Expert: Kenton Scott - 5/15/2009

Question
Okay, I saw you addressing this model earlier. Here's my problem:

I had one of these that I gave to a friend about a year ago, knowing I had another one on the way. The one I gave away played fine, fingerings seemed to work right. I'm really a tuba player, but like having one around for fun.

But when the "new" one arrived, I thought it was broken. The fingerings just did not seem to work.

On what I thought was the F side (no trigger), if I finger

C D E F G

I get

C D E F F#

So maybe the thumb works backwards on this version, though it looks exactly like the other one. Thus with the trigger on, if I play

C D E F G

I get

C D E F G

However, if I go just one note higher, on what I'm now imagining is the "F" side, with trigger activated, instead of A, I get Ab!

Also, the two "open" C's don't match. One is about a whole step lower than the other. Here's where it really gets interesting (to me, anyhow, lol). I turned that horn over to my retired composition teacher. He also used to teach horn here at the U of S Carolina for some years. He's the one who figured out maybe the thumb works backwards from what I expected. Meanwhile, I bought the exact same model, figuring we could use the one that works right to see what was wrong with the other one. Guess what? It arrived today, and it also either gives you

C D E F F# (with trigger off)

or

C D E F G Ab (with trigger on).

Admittedly Getzen wasn't a supreme manufacturer of double horns in the sixties, but it seems extremely likely that they made a series of horns over the years with complete skewed intonation and fingerings. It seems more likely there is something wrong with how I'm using the trigger or the fingerings, but I cannot figure it out. If you know the answer, I can't tell you how grateful I'll be!

thanks,
w

Answer
Well, I always have the dilemma between a quick answer and a correct answer.  So, I'll start with a quick one.  To get a correct answer, I'd need to check with a real French horn player and see if I could track down some Getzen catalogs to see what they may have offered.  

But, I do know that French horns configured for European use often come with the Bb side as the open side, and the trigger engages the F side.  And, for players who are playing predominately in the upper register, that makes sense, maybe more than the US convention.

I also know that some horns come with a stopping valve that adjusts intonation when using the horn to play stopped notes.

So, those are possibilities.