Edwards/shires

[Indiebass1993]

Hello everyone!

Has anybody stuck an Edwards slide on a shires valve section? If so, what all needed to be modded? I really like the blow of Edward's slides and am curious what they would sound like with a shires bell/valve combination.

Thanks!

[Burgerbob]

Edwards slides will fit. It's not perfect, and the threads are just slightly different, but there shouldn't be any issues. If you really want to you can just have a new tenon put on the slide.

[pompatus]

Hello everyone!

Has anybody stuck an Edwards slide on a shires valve section?

That’s my exact setup, right now, and it plays great! The tenon fits the receiver as well as anyone could ask, and the nut threads about halfway on. I’ve had no issues with slippage or separation, and I’ve been playing that setup for the better part of the past 18 months.

[Indiebass1993]

That's good to know. I had a Bach tenor with an Edwards slide and it didn't quite fit perfectly, but well enough where it was never an issue.

[Matt K]

I used a Shires valve section on an otherwise Bach horn for several years. The tenon on Bachs and Edwards are nominally the same. Sometimes there is a slight difference but they usually work well together. Shires valves on Edwards/Bach slides typically work too. There are fewer threads on the Shires and the shape is a little different, but usually there are enough threads that it tightens no problem. The other direction doesn't work as often... or in my experience never. Bach/Edwards valves will want to keep tightening but there won't be any more threads on the Shires tenon, so it ends up being a little lose. Lose enough that I wouldn't want to play a horn like that, especially a bass. Flops all over the place!

[elmsandr]

I used a Shires valve section on an otherwise Bach horn for several years. The tenon on Bachs and Edwards are nominally the same. Sometimes there is a slight difference but they usually work well together. Shires valves on Edwards/Bach slides typically work too. There are fewer threads on the Shires and the shape is a little different, but usually there are enough threads that it tightens no problem. The other direction doesn't work as often... or in my experience never. Bach/Edwards valves will want to keep tightening but there won't be any more threads on the Shires tenon, so it ends up being a little lose. Lose enough that I wouldn't want to play a horn like that, especially a bass. Flops all over the place!

Note, I play shires valve sections with bach or Edwards slides…. That is not quite an accurate description of what is happening with the nut.

What the nut is supposed to do: the inside top of the nut is supposed to grab the collar on the receiver and clamp it down towards the slide, forcing more clamp load onto the taper joint.

What it does on a shires valve section with a bach/Edwards slide, the thread pitch doesn’t match so it only goes until the threads bind up a little and it stops rattling. This works fine. The taper is and always has been what holds your bell and slide together.

So, to the OP, works “well enough” is a good description of it. I’ve played almost all my time on horns like that for several years now, never caused me a problem on a gig.

Cheers,
Andy