Bourbon City

My fellow brass players,

Thursday, November 19, 2006 I received my new Stage 1 New York Light from the NYTC.

I have read many reviews of instruments written by their new owners on how their horn is easy to play in tune, slots well and can be sweet and gentle one minute and pealing paper off the back wall another minute. I believe every good instrument should be able to do these things with a given degree of effort. I also believe every good high-end horn should be technically well designed and assembled. So what separates the horns that make up the best man can make? Emotion. A Mercedes is well designed and well built, but does it draw the same emotion from people as a Ferrari? Not from me.

I could tell you all the up front clichés, like how I love this horn, how it is so easy to play, the intonation, the sound quality, the fit and the finish but I won’t. In stead, I’m going to tell you as it really happened not from the technical side but the emotional side……

I believe this horn draws on one’s emotions more that any other horn I have played. This includes hand built horns from Calicchio, Lawler and Eclipse. The German Destino is the only horn that came close. The New York Light is in great company and I am glad this one is mine.

When I played my first run of notes on this horn it scared me so much that I nearly dropped it. It literately came alive in my hands. I have never had a trumpet do that to me in such a high degree of down right shock, the Destino did not do that. The air moved so easily through the horn, the sound was big brilliant and commanding yet so sweet and gentle. I got so excited that I had to call the setup technician in Iowa to thank him. I was thrilled when he answered and I really got to thank him. I don’t know what he did, I didn’t ask, I didn’t care. This trumpet lives.

Of course I play tested the Stage 1 NYL on a Stage 1 MP. The two make a near perfect combination.

I feel as if I am at the top of the equipment list. I can go no further; the rest of my trumpet playing career is totally up to me. It is now my turn to make this horn shine bright on my Kentucky home. This is truly a lead horn extraordinary and I am very pleased that this one is mine.

I hope for you lucky few, that one day may get to own and play a Stage 1 New York Light.

I can not tell you how I really feel, because happy or pleased do not get the job done. How about, I feel like a teenaged boy that is going steady with the most beautiful girl in town.

I find it difficult to keep my hands off the horn.

__________________
Dale Schmidt, P.E.
Bridges to build and Rivers crossed...