Dolnet intonation

[spiderjames]

I am playing a Dolnet Belair stencil that is sharp from low E to low Bb. The middle E and D are also sharp. All the rest of the horn is within an acceptable tolerance. I adjusted all the key heights to slightly under 1/3 of the tonehole diameters accross the board as a starting point. I am using my levelair 7 which was fine on my Conn tenor. I was thinking of trying some other pieces before fiddling with key heights or adding cresents etc... and would like some suggestions from other dolnet players. what pieces are you using and how close have you been able to get the intonation?

[hornimus]

Spider, intonation-wise, it's a draw between my Buescher 156 and my Belair. They both tend to be dead-on. Much easier to play in tune than a Keilwerth or Yani. I play everything with a NY Link, so you might want to try a large-chamber piece. YMMV....

[spiderjames]

Funny you should mention that as i have my eye on a NY link as we speak. I was thinking a larger chamber might help.

[spiderjames]

The larger chamber mouthpiece didn't help so I kept my levelair and tweaked the horn instead. I added crescents to the low C,C#, B, and Bb keys. that took care of all the issues except low Bb. For that I used a matal curtain ring lined with cork to stick in the bell. It plays great now. the metal donut added a bit of weight so I might try a hard plasic one instead.