I wonder if anyone else has ever experienced this kind of thing:
I`ve been a pro bone player for over 30 years (I`ve been playing in total for over 40!) and this is a new one to me! I play lead in the only major full-time touring bigband in Europe (over 250 gigs a year) and am on tour right now. My favourite horn (the one I have with me) is an old 1932 Conn 24H. It is (or rather, was) the best horn I`ve ever played - for the type of thing I do. That is until 4 days ago. It appears to have "died". It won`t speak properly in the out positions, and the upper register (A/Bb upwards) has closed right up, like there`s some crap stuck down inside it. The horn is perfectly clean, both inside and out, and in perfect mechanical order - just as good as the day it came out of the Conn factory in 1932! What could have happened? Can a horn "die"? Anyone else come across this kind of thing? I have plenty of other horns, (but back at home, of course) so I`ll have to put up with it for the rest of the tour, but I just can`t figure out what could have happened to it. Similar experiences, or ideas would be interesting to hear. It ain`t going to bring my old lady back, but hey, what do you guys think?