar to how Eric did his, but you could use a drill bit instead of a gouge to hollow it. Then split the sections in half and overlap the joints by several inches so you didn't just have end grain glued to end grain.

Beautiful work Eric! I've never much had the urge to do something like that until now. Probably still won't do it, but at least it made the 'in-the-future-when-I-have-nothing-else-to-turn' list. I played French horn for many years, but these days I stick mostly to flat, wooden instruments strung with tiny metal wires constantly trying to pull the ends closer together. Much less of a challenge than those made of brass

[paul cottingham]

What an amazing piece of work!
How does it sound?

[John K Jordan]

Eric, how did you bore the long tubes? That seems difficult.

I have thought about making one too but it seemed so time consuming! Do you have a guess at the time it took? If I make one someday I might stick to a bugle. :-)

Thanks for the additional pictures. I have several musician friends and woodworking friends who are interested too. Woodturners always wonder how you made the curved tubes!

JKJ

[Eric Gourieux]

Eric, how did you bore the long tubes? That seems difficult.

I have thought about making one too but it seemed so time consuming! Do you have a guess at the time it took? If I make one someday I might stick to a bugle. :-)

Thanks for the additional pictures. I have several musician friends and woodworking friends who are interested too. Woodturners always wonder how you made the curved tubes!

JKJ

John, I just drilled out the long tubes with a long drill bit and then turned the outside to the desired diameter. The biggest challenge is to be sure the bit stays centered and doesn't wander. The bell was hollowed in the traditional manner. It's tedious, precise work but not that difficult. Lots of drilling and spindle work. I worked on the various parts (approximately 78 pieces) over a 2 month period. Knowing what I know now, I think I could produce another one over a few weeks.

[Dan Hintz]

Freaking... awesome... !