[Dr G]

One of my former tech's (R.I.P.) favorite sayings was "shiny no play." He reasoned that if the horn was any good it would have been played, so the fact that it had not was a red flag that it was probably a dog.

By that logic, a new Selmer Mk VI only became a decent horn after the lacquer fell off? Does the mechanism have to be worn out before the horn sounds good? Just no.

A manufacturer who produced trumpets and French horns once explained to me, that wind instruments, that were frequently used over a long period of time and were blown intensively over their entire range sounded better and more playable: the material, brass loses the tension that is in it due to the production-prozess. So basically a material-fatigue due to the constant vibrations...?! I'm not a physicist and technician and can't say if it's really true. But my own observations and experiences point in a similar direction. On the other hand: you get used to an instrument, adjust to its characteristic. Overall, it is probably a complex process with different causes and effects.

A horn is a machine. That alleged manufacturer was observing the result of the valves and slides getting lapped in - eventually that same mechanism would increase tolerances too much and the horn would be rebuilt to restore it.

My Ph.D. work was in fatigue of metals, I taught courses in fatigue at the graduate level. Relaxation in metals does not occur due to vibrations on the scale of what occurs in musical instruments.

 

[Dr G]

I think you completely missed the point. It's not that the wear makes the horn good; the wear is an indicator that the horn is good. If a horn shows evidence of having been played many hours a day for many years, then someone must have liked it enough to play it that much, and the odds are it's a good one. Conversely, if an old pro horn has gone decades without being played much, it may be because it wasn't a good player. Obviously there could be other reasons. I have an old Conn that's nearly mint and plays great. The original owner bought it and shortly thereafter was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident. No one else in the family played, but they hung on to it for decades for sentimental reasons until finally deciding to let it go. My former tech was a sax player himself, and his experience in several decades of playing and repairing saxes was that "closet queens" usually were not good players. YMMV.

No, I didn’t miss the point - I just think that it is unfounded. There are just as many other reasons that a horn looks worn.

Wear can also be an indicator that a horn was not well cared for.

Old tech lore makes for a good story but I wouldn’t buy a horn because it looks worn - that wear may make for an expensive overhaul.