To Pockets Shallot or not to Pocket Shallot.

[Ben Madison]

Ok, I'm not here to fuss or argue to just find clarification on a matter.

As you all know restoration has been slowly been working on the midmer 5550. An interesting point has been approaching the 100" reeds in the gallery 1 tuba and trumpet.

In my reading, Willis used Pocket Shallots in both these ranks but Roscoe was then given the other tuba and Trumpet with his own. Roscoe wanted to replace the pocket shallots but his requests were ignored.

Roscoe was given the task after willis fell flat with his. but in reviews of the two ranks we're not good and Richards disliked them.

Here is my contention, why not replace the shallots with what Roscoe wanted to eliminate criticism.

What I need to be answered :
A. Will changing the shallot change the voicing?
B. Is it ok to do these kinds of alterations in a restoration?
C.Is the pocket shallot worth anything?

thoughts?

I if you don't respond to your reply I'm not blowing you off I'm trying to get your opinion and information.

[aeolian pat]

http://www.pykett.org.uk/reedpipe.htm#Shallot
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reed_pipe
Here are two great articles on reeds.
A resonator and shallot combo are deisgned for one another, usually the scale for the shallots and resonators don't break on the same note. I think that the pocket in the shallot allows for more of the lower harmonics to be reinforced. Pockets in french shallots and tubas and french horn stops are common. The one article above speaks of the closed shallot having a smoother tone.

Regards
Pat

[VaPipeorgantuner]

Ok, I'm not here to fuss or argue to just find clarification on a matter.

As you all know restoration has been slowly been working on the midmer 5550. An interesting point has been approaching the 100" reeds in the gallery 1 tuba and trumpet.

In my reading, Willis used Pocket Shallots in both these ranks but Roscoe was then given the other tuba and Trumpet with his own. Roscoe wanted to replace the pocket shallots but his requests were ignored.

Roscoe was given the task after willis fell flat with his. but in reviews of the two ranks we're not good and Richards disliked them.

Here is my contention, why not replace the shallots with what Roscoe wanted to eliminate criticism.

What I need to be answered :
A. Will changing the shallot change the voicing?
B. Is it ok to do these kinds of alterations in a restoration?
C.Is the pocket shallot worth anything?

thoughts?

I if you don't respond to your reply I'm not blowing you off I'm trying to get your opinion and information.

A) Changing the shallot type (from pocketed shallots to german or french style shallots) WILL change the tone to some degree.
B) If one is doing a real restoration, my opinion is that you should not do anything that is liable to alter the intent of the original builder.
C) The pocket type shallot is crucial to the success of certain types of tonal results in reeds, particularly those of a "closed" tone such as the French Horn. A pocketed shallot is nothing more than a shallot where the opening in the face of the shallot (the surface on which the tongue vibrates) is not at the bottom of the shallot tube, but further up the face, and the shape of the opening also helps determine the tone of the pipes (along with various shapes of the resonators.

The tongues for a reed stop on 100" wind will require fairly thick tongues and are problematic in getting just the right curve.

Rick In VA