TromboneChat

What do the silver bracing in German style bells do? I remember once seeing a German style Edwards bell on Facebook.
Peter Steiner used to play a bell with the German style bracing on his Thein bell as well.

Are you talking about the Krantz / garland around the end of the bell? German style trombones tend to use very thin metal on the bell, so the ring helps to stabilize the sound. German trombones also utilize "snakes" on the back of the tuning slide and on the bottom of the slide end bow to modify how the horn plays.

One small correction: German bells are thin and use the Kranz (bell ring) to stabilize the sound.

That must raise holy heck with repair techs if a bent or dented bell shows up. Do they unsolder the kranz and smooth out both parts, then resolder back together? Crazy big bucks if so....

I remember hearing/playing two B&S MS14's back to back that were identical besides the fact one had the silver bell garland and one did not. The one with the garland sounded more centered, which I preferred. Guessing there is a reason you don't see them on many "American style" horns with 8.5" bells, but it worked great on the larger 9" bell B&S.

The Kranz (“ring”) serves two purposes. It protects the very thin bell from damage. Traditional German trombones and trumpets have very thin and soft brass bell flares, so the Kranz and the bead that holds the Kranz to the bell flare protect the bell as a unit from damage.

The Kranz also helps to provide focus and core to the sound, and helps keep it from breaking up, blaring, spreading, etc.

The Kranz traditionally is held to the bell flare with the bell bead. The bead is crimped down to the hold Kranz to the brass bell flare, not soldered.