Mistakes? I’ve made a few 

With school out I’ve been working on another horn building project. Elements of it are done, and others are getting close.  

This morning was a big one as it was the last long stretch of buffing of parts. I buffed all the parts for the F, E, and Eb crooks. These were built up from straight tubes supplied by Richard Seraphinoff to make a reproduction of a Cousenon natural horn.  

Buffing is the operation where you bring parts up to a shine, using a compound on a buffing wheel attached to something like a bench grinder. In my case, it actually is a modified bench grinder, so it is not the optimal machine but it works pretty well.  

One thing instilled to me years ago by Rick (I built my first horn as a Doctoral student with his guidance) was to clean up every part as you go. So that is my habit to this day. If you follow custom horn builders, some don’t do this, they clean up everything at the end in a mega binge of cleaning. I like that the job is spread out.  

I have been told that among workers at band instrument manufacturers the artisans who do the buffing are the highest paid. I certainly would think at least that they should be, as it is really not easy to do and my least favorite operation to do. It is physically and mentally demanding, but also risky in that you can lose the parts into the wheel and do damage.  

There are many steps to building a horn but when you get to it, things go in an order. That is part of the appeal if it in a way, you keep organized and work steadily and it will come together.  

Which brings us to “exhibit A.” The single dent in the bigger tube was literally the first piece I was cleaning up, and the multiple dents in the other tube (the leadpipe for the F crook) was the last piece left to clean up. About an hour and a half of good buffing between the two.  

I was able to save the parts of course. That is why you have a set of dent balls, to fix dents! The F crook dents came nearly completely out, that was a relief, although they also are mostly hidden under a sleeve. The other dent, in the Eb crook, it came out like 75%. Acoustically it is nothing so I’m OK with that as this is my horn. It is also not in a very visible location. If I were building it to sell, I’d either fix it more or make a new part.  

The horn building has been a great project for the early summer but will end soon. Today the overnight low was 66 but by the end of next week we have overnight lows over 80 degrees! That pretty much will shut down the shop. I should get Eb, E, and F completely done and maybe also a coupler and G crook playable if I’m lucky.  

Back to the main topic, on making mistakes, I’ve made a number on this horn. I try to learn and improve from each one, and I think that is the attitude you have to have, keep working steadily and do the best job you can.