Your welcome.

Patrick, I am mystified. You seem to write in riddles which I don't quite follow, following quite a few of Joe's posts. What exactly are you saying? Or is it just a form of informal greeting... "Hi Joe"?

Maybe I can help. It is called having a sense of humor. We need some of that from time to time and I always enjoy your humor Patrick!

I got one for you.

Cool and helpful, that I what I always see...comming from Joe B!

Sorry, blurp...
It should read.

Cool and helfull, that is what I always see, coming from our Joe B!

Hee...hee..hee

Sums, I think you had it better the first time but we get the idea. Lol!! Nice poetry.

Oh, I finally found the gemstone you wanted.

Quote from me: "facts: ...Bigio stopper's work for some and not for others. " Reply from Micron I don't think that is a fact at all. The fact is that some players BELIEVE that changing the stopper to a Bigio works for them.

Well, I can't argue with that either. However, if there is a difference, I've presented a working theory, one speculation from acoustical science, that could support why there is an effect.

With regards to adding Mass....

My first skepticism came about when people were telling me that a heavy crown changed their tone... Being skeptical, I made a honker of a crown..solid brass...and not hearing any difference (maybe feeling a little from playing though) proceeded to a Flutist's house...barged in and without explanation asked her to tell me if should heard any difference. Here's A...Here's B. Sawpping the crowns at random on the same flute. (she had her back to me and was clueless as to what I was doing...if anything at times...)

Do you know that she was able to identify the heavy crown 100% of the time? After going through that routine at least 20 times with that success rate I became a believer. The trick then was come up with an explanation. (that's why I try to explain the Bigio stopper effect as well)

Trumpets for example use heavy bottom caps or heavy mouthpieces (2 different effects based on the same idea). The idea is that by adding mass the metal is made a bit "stiffer." In other words, the ability to sympathetically resonant at any given frequency is reduced, which reduces interference and improves stability and focus of the standing wave..

Re: Patrick...
Patrick and I are "OLD" friends. We were undergrads together, and fraternity brothers as well...

I'm actually older but he looks older...
But I can eat more pizza..

Joe B

Alieannie asked: In your opinion, you think there is anything, crown, stoppers, headjoints, anything at all that improves tone?

The best thing to improve tone is practice. There are no gimicks, magic devices, or voodoo, that will improve your tone.

Tone is found in the player. After that, finding the right headjoint and any crown, stoppers, etc, that you might like, simply makes what your tone is, be more comfortable to you.

Is there a "mental effect" in playing? Surely yes. If you feel like you're fighting your instrument, then you probably are. But do you go out and buy every little device out there because you're blaming the instrument? If you are not working on your embouchure, then you're wasting a lot of money. You'd be better off training your mental aspects of playing rather than shopping for the holy grail..

The flute has to work properly and work for you. That's the criteria..

Joe B

Joe and I also like Extreme Elimination Challenge on the Spike network here in the USA, so that is part of the inside joke

Re these headjoint stoppers, I think the innovations are really nifty, but I don't know that many working flute players who have too many doo-dads on their flutes

IMHO, the main purpose of so many accessories available for the flute today is to make better something one already has achieved. Therefore it's wrong to think they are saled as miracles to solve issues that without them could not be resolved at all.
I think of the first time somebody developed a different headjoint, how skeptical people became about this. And take a look now, when so many headjoint makers turn our playing into something so much easier and confortable, just because they worked, sometimes by trial and error, until they achieved the goal.

cheers,
Zevang

no patrick, i don't think they have many doo-dads either lolololololol ....... at least i haven't witnessed any professional players with doo-dads on show !!! rofl xx

BTW,

Since I have a fairly new Muramatsu in, I took the cork out so you can see the moisture damage to the cork from it being fitted improperly. Below it is another cork taken from a different instrument demonstrating the same moisture seepage.

stopper picture

Obviously, a new cork will be fitted for this instrument...

Joe B

That...is...distgusting.

I am going to have to maintain that to see Jbutky get all riled up like that (which I have NEVER seen) I am going to put a big red X on the concept of using wax to seal a cork. And after looking at that picture again. YUCK.

Yes, a green cork is certainly a sign that you need it replaced, unless your tech is a bit of a jokester and dyed it or something (which strangely enough I have heard of happening).

The color in the picture is a little off. That bottom one is actually a little grayish, not green. But you can see where the water seeped in on the stopper plate side.

Don't be too grossed out.

Joe B

Here you go,

The new one is on the bottom, the one on top is the grayish one from yesterday...

Stopper cork

Joe B

It depends on lots of factors.. If you have a COA once a year, your tech will check to see if it's OK and if not it will be replaced.

You should get a bare minimum of a year out of a cork. If fitted properly and conditions favorable in the best case scenario, many years...

Joe B