| WOOOHOOOO!!! I just got it today!
Well, the guy sent it through USPS, and the box barely survived, but it was in a pretty decent, albeit unoriginal, case. I pulled it out in the MSC just to make sure that I hadn't been duped and that there was a trumpet in there. Anyway, as far as condition goes, it's pretty good for a 56 year old horn. The lacuer is about 60-70 %, and the various nickel plating is probably around 70-75%. There is a ripple on the bell flare where something seems to have forced a small portion of the bell back slightly. Shouldn't be too hard to fix. There is one 1/2 inch long dent/flatspot on the bottom half of the bell bow, and the usual wear and tear dings on the bell itself, but other than that, this horn is pretty clean. Seems to have brand new felts, and valve alignment is on the money.
After rehearsal today, I finally had the chance to play it. I used my normal Bach 3C, which fit into the receiver pretty easily, and seemed like there was very little if any gap. Took a deep breath and prayed that maybe this horn would be good. It was. First, all the valves are like lightning. Rapid. The horn slots slightly faster and stronger than my Omega. As far as playability goes, I found it to also be maybe barely more open, but it'd be close. As far as tone goes, forget legit stuff, this baby was born to SCREAM. I found that it took very little effort to put a sharp edge into my tone, and it certainly didn't mind it. I did work some of our repertoire with it, and it definitely played well, but I'm not really sure that it will blend with a Bach Strad section (or if the conductor will let me play it). It's probably still to early to make any kind of judgement yet, as I didn't have a chance to warm up before band (calculus ran pretty late today), and then we did a pretty rough sightreading session in band. I'll try to keep everyone posted on my thoughts as I play it more.
__________________
Michael Smith
Hullabaloo: The official band of Texas A&M Basketball
Kanstul 1537/ Schilke 14
LA Olds Studio |