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I have been thinking about making myself a horn for my Standard D out of balsa wood, because it is very light and may not need a crane. I, uh, haven't really done any more thinking than that, yet. I just want something to tide me over until Union, where I hope to pick up sumthin' real. Any thoughts?

Gosh, doe your machine use a front-facing reproducer? A C or an H? If so, I have a few hopers that you may chose from

We'd love to see your design for a balsa horn, I'm sure... There is a phonographic precedent: Victor custom built an Orthophonic Victrola using balsa in the horn system, for portability in the Far East. I will look for the article.

Uncle Vanya wrote:Gosh, doe your machine use a front-facing reproducer? A C or an H? If so, I have a few hopers that you may chose from

Yeah, I have a C reproducer. Jerry B. sent it to me and it sounds great.

I could be wrong, but I feel like balsa would be devoid of any acoustic qualities whatsoever, being that it's so soft.

I thought about that, too. My solution is many coats of hard varnish.

HisMastersVoice wrote:I could be wrong, but I feel like balsa would be devoid of any acoustic qualities whatsoever, being that it's so soft.

If the horn is sealed with varnish or paint, it ought to sound alright without any metallic ring or resonances. Phonograph horns were made from several non-metallic substances, such as wood and paper-mache. I think the curvature of the horn's flare makes the biggest difference in performance.

Right, that was the idea. I was gonna lacquer it all up real nice like a surfboard or boat hull.

I remember reading years ago, when I was taking the acoustics course required for the master's in music theory, that the materials of construction made no difference in the resulting acoustical characteristics, that it was all about the dimensions and proportions of the instrument. With my usual skepticism, I was very doubtful of the validity of this assertion, and I remain so. There is a reason (probably many!) why violinists would rather play a Strad than a carbon fiber violin, or an oboist a Lorée rather than a plastic oboe. So I'm very interested in how your balsa-wood horn turns out, winsleydale. Be sure to keep us posted as you develop this project; who knows, you may be the one to discover something useful here!

Will do, whenever I actually get around to it. Still in the R&D phase as of right now.