Slotting

[tbassboneskippy]

Hello! I know slotting is discussed as part of other aspects of an instrument. From what I've inferred it's how defined a partial is, but I am open to other thoughts on this.

I am curious on interpretation. Some players I listen to (this is the jazz world) their slotting seems SO defined. Every partial change seems to have an edge to it, and when they land in the next partial, they are perfectly centered in that partial. Now, clearly, I am hearing both the practice efforts, and the experience of those players when I hear those "hard" edged partials. However, not all players seem to be as defined on their partials. Some players have more of a fuzzy edge, and I can't tell if that a choice, or may be partially due to the horn. (Or maybe those who want a more easily slotted partial sound, gravitate towards horns that support their sound).

I am working with my Edwards horn, and noticed that with the harmonic brace, there are definite improvements to slotting in certain positions, but it made me think about other aspects of the horn that players have found affects slotting.

- Mouthpiece design, throat, compression?
- Leadpipe sizes, compression?
- Slide Bore (size and single bore vs dual bore)
- Slide Metal
- Neckpipe metal
- Tuning slide shape
- Tuning slide metal
- Bell Thickness
- Bell Metal
- Bell finish

I am curious if you've notice anything in particular around the horn that to you, affects slotting. (either way, and how it changed for you) and/or if you've played any horns that were very different from a slotting perspective, and what did you remember about that horn.

Looking forward to hearing thoughts.

[Geordie]

Some thoughts here:
viewtopic.php?t=19366&hilit=Slotting

[tbdana]

I end up playing a lot of jazz, and in so doing I play fast stuff and stuff in the upper register where partials are very close.

For me, I don't always thing hard slotting is a great thing. Of course I want notes clean and centered. I even made a thread here complaining that I thought jazz trombonists needed to make more of an effort to play cleanly. But there's a point at which things slot "too well," when then renders swift changes between partials more difficult. I want a horn that slots, but that doesn't limit my ability to get in and out of that partial extremely fast. Trombones have a hard enough time playing quickly, I don't need slotting to make it more difficult. I rely on ears and chops to center my notes and make them accurate. I don't need extra help from the horn. But I obviously don't need a horn that makes slotting more difficult, either. There's a happy medium.

And yes, some horns slot so hard that fast movement over partials is more difficult.

[AtomicClock]

I imagine lip trills sound very different on horns at the two extremes. Is this true?

[tkelley216]

Leadpipe and weight distribution seem to have the biggest impacts on slotting for me. They also are the easiest to change without going to a factory or store.

The Edwards harmonic brace has been marketed as a way to make response adjustments normally achieved by leadpipes, but having many different configurations available versus the 1-3 leadpipes that most horns have. My personal issue with the harmonic brace (played a T350HB for a few years) is that the pillars dampen different overtones to achieve response changes. I liked the sound of the horn best without any pillers, and seeing how few people with harmonic braces actually use the pillars, I don't think I'm the only one.

Christian Griego will also make changes to the spit valve to loosen or tighten the slotting. Not sure exactly what he does or how he does it, but it made a pretty big change to my horn the last time I visited the shop.

[salsabone]

Tbbshippy - I have owned(and still do!) 40 + trombones. I mostly played jazz/commercial stuff. My beloved King 3b silversonic is a monster, however if you are slightly off you don't really get the note you are going for! Instead you get a fuzzy nothing. The complete opposite is my Reynolds argenta, where all of a sudden you go from yhe note you were trying to hit on to the next partial up or down!!!. My example ar a hard slotting horn vs a super flexible slotting horn. Salsabone