Of course it was not going to be easy, but Mr. Pilczuk reasoned that if he could somehow eliminate the taper in the pipe, he could eliminate the problems that have plagued musicians for centuries. It was the foundation of the problems that made compromises necessary. Pilczuk found it to be the most harmful design in the entire instrument. The taper was not compatible with sound instrument design and acoustics, and Mr. The tapered leadpipes appeared to be ambiguous variables, built into musical instruments that needed absolutes. Waves seemed to travel about the pipe at leisure with no accuracy, no definition, and seemingly no purpose. There were only vague response waves, chopped and crowded on one end, overlapped in the middle, and stretched out on the other end. The nodal and anti nodal patterns were not clear. His experiments and research told him that there was no organization, consistency, absolute control, or definition in a tapered leadpipe. While testing instrument design, most theories and functional systems checked out to his satisfaction with one glaring exception - the leadpipe. Working in his garage, or laboratory, he found the answer.
Pilczuk felt the solutions rested somewhere with the basic instrument design.
Pilczuk had worked on these elusive problems for forty years and he knew that a major surgical problem couldn't be cured with a quick fix band aid.
They only succeeded in complicating the horn further and wasted the time and money of most musicians. Everyone had already tried "new" leadpipes, triggers, additional valves, "new improved" mouthpieces, anything at all to help musicians play "in tune" - gimmicks, gadgets, and other ideas that were simply attempts at patching up a major design flaw in the instrument. Pilczuk decided that he had to return to the basics. Not knowing what weapons to use in fighting these intonation barriers and other related problems, Mr. But they did the best they could and built them the best way they knew how. Horns that were acoustically incorrect and had to be lipped or triggered into playing in tune. Ultimately they conceded and started making instruments that were compromises. Perfect pitch was out of the question and even a satisfactorily consistent pitch eluded them. Every designer that existed knew of the serious shortcomings of the musical instrument but, try as they might, they could not understand why these deficiencies persisted, nor could they design a horn that eliminated them. But why? Why does it have to be that way? Why, if a musical instrument is properly designed, must it be out of tune and difficult to control in most registers?Ĭommon sense dictates that if something is designed perfectly, it should be perfect, or close to it. It certainly is true because we all constantly experience those imperfections and it has been that way for generations. Pros, directors, designers, accousticians, students, and manufacturers all agree.