Posted by Phil Stafford on January 04, 2004 at 01:45:06:
In Reply to: A question of Bore posted by Ill-Educated on January 03, 2004 at 10:44:52:
Well I'd say it's more of a matter of sound quality....if you have the air. I've played small bore horns and they sound....well, small. Theres a lack of presence with a smaller bore...maybe someone more in the know will enlighten us with why or how this is (or even if I'm wrong ....I'm due this century). The column of air with a small bore is just that...small and thinner. This makes it easier to support (easy to fill up a small horn with air), but makes for a smaller sound. I've got a Mirafone 191 (.840 bore) and its huge compared to my 186 (something like .736). The difference is very noticeable. I've got a bigger sound and I feel more grounded in each note. The air is much more free blowing and its more responsive. However, it takes more air to fill up that horn. This is not for a player with little air.
To put this in applicable terms, smaller bores are more suited for players with less air to put through their horns. This can also be a good thing if you have a lot of air and just want to maximize the sound (the analogy would be buying a small japanese car vs. a big American Truck....the truck will get you everywhere but it sure costs in gas). A smaller sound would be desirable in smaller ensembles or solo work....I'm looking for an F horn for just this purpose (although it'll be as big a bore as I can get...hehehe). I use my big bore horn to support my large ensembles and it's great for that...but I'm using a LOT of air to make that happen.
As an aside, once I moved over to a bigger bore, my range widened by about a third...my friend's St. Pete had the same effect on my sound (which was good news to me but NOT to him...especially as I had a lower range at the time as well...). I dont know the reasons for this other that the backpressure from the old horn was just making it harder to pull my notes up...just a thought.
As you can see, all my money's for the bigger bore. If you've got the air to support it, get the biggest bore you can :D You'll get a bigger sound out of it.