bennychico11 said:
Although the bass trombone can go lower than E2 (Finale says F1 for an advanced player while Wikipedia says as low as C1, although I know how much you like Wikipedia

)...I find the bass trombone starts to sound really muddy down around there which is why I leave E2 as the lowest I generally put it.
This is just the kind of ambiguity I've been coming across. Interestingly enough, my "best estimate" so far of B2 of the low end falls right in-between your "practical writing limit" of E2 and Finale's F1. And here's yet another anti-Wiki arrow in my quivver; C1 is so ridiculously far lower than any other frequency graph or listed frequency range for any bone, and actually rivals the low end of the tuba and contrabassoon. C1 is down somewhere around 32Hz, for goodness sake. Once again, I gotta put the Wiki info in the "questionable" category at best

.
bennychico11 said:
As far as an upper limit...I think it just depends on the player.
Well, I'm looking for info on three different upper limits.
The upper fundamental of the instrument itself (shortest resonant air path) I would think should be fairly constant with minor variations based upon exact instrument dimensions, wouldn't it?
One would - I would think - be able to say somthing similar about the overtones (the second upper limit). While there are probably harmonics that march all the way up the scale if one measures low enough, the majority timbre of the instruemnt can usually be considered as being to or around a certain range.
Overblow, OTOH, is very much player dependant; and there I'm expecting a much looser definition. For example, what I have for tenor bone:
Fundamentals E2 to C5 (82-520Hz); Overtones - >5kHz (>10kHz overblown)
What I'm looking for is similar information for the bass bone. The best estimates I've been able to pull out this far is something along the lines of:
Fundamentals B2 to G4 (53 - 400Hz); Overtones - 5kHz (>8kHz overblown)
But both the fundamnetals and the frequency range (which don't quite match each other) are only my best guesses based upon conflicting frequency information I found in my research. Overtones are little more than an estimated guess on my part, based upon even more diffuse information.
I'm using this information as part of an interactive frequency chart that I'm creating as part of my tutorial series (not, unfortunately, to write music, which I'd much rather do

). I just want to get the info as correct as possible before I publish it.
bennychico11 said:
I had a great trumpet player (who played for Stan Kenton) tell me once last year when I wrote 'optional 8va' on his music, "Ben, you don't need to write that...trumpet players are going to try and take it up an octave anyway. We have big egos."
I'm guessing that goes true for all brass players.
And drummers...and lead singers...and guitar players...and engineers...and producers...

Great story!
Thanks for the help, benny. As usual you come through with some good info. Much appreciated

.
G.