Trumpet Questions

[ADAM PROUTY]

Top of the Morn to ya gents.  Im trying to dissolve some of the mystery these trumpets are causing or about to cause for me.  I bought a 7mm pen mandrel from hut would this be sufficient to use in a trumpet or should I look else where for something else.  I have read the "Dogcatchers" way. I was wondering about some of your own experiences.  I also was wondering is a 1x1 blank turned into a 3/4 in dowel gonna be big enough??  and what length do ya'll make the average trumpet.  Sorry for all the questions Im new to the call making scene and im trying to be a sponge and soak up all your knowledge that your willing to share.  I think this is one of the best and most rewarding hobbies out there!!!  Thanks

[raalston]

I reccommend a dowel to be around 1 1/4 inch in diameter to begin with. This will give you plenty of material to work with to get the shape that you want. I prefer a trumpet's exhaust end to wind up at around 7/8 to 1 inch in diameter and around 6 1/2 inches long. What a lot of people use for the mouth piece is 1/4 to 5/16" "Delrin". I prefer 5/16" in diameter and it needs to be around 2 1/2 inches long and don't stick it any further than 1 inch into the trumpet. Use a 3/32" size drill bit for the hole in the mouth piece this is in my opinion the best size to use.
If you have any more questions feel free to ask.
Ron

[ADAM PROUTY]

Thanks.  Have ya'll ever used dowels on demand .com  I was looking and its pretty cool

[raalston]

Don't beleive I've heard of that one. I presume you have a lathe you can get you some Walnut or Cherry 1 1/2" squares off ebay pretty reasonable to practice on and later on you can get into some of the harder and more dense woods to make your trumpets out of or perhaps some dowel stock acrylic that makes an outstanding trumpet as well.
Ron.

[Prairie Game Calls]

I use Dowels on Demand and what Great people to deal with!
On your trumpet you need to taper the inside it is not straight inside. I like to use a 6" blank and I turn it using centers. 60 degree for the tail stock and a 1/2" SORBY SPUR center. I drill a 9/32" hole 4 1/2" into the blank. The last 1 1/2" I drill it 5/32"bit. My mouth piece is 2 1/2" long with a 3/32 hole and I turn them so the last 1" is 1/4" dia outside then I drill my blank 1" deep with the 1/4" bit on the end with the 5/32 hole and insert my mouth piece. I use a #6 tapered reamer to get the taper in the inside of the trumpet. Hope this helps you.

Larry

[ADAM PROUTY]

Larry where do you get your tapered reamers from  and would walnut make a good sound on a trumpet or no??  What are some species that sound the best in your opinion.  @ Ron thanks again for the help.

[Prairie Game Calls]

http://www.drillbitsworld.com/Spiral_Flute-6_Spiral_Flute_Right_Hand.html Try this place.

The best woods are hard and closed grain. The open grain woods absorb the moisture when you use the call and then it swells and changes the sound and makes it harder to draw air up the channel. Do not finish the inside of the trumpet leave unfinished. I like Cocobolo, Bocote, Blackwood, Osage, Any of the Rosewoods work well, Pink Ivory and Acrylic too. English Walnut will work too. Now I have made them from Black Walnut and they will work. As you get better at making them you will find you will want to use some better suited woods.

Larry

[Prairie Game Calls]

I should tell you also at the Bell of the trumpet I like to open it up a bit to maybe 1/2" or so I use a tapered grinding burr to hogg out the wood then I sand it using my elect hand drill with a piece of Stainless 1/4" tubing with a slit in it in which I insert a piece of cloth sand paper folded in half so it stays in. Then I run it in and out until I get it smooth.
If I get some time here I will take some pictures of my steps and show you how I do it.

