| Man, I pulled my new Eclipse MR out of the packing just this afternoon. I managed to get about 1/2 hour on it before I had to eat dinner and then chase off to a radio show/concert thing that Mrs. had purchased tickets for.
The valves seem to be great: they are just the tiniest bit "rough" compared to my year and half old Schilke. There has been no tendency for them to stick or hang up, however. I'll be taking it to a rehearsal tomorrow then giving it a "real" workover on Wednesday. It WILL show up this Saturday night and again Sunday afternoon for our concert featuring music of the 50, 60, 70 etc. (Does "Mr. Sandman" ring a bell?)
Trust it... ESPECIALLY if it's a pro-quality horn. "change the oil" daily. Keep lots of oil handy. Flush the horn every couple of days. Use "good" quality oil (Leigh recommended Blue Juice... I don't have any so I'm using Viper oil....) I'll be posting my own impressions of this horn later in the Eclipse forum; for now all I can say is "intonation is ACCURATE". It feels very SOLID.... heavier than my B1.... I'd guess about the same as the old 180ML37.
Anyway "trust" is very subjective. Until I find reason to mistrust something I'll trust it. But I'll also take steps to minimize any reasons for mistrust and that means cleaning, working it over, oiling copiously etc. If there is a concert then I'll clean/lube at least a day (preferrably two) ahead so that if there's something not right it has a chance to show up BEFORE "showtime". It's a lot easier to reclean a valve at home than on stage. |