Different bells

and their effect on the sound

Bell sizes

With Engelbert Schmid Horns you can change back and forth between the sizes middle, wide, and extra wide just by changing the screw bell. The narrow bell is a special case, having a flare close to the middle size but with a narrower stem. Extra wide would normally only be used by a fourth horn for certain pieces. Most horn players will choose between middle and large.

Middle (m): an elegant, clear, carrying tone has advantages in the high range over the wide bell.

Wide (w): a full, but not dull, carrying sound, sonorous. With a carefull hand position, (straight and not too far out), it is possible to compensate for the disadvantages in the high range.

You also have the choice between 4 alloys

With or without garland?

With a weight of only 100 grams, the tastefully decorated garland from Engelbert Schmid does not deaden the sound. The garland causes a bit more resistance, and a somewhat rounder sound that gets brassy later, but more suddenly. Without the garland the transition to a brassy sound is more even. About 50 % of hornplayers sound better with the light garland from Engelbert Schmid.

Spun or hand hammered?

Spun bells are presssed from a disk. The sound is good, healthy, you could say modern. If you strike the edge of the bell with your finger it makes a bell-like sound, more so than a hand hammered bell. Pressing it out of a disk makes the material thin at the screw ring and leaves it thicker towards the edge of the bell.


Naturally we use a special method to keep the difference to a minimum, but it cannot be completely avoided.

Our hand hammered bells are cut out of one piece of metal bent into shape and at Engelbert Schmid soldered on one seam without "Zwickel". They are then hammered into the symetrical shape. Only in the last operation are they put on the press bank and, by turning and pressing, fitted exactly to the bell form. Because of the necessary stretching of the material due to the flare of the bell it becomes thinner towards the edge of the bell. At the screw ring it stays thicker than a spun bell and therefore is more resistant to sweat.

Because hand hammered bells without a garland can be bent easily, you should not lift the horn by the edge of the bell. With Engelbert Schmid bells it is no problem to restabilize a bent bell edge. Stability was probably the original reason for adding garlands, not sound. Hand hammering stresses the material to a great extreme, which changes the structure, and definitely changes the sound a bit. The crucial factor is that the material becomes thinner towards the end, farther from the energy source, and therefore vibrates better with the sound. A hand hammered bell sounds more old fashioned, darker, than a spun bell. The thin end of the bell produces a very warm center to the tone in piano, and at the same time a more pleasant brassiness in fortissimo. The hand hammered bells are available with or without garland.

As far as I know, we are the only ones to offer so thin a bell with a width of 310 mm. Even an increased thickness of 0.05 mm makes the instrument harder to play and less flexible. A hand hammered bell must be very thin. Just about everyone who has a chance to compare prefers the hand hammered bell to the spun one.

Fixed or screw bell?

The fixed bell is esthetically preferable, but is much harder to transport, is harder to repair, and robs the hornplayer of the possibility of changing the sound with different sizes of bells. There is almost no difference in sound because the hand dampens the vibrations in the area of the screw ring anyhow. Our screw ring weighs only 100 g and still is very stabil.

Lacquered or unlacquered?

It is not possible to say that lacquer does not affect the sound. With a thickness on the inside and outside of 0.02 mm, this plastic-like covering accounts for approx. 10 % of the total material. Unlacquered sounds a bit more centered, which some people find brighter, some darker, some smoother and some harder. My observation and feeling is that lacquer dampens the high overtones, and also the extraneous noise in the sound, causes the horn to sound clearer, for some brighter, although it is acoustically darker. My experience is that the difference is minimal and that 50 % of hornplayers sound better on a lacquered instrument. The lacquer is more resistant to sweat than the metal and the horn will last longer if it is carefully polished when it is relacquered. It also prevents your hands from turning green. A shiny horn also makes a better impression on the audience. In my eyes the advantages of a lacquered horn clearly outweigh the disadvantages. The combination screw bell/lacquered sounds good, perhaps even better. It is definitely not important for a hornplayer´s tone. The deciding factor is the players concept of sound.