Larry

[Mark at Bad Medicine Game Calls]

Those are excellent posts Larry!  Most trumpet makers aren't willing to share dimensions or even give a starting place.  It almost seems as if they want to keep trumpet making a secret.  Thank you for sharing.   
    Mark

[raalston]

If you don't mind spending a little bit this is one place that you can get a step drill bit made for you that will save a lot of time in drilling out the inside of the barrel of the trumpet. www.wlfuller.com  You can drill the aperature out using the step bit with minimal sanding afterwards. You will still have to flare out the end of the trumpet but that's not difficult to do as Larry gave you a good example of a way to do that. As a large number of quality flute makers use Blackwood for their fine instruments I also prefer the quality and sound clarity of Blackwood over any other wood that I have used. This is a musical instrument that you are wanting to make. Acrylic is a man made material that gives a surprisingly high quality of reproduction of sound when used for a turkey trumpet and in my opinion sounds just as good as the Blackwood and it turns on the lathe very similar to wood. With turning acrylic trumpets I use a large animal shot needle filled with water for lubrication of the inside of the barrel while drilling.
 Walnut will work and is a less expensive material to use and would be a good "practice" wood. With the Walnut use a  sealer inside the barrel and it will help the wood not to absorb as much of the sound. I put Olive oil in the barrels of my Blackwood trumpets and let them "soak" for a few days. I clean them out with a dry cloth wrapped around a tapered shaft that I made.

Hope this helps!
Ron

[Prairie Game Calls]

Now the measurements I post will work just fine for a good sounding trumpet but you can tweak those measurements any way you like to come up with your own style sound etc. You can make the blank longer or shorter. The mouth piece can have a small dia and it can be larger. The smaller the hole in the mouth piece the higher the sound from the trumpet. You can get letter size bits to customize your hole for the mouth piece. The larger the hole it will have a deeper sound and will take more air to run it. Shorter the blank higher the pitch and the faster the trumpet responds. Longer blanks have deeper sound and takes more air to draw up the horn to make the sound. You can take my measurements and make the diameters smaller or larger for the horn it self. So play with it and see what you get but have fun with it!
Drilling the blanks is a pain. I started drilling them on the drill press but I got too much run out of the bit. Now I round my blanks and then use my Barracuda chuck on my lathe to drill it. I use my reamer on the lathe turn the speed down to a slow setting so I don't burn it up. Like Ron said go easy with the acrylic and cool it to drill but once done you will be quite happy with the sound of one. Good luck guys!

Larry

[ADAM PROUTY]

larry and Ron Im blown away by your hospitality Thanks so much Im gonna try everything and Ill order that equipment and the wood on Monday.  You guys are awesome I think we could benefit from a good trumpet tutorial on here.

[Lon @ First Flight Game Calls]

Marvin did a great tutorial on trumpets and gives a good starting point for this call. You can see it if you go to

http://thogamecallsforums.com/index.php/topic,3463.0.html


I had some difficulty understanding what was happening on the inside of the call so I did this:




These calls have a distinct learning curve to make and to use.  Practice, practice, practice.

Good luck


Lon

[ADAM PROUTY]

Lon Im going to ask a stupid question,  I take it that those are inside diameters??  if not what do the measure ments represent

[raalston]

Prout09,
The inside tapering diameter of your trumpet should be something like this,,, at the beginning smaller portion of the taper 1/8 - 5/32 inch in diameter, at the larger exhaust end of the taper 1/2 inch in diameter. This tapered portion should extend aproxiamately 3 1/2 inches. The tapered aperature should be as gradual as possible from the smaller end up to the larger 1/2 inch end. When you are ready to begin drilling the blank out mark the dead center of one end of the blank. Afterwards insert the blank into the chuck on the lathe with the previously marked end facing towards the opposite tail piece end. Position the blank in the chuck so that it is as perfectly straight as possible and tighten it firmly in place. Insert a long 1/8 inch drill bit into the chuck on the opposite tail piece end. Be sure the tip of the bit will start precisely into the previously marked dead center of the blank. Drill the pilot hole all the way through the blank with the 1/8 inch bit. Now you're ready to begin drilling out the tapered portion. Also, especially if you are using one of the very dense woods like Blackwood or Cocobolo be sure to frequently back out the drill bit and pick out the wood filled flutes of the bit. This may not be the best way to do this but it is a way I have found that works well for me.

Ron