Posted by Carl on April 20, 2001 at 14:16:19:
In Reply to: Leadpipe Taper posted by Phil on April 20, 2001 at 10:08:45:
Leadpipe taper has an enormous effect on intonation, timbre, and response.
My experience has been based entirely on trial-and-error experiments, not on 'real' expertise. That being said, I've made upwards of 40 leadpipes so far, and I'm slowly getting an idea of what works and what doesn't. Caveat: This is really where it crosses over from acoustics and metalworking to 'voodoo'. A few general points:
-In my experience, truly conical leadpipes don't work very well. The intonation is quite bad. While your factory pipe may look conical, it isn't. Measure with a micrometer.
-'Straight' pipes also don't work well. Response and intonation suffer.
So far, I've had success with most of the flare coming in the last 1/3 of the pipe. This seems to adequately balance the three components of intonation, timbre, and response. Of course, I make variations for different playing situations.
Carl "one a these days I'm gonna update my page" Kleinsteuber