[TPIN] Jupiter Flugel

[Allegro69]

>From: "William Graham" <weg9 at comcast.net>
>To: "Brendan Crise" <bcrise at misupply.com>, "Allegro69"
<allegro69 at comcast.net>, <tpin at tpin.okcu.edu>
>References: <000801c73223$836a1480$4bbf1e42 at allegro>
<9975CC7D790D3C47BFAC91BBEF85BBDA13BDAB at exmail1.DennisBamberinc.com>
>Subject: Re: [TPIN] Jupiter Flugel
>Date: Sun, 7 Jan 2007 16:28:55 -0800

>My bandmate just got a Jupiter Flugelhorn from her husband for
>Christmas.....I went over to their house just this morning to let her try
>some of my mouthpieces, and to play a few duets with her. It is a fabulous
>horn, just as well made as my Yamaha 635 ST. It has Amato water keys, and
>monel pistons that are bottom sprung, just like my Yami....The only
>difference between the two horns that I could see was that she didn't have
a
>trigger on the third valve slide, but that wouldn't matter to me, since I
>never use mine anyway. It is a terrific buy, since it is approximately 1/2
>the price of the Yamaha, yet every bit as good a horn. - And yes....The
>bottom springs (which are stainless steel) don't seem to be anchored to the
>bottom caps like my Yamaha is, so they can fall out if you remove the
piston
>and hold the horn upside down.....

I never really gave it much thought about top springs / bottom springs. But
I'm learning that it's common that flugels have bottom springs. Perhaps I
seemed jaded about Jupiter flugels, but I think I reacted more based on the
surprise that the spring fell out, more so than the quality of the
instrument itself. I have the gold brass model Jupe and I really have no
complaints. For the money, it is a decent horn. The fact that the spring
popped out isn't a big deal. I'm sure that I'd be able to find a match among
my spare springs. But just as Murphy's law dictates, it might not be the
case where I'd have to chase around all of creation to locate what I needed
had I not had the right spring. As far as my statement about shoddy quality,
that's a horse of a different color. Even the high end horns leave something
to be desired. Perhaps not limited to the actual crafting of a horn, but
also to the quality control departments that allow defects to pass thru the
factory doors. I'm not the first to have this gripe, nor will I be the last.
If Jupiter can put out a better horn, then so be it. But it's a damned shame
that American instrument manufacturers are going down the tubes because the
corporate culture allows for corners to be cut - even if the corner cut is
quality control. I do understand that the finest craftsperson can make
mistakes. They are human. But to not have eyes to catch and correct these
flaws before they hit the market really sucks. So as new companies in Asia
prosper, here in America, another fine industry is going down the drain. So
what happens is that aside of the few fine craftspeople who can latch onto a
few remaining jobs in the industry, the rest end up flipping burgers at
McDonald's instead of doing what they did well in the past - crafting
musical instruments.