.: Research and Materials

Years of research in the business of crafting horns has lead Lawson to write extensively on the scientific processes of all things horn. Walter Lawson was often commissioned to research different effects on horn playing from various instititutions including the International Horn Society. A published researcher, Lawson put his vast experience and scientific research into every horn he created, a tradtion which we continue today.

This page is devoted to those who wish to really delve deep into the makings of Lawson horns and why our process is unique from other custom horn manufacturers.

Heat Treatment

Lawson has experimented for more than 30 years with heat treatment (including freezing), tapers, lacquers, thickness, and materials of horn metals. It can safely be said that any changes made to the material design effect the dynamics, response, and tone color of your instrument, not to mention its durability and resistance to corrosion. If you had to quantify how much the material affects the overall playing characteristics you might ask for our article entitled Acoustical Characteristics of Annealed French Horn Bells.

To summarize, the hardness (or softness) as well as alloy effect the playing characteristics roughly a few percent. While this might not sound like much consider the results of a race car driver with a car that goes 185 mph vs. one which goes 189 mph. Following, we will discuss some of the more frequently asked questions regarding materials of brass instruments. To visualize both how the material of your instrument vibrates, and the impact on playing characteristics, click here.