Antique Kruspe "Bass"

[slipmo]

Thrilled to have this beautiful Kruspe fully restored and in playing condition! My shopmate, Brad Close, did absolutely top tier stunning work bringing this instrument back to life and I can't wait to perform on this gem soon! It has the most amazing sound! Obviously it originally wasn't a dual valve bass, but a previous owner had these inline valves incorporated by a skilled craftsman in a wonderfully tasteful way. Tim Dowling suggested the valves are by Siegfried Dreier and was probably modified in Markneukirchen possibly by Helmut or Stephan Voigt (Thanks Tim for the info!)

The bottom inner tube is original and raw brass, top one was replaced. The outer slide is all original. Taking all design elements and specs into consideration, I suspect this is a tenorbass from 1910-1915 period. Bell measures just a touch shy of 9.25", the slide bore is hard to tell because it has soldered on stockings but somewhere between .535-.545" bore is my guess. Its a straight bore, not dual and it takes something close to a modern large shank mouthpiece, there is no leadpipe which is period correct. The modified valves and wrap look nearly period correct but function as a modern valve, pitched in F/Gb/D. The instrument is all red brass with German silver trim. The snakes are works of art as is the engraving on the kranz.

This instrument is not as large as my 1930s Kruspe single valve bass, but its still quite capable of a very broad bass sound. It's one of the most rewarding instruments I've played, the personal connection and tactile feedback is really special... it feels like a giant bass sackbut in this sense, capable of the most intimate timbre but also can brighten and cut. I can't wait to perform on it in a few weeks where we're going to use a full section of romantic posaunen on Dvorak's 7th.

Enjoy the photos!

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[GabrielRice]

Wow, Noah. Wow.

I just played Dvorak 7th last week. Perfect piece for it.

[dxhall]

I’ve seen this sort of accordion-like sleeves on other horns. What’s the advantage of these over conventional smooth sleeves?

[ithinknot]

I’ve seen this sort of accordion-like sleeves on other horns. What’s the advantage of these over conventional smooth sleeves?

It's a decorative tradition... like C17th ripple mouldings, or suit sleeve buttons, it's there Because.

Also doubles as a güiro so you can add some percussion while counting rests


Looks fabulous, Noah.

[Kbiggs]

I’ve seen this sort of accordion-like sleeves on other horns. What’s the advantage of these over conventional smooth sleeves?

As ithinknot wrote, it’s a decorative tradition.

In the German tradition, the ferrules—the accordion-like sleeves—are much longer compared to modern ferrules. Ferrules are the piece of tubing that, when soldered to together, join two tubes of the same diameter (or sometimes different diameters).

Many of the surviving Renaissance and Baroque trumpets, trombones, horns, and various brass instruments were highly decorated. The snakes on the slide crook and the tuning slide, the engraved and embossed nickel kranz, etc., are all typical of decorations used in late 19th century to mid 20th c. German trombones.

Why? A thing of beauty is a joy forever. Beautiful to play and beautiful to behold.

[ithinknot]

Yes, and the ferrules are longer because they look back to the sackbut tradition of friction fit - as opposed to soft soldered - joints. (And, FWIW, tuning in the slide crook survived *much* longer in some places.) Those ferrules had to be longer to have any structural stability or airtightness, and once you have a long sleeve in a reasonably heavy wall thickness you might as well cover it in some serious engraving. Over time, that kind of handwork gives way to exclusively lathe-derived detailing, and soldering becomes the norm, but the ferrules stay long and decorated.

[Burgerbob]

Super cool horn! What mouthpiece are you using on it? I have one I think might match pretty well.

[slipmo]

Super cool horn! What mouthpiece are you using on it? I have one I think might match pretty well.

I haven't found a great match yet, but I just ordered something from Schmidt that will hopefully be good! Whatcha got that you think might work maybe drop me a message