Author: huboboe
Date: 2012-08-08 11:38
Hi, Carole -
What a great thread! I'm loving it. A bit of background for you on the origins of Westwind: I learned machining in order to make better repair tools for what then was my instrument repair business and had the opportunity to join two of my musical colleagues who worked in a die shop. Tolerances there were very tight and we needed to keep critical dimensions accurate to .0001 inch. After some eight years of this, the shop was closed by the bad economy of the 90's and I decided to use my machining chops to fill what I saw as two serious needs: becoming a source for the discontinued Brannen X and Pfeiffer/Mack tips and a source of accurately reproduced tips, which did not exist then except for the Adam line.
I had access to the metrology department at the Stanford Linear Accelerator where the measuring equipment is the best in the world and measured a large number of Xs, Pfeiffer/Macks and other tips and set up the beginnings of the 'modern' Westwind. Bob Gilbert asked me to make the rdg/Mack tips and several people asked me for custom or proprietary tips and the business was established.
All of the measurements on my chart are the result of my actual measurement; I have not published numbers from any other source, so the discrepancy between my Adam numbers and Ann Hodge's numbers could have several possibilities. As far as I know, Ann has used my numbers for my tips on her chart. I expect she has used Adam's numbers for their tips. If that is the case, then it's possible, but highly unlikely, that their numbers don't match their product. Much more likely is that, since I measured the same points I use (5mm, 12mm, 23mm) from my arbitrarily chosen wrap point at 5.1mm width, I was measuring different points than was Adam on their chart. This would account for the differences in our charts but leave intact the comparisons on my chart between Westwind and Adam tips at the same comparable points from the wrap point.
I had an amusing experience at the IDRS conference in Evanston some 20 years ago. An Italian tip maker who shall remain unnamed came over to my booth with my chart in his hand, outraged that I published numbers different from his. I'm willing to be mistaken, so I grabbed my micrometer and headed for his booth. There we found that his numbers did not match his product and my numbers did. I left him sputtering but took his numbers off of my chart...
Drew, I applaud your approach. You will probably end up with the widest body of knowledge of all of us. Keep it up and write a book!
Robert Hubbard
WestwindDoubleReed.com
1-888-579-6020
bob@westwinddoublereed.com
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