The French horn transposing stop mute is called this because the performer must compensate for the change of pitch caused by the ring of cork that seals the mute into the bell and shortens the length of tubing. To do this transposition the player must use fingerings a half tone lower than the open horn. The sound comes out of a small mouthpiece-like appendage at the end of the mute. Our copy is in a somewhat heavier brass, nicely lacquered, with an artistically done cork closure. As a final touch we have added a leather thong wrist strap, useful on fast mute changes.
Some thirty years later this mute has become the most used stop mute. We have sold over one thousand a year for as far back as I can remember. Who are you horn players ?Why do so many thousands of you keep buying our mute ? The original mute we transformed into a beautiful objet d’art could have been one hundred years old, made in some one man horn shop. It is a descendent of the French horn mute used by horn players in W.A. Mozart’s opera Idomeneo, in 1781.
