[Lowboy]

Hi Alan. Okay, I see what you and Jazzman are saying and I agree one hundred percent. My only comment is that the technique of depressing a note ever so slightly to bend it is impractical in my experience. You need such precise control and you must move the key so little that actually executing this technique while playing at speed is very difficult if not impossible. Maybe this technique can work on a very slow song where you are holding down a not for a long time. I also find the bends are very shallow using this technique.

I combine several techniques together to get deep bends, but that is a topic for another post.

But now that you have cleared this up, I do question whether a 1-to-1 ratio between the key movement and valve movement would be good. For some reason, it seemed like a good idea to me. It would probably only be a good idea if there was a difference in air flow or sound over the entire range of the valve movement and that valve movement was large. But I suspect as soon as the valve is open 1/8 of an inch, opening further would not make a difference.

Regards,

Lowboy