I recently bought a Denis Wick stopping mute but it's an entire semitone too sharp! I'm still having to figure a semitone below the note I'm playing, just as would be done if I was hand stopping.

A fellow horn player suggested somehow making the cork part of the mute thicker so the mute doesn't go in the bell as far...

Any suggestions (short of taking it back to the shop)??

The stopping mute must go out of the bell. That mean: there must be more space between the metall and the s. mute! You can reach this by making the cork bigger - for example. Or you hold the stopping mute with your hand...

But are you shure, that you have a non transposing stopping mute?

worse come to worse if extra cork etc don't work, play one semitone lower.
i have that problem too.denis wick i think...

sometime i have to use the hand as a stop mute,and my hand is quite small,so when i play it becomes one tone sharper.the thing is if you're using your hand,you can adjust how much you curve your finger in the bell to achieve the tuning.

There is only one Non-transposing stop mute and it is about $130-$150. I've read that it doesn't give a true stopped sound though. If you use any other stopping technique (brass mute or hand) you wil have to play one half-step lower on the F side of the horn.

Sorry.

Stopping mutes are SUPPOSED to be a semi tone sharp, just like when you stop with your hand. You're supposed to transpose down a semi-tone. In other words, play everything flat (or natural if it's supposed to be sharp).

I play a large throat Holton. My hand is to small to stop it & play tune, so I bought a stop mute. I had to experiement with different ones til I found one that raised the pitch a semi tone. Large bell horns need a larger mute than medium or small bell horns.

Valerie in Tacoma