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Ion Balu

Mutes

since 2002

email:

sales@ionbalu.com

901.517.7226

1568 Sawmill

Creek Lane

Cordova, TN

38016

U.S.A.

I've been playing horn for 27 years, and in all this time, I kept asking myself how to make my horn better. I must confess that I owe this impetuous urge to growing up in a "communist" society. I used the quotation sign for communist because now we know that communism is a utopia never to be achieved. However, our "great" leaders tricked us into believing that we must suffer in order to achieve the "perfect" society. So we did suffer for about 50 years, years in which millions of Romanians lived with poverty, misery, rationed food, and sparse electricity. One thing with which I must agree: over 90% of Romanians owned and still own their homes, and we really did manage to get a great education. And yes, college is still free in Romania even though we've been capitalist for over 20 years.

I am telling you all this just to give you an idea as to the kinds of horns we were playing on. To be honest, we were more concerned about food than the instruments. We were told that we had great horns, but in the back of my mind, a question was already born: "There is no way my bent, pre WW II instrument, is a great instrument. I know I am a child", I was thinking, "but we are fed bologna" (figuratively speaking, since I wish we had more bologna at that time).

I remember while in the fifth grade, my first semester of playing horn, I took the valves apart to clean them. Of course, I did not know that they were supposed to go back in the same order, to the dismay of my great horn teacher. I also remember how I used to save some of the (rare) bacon from the cafeteria so I could grease my slides. (Gee, now that I remember this, I think that my horn smelled great all the time).

While in college (now we were living in a capitalist society), my government-assigned horn did not improve much more. It was more like a 50's-60's model, which is not bad, but from what I remember, the valves were leaking big time, and even more importantly, they were absolutely not aligned. All horns had countless dents and patches.

Forward few years later, and I found myself in the land of opportunity, America (THANK YOU), and somehow I invented this great horn mute. This is where everything actually starts. While at exhibits during the last eight years, I noticed a constant pattern: hoards of professional and amateur horn players alike, roaming the exhibits in an exodus like format, in the search of the best instrument.

"Hold on a little bit," I said while surveying this mass movement. "If all these horns are made by great and big companies, why is there this rush to find the best one. Why do these instruments here, the same model, same alloy, made by the same company, sound different?...

AHAAAAA. it must be the way it is put together.

In theory, a custom horn should not be as good as a factory made horn. Why? Simple, in a factory all tubes are cut to the same length and even more importantly, bent to the same specs. Then, a ball is run through the tubes, which are set in a cast, to keep them perfectly round. This is completely out of reach for custom builders, since it involves powerful hydraulics, and special casts. Then why are custom horns better?

Again, it's the way the horn is put together.

I did not have the time or the desire to become an apprentice of any of the great horn manufacturers, so I had to squeeze my mind to find solutions, and found they were.

I extrapolated four ideas from the myriad that poured into my head, and tested them with spectacular results.

For obvious reasons, I cannot go into details about some of them.

First, I installed the new Balu lead pipe. The lead pipe is crucial, since the sound is created there. Since we have six different models available one will fit any horn brand.

Second: Can't talk about it.

Third Can't talk about it.

Fourth: Who says that your horn should not be beautiful on the outside? If exquisite string instruments are beautiful, why not the horn too? The "Pearlesque" finish ( a Balu innovation) completed by the highest grade abalone to the valve caps (another Balu innovation), and soon on the keys, and around the bell ring will beautify and personalize your horn.

I spent a lot of time in my shop finding a way to cut the abalone rings for the valve caps. All the recommendations I found on the Internet were not applicable because they were too time consuming. Abalone is sturdy once glued down, but extremely brittle when you cut it.

Thank you very much for the time you took to read this.

Ion Balu

P.S. My quest is to make a consistent horn at a great price, without ever suggesting that my horns will be the best on the market. There are lots of great horns out there, horns made by people that I admire and respect. Check our link page for great horn builders.

One thing is true: there is no perfect horn out there. There is only the perfect horn for you and me.

Valve cluster with the Mayan Copper abalone. (Please note that the picture did not capture the real color, which is more brownish).

The Molten Lava abalone (true color)

The Blue Coral abalone (true color)

In our effort to make the horn not only better, but also more beautiful; in a few days, we will begin taking orders for customized valve caps. How will it work? Just send us your valve caps, and we'll send them back with the desired color within a week. More abalone colors will be available soon.

Close-up of the Pearlesque finish, a Balu innovation.

More here