Soprano cornetti with keys

Cornetti require large hands in general, particularly for the extension between left thumb and ring finger. This problem/challenge has become even more difficult with the modern tendency to use „super size me“ soprano cornetti in 440 Hz. (while the vast majority of soprano instruments in museums are at 466 Hz. or higher and are accordingly smaller).

Players with small hands and children will find it difficult to play even a „small“ cornetto (in 466 or 492 Hz.) but even players used to tenor recorders or similar „big“ instruments will be seriously challenged by a 440 Hz. instrument. 

In order to tackle this issue in a different manner we have developed a 440 soprano cornetto with three keys for the left thumb, left ring finger and right ring finger, designed to ease the two more demanding stretches that the hands have to face when playing a soprano cornetto.

This design was awarded with the 1st prize at the „Purmundus Challenge“ Competition for 3D-Print Design at the FormNext Exhibition in 2018. 

Extensive work was needed to design and develop 3D-printed keys. This design is easy to produce and increases the price of the instrument in a very small amount when compared to traditionally-made keys.

Even though this design looks fragile these resistance tests show that it is not:

These instruments and their keys are of course not indestructible, the point of this video is to show that they are at least as resistant as traditionally-made keys. If you take care of this instrument as you would do with a traditional one you should have no issues.

Bending the keys outwards further than a certain angle or hitting them strongly enough will certainly break them apart, and if that happens there’s no possible repair since the whole instrument and its keys are printed in a single piece. Nevertheless, a whole new instrument of this type is likely to be cheaper than the repair of a broken key in a traditional instrument...

© Ricardo Simian 2015 - 2024 - all rights reserved

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