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so... over the weekend I bought a baritone. I still want to construct a suitcase instrument, and if I can remove the bell of this thing, it will fit exactly in a carry on suitcase with room to spare

as small as the bell is, I was thinking a French horn bell ring would be perfect for it. I've found a place called pope horns that sells them, but they are closed until the middle of next month, so in the meantime I thought I would ask if anyone knows of a good source for a set, new or used.

Try Houghton Horns.......... Keller, TX.

I bought a few sets from Josh Landress in NYC. He has several different tapers available.

Paulver wrote: ↑Tue Sep 27, 2022 7:35 am Try Houghton Horns.......... Keller, TX.

I play in a symphony with Dennis. I'm going to see him on Sunday night, if I haven't located one by then I will talk to him

I'm finding that hard to believe and will be interested in seeing the result. A horn ring is not very big.

The ID of the bell-end of my ring (measured with a ruler) is about 2 - 13/16" and it seems that is going to leave a lot of baritone bell to fit in a carry-on. From what I have seen, rings are all about the same except for the threads. But perhaps your vision of how it will work is better than mine.

I'm trying to get a measurement on one. The throat of the baritone above the leadpipe is less than 2.5 inches.


Thanks for that measurement, that sounds perfect. Where I would need to put this ring, the bell is anywhere from 2.4 to 3.0 inches

See above for the gross measurement of mine --- there are lots of rings; Alex threads, Lawson threads, Schmid threads, Conn threads, Holton threads, X brand threads, and they don't fit each other. Horn players like to play with different bells and sometimes the thread difference is frustrating. Get the cheapest one you can find because the threads won't matter to you.

From the bottom of the bow to the top of the valves is 18 inches. From the bottom of the bow to the top of the bell is 24

My carry on bag is 21 inches tall so removing the part of the bell that is even with the top of the valves leaves me a 6 inch tall section that can be places in the suitcase either vertical or horizontal. (the bell is 8.3 inches across)

I can adjust the taper near the bell cut to match whatever ring I get. It's not the way a horn player would do it, but I'm not a horn player

When I first got my 186 all those years ago, before I transformed it into my Bessophone, it was the factory detachable bell variant. Of course, the collar and tenon were much thicker than will be on something as small as a baritone. It was even thicker than a typical souzy bell joint - German overengineering at its finest. That said, I could never completely get 1st ledger line 1st valve Eb to center properly. The collar and tenon must have damped an anti-node or something. In the end, that is why I changed out the detachable bell for a solid bell. Not only did the tone of the tuba improve overall, but I had clear and solid intonation and that pesky Eb locked in after the bell swap. I hope you don't have any such issues with your project.

I hope not but for a Tuba Christmas horn it should be fine

I ran a French horn repair and customization shop for years. I got my rings from Dave Houser, owner of Houser Mouthpieces. https://housermouthpiece.net/

Bought and arrived. Measured with a digital caliper and the bell is already marked for cutting.

Sending them off to Andersons on Monday for plating and while they are gone I'll be cutting the bell.

This is going to be a fun project. The baritone actually plays really nice. It's pretty much a smaller version of the Yamaha 321 euphonium. I've played the Besson compensating Euph, and I'm not sure why, but this one has a nicer tone.

Awesome! Somehow I missed this update. I'm looking forward to seeing it!

so far so good! I was hoping to get the ring on without taking the bell off, but that didn't work out, so now I have to put it back together

or rather I'm going to take it to a shop to get some dent work done, and probably get them to do the rest. I've done enough and reached the end of my skill level

finished! next up...cutting the foam to fit the horn in the suitcase

Very cool. Nice vision Mark.