Sam Nolan

Hans (Johanes) Hainlein

1631 Bass Sackbut

This 1631 Hainlein bass sackbut reproduction by Tony Esparis is my main instrument for any renaissance, baroque and early classical music I am called on to play.

As you can see below, this instrument can be played in mulitple tuning configerations from G- 466 all the way down to Ab - 466 contrabass. The brilliant design of this instrument by Hainlein and reproduced fantastically by Tony, is the ability to quickly change the tuning of the instrument. The crooks attach to the insturment between the bell section and the slide, meaning that the construction of the bell does not need to be changed when changing tuning. This allows me to swap tunings mid concert if nessasary, with some programs in the past having requiered me to play up to three different tunings throughout.

The choice of which tuning to use can be for multiple different reasons, but come down to a combination of, which part I’m playing in the ensemble, the sound I wish to achieve, the written range of the part and the historical context of which instrument would have been used when the work was written.