Olsen Side Balancer

[muschem]

I haven't seen much discussion on these (https://instrumentinnovations.com/olsen-side-balancer/). My new tenor was feeling a bit nose heavy (or maybe I'm just used to feather weight carbon horns), so I tried one of these out. It really made the horn feel much more balanced - it fixed not only the front to back balance, but also the roll tendency (those sterling bells are heavy). The clamp will be familiar if you've used one of their ax handles before, and the amount of adjustment for position is great. Not only do you get side-to-side adjustment of the clamp on the cross brace, but the angular position of the post can fine tune the weight placement, so you get just the right balance. It does look somewhat different from a fixed weight, but I kind of dig it. Anyway - these are worth checking out if you're in the market for a counterweight.

[AtomicClock]

Don't tuning slide braces come in varying diameters? I'm surprised this is one-size-fits-all.

[Burgerbob]

They make a couple different ones, IIRC.

[bitbckt]

That looks remarkably similar to the Butler satellite.

[muschem]

That looks remarkably similar to the Butler satellite.

Yes, I believe they developed the satellite for Butler. They sell that version as well: https://instrumentinnovations.com/satel ... -balancer/. There's just a little less total weight on the satellite at 5.8 oz. vs 8.6 oz. on the side balancer. I have the Butler version as well, which works well for smaller tenors. On a large tenor or bass, I like the extra weight of the side balancer.

[baileyman]

Amazing anyone can sell a thing without any picture of how it works anywhere on the web.

[muschem]

Amazing anyone can sell a thing without any picture of how it works anywhere on the web.

There are some pictures on the Butler site for the satellite version: https://butlertrombones.com/shop/satell ... er-weight/

I have the side balancer installed on the cross brace of my main tuning slide, and canted to the opposite side of the bell:

sidebalancer1.JPG

sidebalancer2.JPG

sidebalancer3.JPG

Depending on your setup, it may also work well on the cross brace below the tuning slide. You'd shorten the moment arm slightly for counterbalancing the front weight that way, but the rotation offset for the bell weight should be roughly the same in that position. If I tried that on this horn, I'd have to orient the balancer more vertically and less to the side, as it would get pretty close to the back of my head otherwise.

[rudytbone]

Any issues with it fitting in a case with it attached to the bell?

[muschem]

Any issues with it fitting in a case with it attached to the bell?

I'm waiting on my DAC tenor case to arrive, but I'll check once I have it. It isn't hard to remove the post and weight if it is a problem for a particular case, but that might get old pretty quick.

[baileyman]

Well I'm glad to see that great idea hit the market. The one I made about 15 years ago was an outrigger that I could attach a standard counterweight to, and slide it left right to balance the bell rotation, along with balancing the forward tip. Worked wonderfully, but now that my wrist is not sore I no longer use it.

To do the same thing with a shorter arm requires a heavier weight.