TromboneChat

I’ve been thinking about spring weights for valves, but no one really talks about it for trombone as much as any piston instrument. I play on a set of Shires axials, and the Gb is heavier as normal, but one of my friends had a set where the Gb is lighter that’s the F valve, and considerably lighter than my Gb. A Thein I tried with Olsen axials also felt significantly lighter than any other axials I’ve tried.
Additionally, I’ve also tried a few Edwards rotors and they all feel significantly heavier than any other rotors or my axials.
What is the forum’s thoughts on this?

Are you referring to the springs' weight - or the force required to actuate them?

I think I like the Ed Thayer design I have where you can choose which hole to install the spring to set different levels of preload.

I think if you want to discuss getting different gauges of wire and different windings to adjust spring force…. I will make fun of you as much as I have some of the greatest piston valve players in the world. They shall remain un-named here, but as the sound guy I told them I was surprised at how loud they still were after all that effort.

As for adjusting the tension, I like mine as strong as I can get them to return with force and not bounce. I’ve yet to move a lever on a trombone and think “that’s too stiff.”

Cheers,
Andy