crazy idea... interchangeable bells

[bloke]

Looking at my "hybrid" kaiser Miraphone B-flat (basically a blend between a German kaiser B-flat and a so-called "American-style" 6/4 bell shape), I see that the only NON-detachable brace that secures the bell is the one to the upper bow. (The mouthpipe is totally detachable for cleaning, and some of those detachable braces are on the bell.)

If Miraphone would fabricate a slip-joint system for the bottom bow (and I had spending money - once again - as I did in the past), it would be interesting/fun to outfit this instrument with interchangeable bells...this 20-inch one and a smaller-flare one.

The bell - including insertion - is 27" tall, and I wonder how large (if they could still spin one) one of the old (really tall) model 90 (aka 190) kaiser bells would be - were it cut off at the bottom at the same length.

I had one of those 90's here, and the bell rim diameter was 17-1/3" (44 cm)...
That would be enough of a difference to sound more like a "pure" kaiser B-flat...

...but WHY, bloke...??

I LOVE what it does...
I'm just wondering: "What ELSE could it do?"

[kingrob76]

I wonder if you could replicate that with a bell insert of sort. Not really feasible for anything other than testing, but, a brass shape inside the bell that effectively reduced the taper and flare while leaving the original bell intact. Wessex has two York copies with different bell flares - I preferred the one with the smaller flare in a side by side but both have a place. A screw bell option would be interesting but that would impact the way a bell resonates, but so would an insert I suspect.

[bloke]

I wonder if you could replicate that with a bell insert of sort. Not really feasible for anything other than testing, but, a brass shape inside the bell that effectively reduced the taper and flare while leaving the original bell intact. Wessex has two York copies with different bell flares - I preferred the one with the smaller flare in a side by side but both have a place. A screw bell option would be interesting but that would impact the way a bell resonates, but so would an insert I suspect.

Assuming no clumsy boo-boos at that juncture (dents/flat spots/etc.), with the mouthpipe braces and the bell-to-bow brace, it might be enough to pull one wrap of teflon tape around the bell at the top of the insertion area.