Tootsall

Graham, from the tag line you'll know what I'm playing. Here is a little story (severely editted since just over a year has passed) about my experience testing out Schilke horns.

Schilkes, et al.

I had determined that my Bach strad was giving me problems: not problems that, in time, I couldn't eventually overcome (intonation was "squirrely"), but that at my advanced age as a beginner I didn't want to "waste time" overcoming. (I didn't pick up a trumpet until just after my 50th birthday). Due to the relative rarity of decent trumpets in my local shopping area for trial, I had pretty much decided to buy (online if necessary) a brand that had a reputation for quality and consistency: this had led me to Schilke. Just about when I was ready to "pull the trigger" for an online order, I noticed from the Schilke dealers list that a store only 5-1/2 hours drive away was a listed dealer for Schilke: after contacting them they said they'd bring in some horns "on spec". They did....and after talking to Phil Baughman at the Schilke factory I found out they were bringing in X3, B1, B5 and S32. OK...I started salivating right away. Here's what happened.

Into the store…pretty swank place. The ground floor is virtually covered with cabinets of rare or otherwise hard-to-find CDs. Posters of the Canadian Brass, etc. lining the walls and vying for space with some really expensive stereo gear…the owner told me that only about 5-10% of his business was instruments…but what instruments! B & S trumpets, Schilkes, Hoyer Horns, Warburton & Stork mouthpieces.

Four guys standing around the counter, one of them deep into the bowels of what looks like a very costly TURNTABLE (you youngsters probably won’t remember them…they predate cassette players which predate cd players which predate minidisks and mp3 players, which predate DVD players!). The man with the tools in his hand says “I thought you might be the trumpet appointment”….come on in here”….and leads me to a glass door inside which is a fancy “listening room” with even MORE expensive stereo gear. “Set up there and warm up…I’ll go get the horns…

In he comes with a Schilke double case holding a new B1 and an X3. Back out he trots and returns with a sealed cardboard box. Opening that one he withdraws two huge lumps of bubblewrap, one containing a new S32 and the other a B5. I think I’ve died and gone to heaven. Bryan says “OK…I’ll leave you to play with these for a while and go finish up that turntable”. The door closes with a reassuring “chunk” and I know I won’t have to share my experience with the CD shoppers outside.

Now, I brought all 4 of my mouthpieces with me…Dennis Wick #3 and #4B, Laskey 50B, and Schilke 13A. Gingerly working my way through the some open valve slurs and then some F scales I’m horrified to find that I’m SHARP! I once had a similar experience with two New French Besson horns with the Najoom leadpipe and blamed it on the horns; big mistake. Eventually Bryan comes back in and says “how’s it going?” I explain about the tuning problem so he says “run through the scales again”.

Now…it turns out that Bryan plays with a symphony, wishes he lived where he could make a living doing nothing but playing trumpet, and for a while played 2nd trumpet to Jens Lindeman (of Canadian Brass fame) while Jens lived in Edmonton! In short, Bryan knows his way around a trumpet! After a bit he says “hmmm….you’re fighting a “smilie”….drop your lower jaw just a tick and thrust it forward a hair….think of putting your chops in more of an “O” formation and use AIR, not tension, to generate the note…it feels like you’re hanging on by your fingernails.”

OK…so all of a sudden the horn starts coming back into tune….I’m on the B5 at this moment. “Just a sec…I’ll go get another mouthpiece”…and off he goes to return with a full Warburton Dealer’s Kit! “What have you been using”? he asks. I tell him…he tells me to try each mouthpiece through the B5. “OK…you sound best with the Laskey….and he assembles a Warburton and hands it to me…try this.”

WOW! ZING…right onto the green on the tuner. Very impressive….”what is this?” I ask. Warburton 4MC top on a B10 bottom…the Wick sounds too tubby for you….the Schilke 13A is flying sharp. I asked “what kind of backbore is the B10 bottom”? “it’s got a fairly short cylindrical section…goes into the taper fairly quickly…less resistance….takes the “piercing tone” out of your sound and drops you into tune”.

With THAT little bit of detective work done we proceed to listen critically to all 4 trumpets. This room is the size of a fairly large living room with a carpeted floor and a high ceiling. It’s not too “bright” but not dull….actually about as good as it gets for a store (It better be…he sells $25,000+ stereos in that room!).

I notice right away that the X3 is hard for me to control. Oh, it’s in tune OK, but the note tends to waver around a bit and the sound is just..”off”. Bryan agrees and hands me the S32. The S32 is actually surprisingly good. I’ve brought my Strad with me for comparison and we both think the S32 sounds the most like the Strad….lots of core to the sound, perhaps “basic” is the right description for it’s sound. One thing the S32 has that I wish the others had…a thumb ring on the 1st slide. VERY ergonomically located and sized…it feels good. Not that the thumb hooks on the three “B” series horns aren’t comfortable (even more so than the one on my Strad)….but it just seems “right”.

The B5 projects its sound straight out, is VERY in-tune, feels good and blows evenly. The notes “lock in” (at least in my opinion) quite nicely….it would work for me. It would make a great ensemble horn, has a nice, “delicate” touch to it’s sound and isn’t overpowering. The B1, however, just has that “something extra”. The sound has a nice, solid core but there are some upper partials that “ring”…just a lovely tone. Back and forth I go through the horns, Bryan handing them to me quickly while I run scales, little ‘lines’, slurs…. but at the end of the day it’s still the B1 that we both think is the magic horn. Now…I could live with the S32 OR the B5…. no problem at all. But the B1 is like…having gravy on your mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce on your turkey. As Bryan says….”you sound best on the B1”.

Wow…two hours have blasted past and my chops are starting to flag a bit. The deal is concluded and it’s time to pack up the horns (a Strad and a Schilke sharing room in a Protec triple case…..I wonder if there’s a law against that? It’s 3:45…time to get into the car (a really heavy, overcast and drizzling day), and weave my “not-always-knowing-where-I’m-headed way back to pick up the Mrs. and the kids who have been on a "Mall crawl".

Flash forward a year and a half. I've never touched the Strad since: in fact I sold it about 8 months after buying the Schilke. I felt that the "blow" was so totally different that I needed to settle in on one particular "setup" and "leave it at that". After a few months I had consulted with Bruce Lee and ended up with a GR66*** mouthpiece (I was extremely happy with a Sparx 4 on my cornet and wanted an identical rim). The B1 continues to play well; the fit and finish are still in "like new" condition, especially the valves. I'm using Binak PRO which requires a weekly or biweekly "swab and dab" and reoil and I think this really helps keep them spotless.

I took advantage of Schilke's offer to provide replacement top felts (apparently there was some question about the thickness of felts that were being used at the factory about a year and a half to two years ago and they offered free replacements). Other than that it's been clear sailing.

So if it's so great, why look at an Eclipse? Come ON! For half price!? Get outa here! The one thing I've told Leigh that I'd like it to have a "feel" similar to the Schilke but with a different sound. He has advised (and Noel has confirmed) that the MR bell is most likely to provide that different sound and the Eclipse "tuning bell" design should feel "equally open" (perhaps moreso, but that can be "tuned back" with a mouthpiece adjustment). Will I sell the Schilke? Maybe; maybe not. I thought I'd never buy another "playing" trumpet after the Schilke... but that was before the contest. (Note: trumpets bought out of curiosity don't count).