Any serpent players here? (hey... it's trombone-adjacent!)

[jonathanharker]

Perhaps this is too off-topic for this forum, in which case apologies, but I feel it is at least trombone-adjacent!

Getting the Serpent article up to GA status involved many rabbit holes and finding out all sorts of interesting stuff. So, I've just 3D-printed and glued a plastic serpent together, mostly for fun, because 1. it was comically cheap, 2. why not, and 3. see (1). Plans by Mark Witkowski are based on a 19th c. Dittes model serpent in the Oxford Bate Collection, and can be obtained by emailing Paul Schmidt who runs the Serpent Newsletter. He has also put up a video on YouTube of how to go about it, which I followed. I used JB Weld Plastic Bonder (a two-part adhesive) rather than inhale a load of nasty solvents (but mainly because I couldn't easily obtain dichloromethane), which seems to have worked fine. I have a friend who would like to turn a mouthpiece out of hardwood based on the plastic one that comes with the 3D plans. It makes a good sound! Well, good as far as I can tell, for someone who's never played one before, on a crummy printed plastic mouthpiece. I'm hoping to get a friend at a repair shop to bend me a brass bocal out of some old bits of tenor horn or saxophone neck, which might be an adventure...

Anyway, I'd be interested if anyone else plays or owns a serpent, and what their experiences are. As far as I can tell this is the first and only serpent to exist in New Zealand; in Australia, Scott Kinmont (Sydney Symphony Orchestra) plays one.

bruno-serpent.jpg

[bbocaner]

Yes, I have a serpent from Pierre Ribo and I have played a few professional gigs in period instrument orchestras on it. Yours looks cool!

[BGuttman]

Especially cool with the cat

[andym]

Nice job. I’ve been intrigued by serpents since seeing them in the NY Metropolitan museum and have pondered getting a 3D printer to make one from those plans. Glad to hear that it sounds good.