Sterling Silver Keyed Bugles
Back in the early 1990s, I had two requests for solid Sterling
silver keyed bugles. That was long before I bought my first
digital camera and learned to take a good photograph. The
first of these was for Dick George, who already had
mastered the ophicleide and was working on playing the
keyed bugle. This is very similar to my standard Eb keyed
bugle with 9 keys and a copy of those made by E.G. Wright
and Graves and Co. All the known American made Sterling
keyed bugles have keys mounted on posts on flanges as in
the second bugle shown here. This was ordered by Mark
Elrod and he was very adamant about his being more
original and willing to pay the extra cost. This is the only
bugle that I've made so far with this style of key mounts.
The only parts of these two keyed bugles that are not
Sterling silver are the key screws, springs and the threaded
rod of the tuning mechanism. These parts are German
silver, which is both harder and easier to machine.
Obviously, there were no parts that I could have had made
by other makers for use in these instruments. Even the
mouthpieces are made of Sterling. Sterling silver has
different working properties than brass, copper and German
(nickel) silver. It is less forgiving to form than brass or
copper, almost as hard as German silver, and the most
difficult task is bending the bell. This must be done with
great caution since it is much more liable to tear than brass.
The beauty of Sterling is that it is extremely easy to get a
beautiful highly polished surface.
Both of these guys wanted engraving similar to original
presentation bugles. The bell garlands and shields were
engraved before mounting them and I was lucky to have a
local engraver, Sherry Nelson, who could do high quality
work in the style that was popular 150 years ago. I've used
several engravers since, that do less quality work and
charged much more. These days, I send parts for engraving
back east, where several friends had discovered another
engraver with this kind of talent and ability. Additionally,
Dick wanted his bugle to have gold plated trim. I had the
garland and shield gold plated before mounting them as well.
The last photo is of the engraving of a presentation bugle by
E.G. Wright. While I am very proud of these bugles as
some of my best work, I have no illusion that they compare
to the fabulous Sterling silver and gold bugles by E.G.
Wright and Graves. I have worked on several of these and I
know what I'm talking about.
Click on images for larger views.
silver keyed bugles. That was long before I bought my first
digital camera and learned to take a good photograph. The
first of these was for Dick George, who already had
mastered the ophicleide and was working on playing the
keyed bugle. This is very similar to my standard Eb keyed
bugle with 9 keys and a copy of those made by E.G. Wright
and Graves and Co. All the known American made Sterling
keyed bugles have keys mounted on posts on flanges as in
the second bugle shown here. This was ordered by Mark
Elrod and he was very adamant about his being more
original and willing to pay the extra cost. This is the only
bugle that I've made so far with this style of key mounts.
The only parts of these two keyed bugles that are not
Sterling silver are the key screws, springs and the threaded
rod of the tuning mechanism. These parts are German
silver, which is both harder and easier to machine.
Obviously, there were no parts that I could have had made
by other makers for use in these instruments. Even the
mouthpieces are made of Sterling. Sterling silver has
different working properties than brass, copper and German
(nickel) silver. It is less forgiving to form than brass or
copper, almost as hard as German silver, and the most
difficult task is bending the bell. This must be done with
great caution since it is much more liable to tear than brass.
The beauty of Sterling is that it is extremely easy to get a
beautiful highly polished surface.
Both of these guys wanted engraving similar to original
presentation bugles. The bell garlands and shields were
engraved before mounting them and I was lucky to have a
local engraver, Sherry Nelson, who could do high quality
work in the style that was popular 150 years ago. I've used
several engravers since, that do less quality work and
charged much more. These days, I send parts for engraving
back east, where several friends had discovered another
engraver with this kind of talent and ability. Additionally,
Dick wanted his bugle to have gold plated trim. I had the
garland and shield gold plated before mounting them as well.
The last photo is of the engraving of a presentation bugle by
E.G. Wright. While I am very proud of these bugles as
some of my best work, I have no illusion that they compare
to the fabulous Sterling silver and gold bugles by E.G.
Wright and Graves. I have worked on several of these and I
know what I'm talking about.
Click on images for larger views.
