Johnleopold

Hey guys...

I was wondering about horns and like the prior tread... "next trumpet"

I was just thinking about my trumpet that is at least 26 years old... should I be concerned ? I didn't see any of the red goo of death on it. I did a cleaning by buying a cleaning kit at the music store... is there a life span for sound quality or does it have more to do with original designer and owner care ?

I have a Bach Bundy Selmar... the only other markings are a serial number and ML on the center valve... I figure its probably a student trumpet from the late 70's ( parents bought it)

Tootsall

John, yes your Bundy is indeed a student instrument. I started out on one of those about 7 years ago. It suffered patiently through my "learning curve" (when I learned NOT to hold a trumpet by the mouthpiece.... and subsequent stupid things) with a bit of help from a good repair guy! It wasn't too long before I felt that I needed to move on to something else, however.

If you are really, REALLY serious about learning to play (ie, you have committed yourself to the life-long pursuit of learning to master the brass beast), and you have the £ to get yourself something decent... why don't you get in touch with Leigh McKinney at http://www.eclipsetrumpets.com . Yes, he builds "top shelf" handmade horns that sell for big £. But he also has the habit of buying up older instruments and putting some work into them to turn them into really classy, high quality "rebuilds". I'm sure he could work something that would fit your budget. And I'll bet it will play better than what you can find on the "used" but "open" market and will cost quite a bit less than "new".

Anyway.... give him a call if you get the chance. He's in "Beds", Dunstable.

trickg

John, while there is nothing "wrong" with a Bundy, as long as it functions properly and doesn't have any air leaks, you should be ok for the time being if you don't want to spend money on a horn. However.......

However, if you have the cash, there is nothing whatsoever wrong with purchasing something that tickles your fancy, and depending on whether or not you go new or get something good used, tickling your fancy can done properly for less than $2000. (note: even for me, $2000 would be on the high side of tickling my fancy. You can get good pro-level used horns for less than $800.)

There are a couple of advantages to getting a new horn too. For one, you will know without a shadow of a doubt that the horn isn't causing your playing maladies, but on the flip side of that, it will play AND sound better, not to mention that it will just be nicer overall, and that can make for a really strong incentive to get yourself behind the horn to practice. There's just nothing like that new horn glow to make you want to break it out of the case about 12 times a day and blow some notes through it.

On the other hand, there is also nothing wrong with paying your dues on a student model horn for a while either. I played for almost 4 years on a beater King cornet, which I still own. The last time I played it, I'm amazed that I made it as long as I did on that thing because it is simply awful. BUT, playing that beater for so long gave me a good appreciation for the next horn that I owned, a silver plated Yamaha YTR 339T.

Just food for thought.

Johnleopold

Thanks guys...

So far, my guilt for not playing this thing for 26 years has me pinned to making this one work. I want to play a little somethin' somthin' for the parents one day to let them know the investment eventually matured

I saw a guy playing a dull coated horn a few weeks ago... and it was kinda cool. A teacher I had, had a pro horn and it was nice too. Maybe after I do a couple of acid test with some other players; then I can justify another horn... although having mine "hopped-up" from a beginner horn to a nicer horn but still my childhood horn might be fun...

Actually, I'm off to do my practicing now... back in about 45mins...

Tonight beginner practice is -- C scale repeats - about 15, "break" and then each note in the octive holding for 15-20 seconds times five.

Thanks guys !

MUSICandCHARACTER

One of the things about the Bundy trumpets is that the valves were pretty much known to have problems -- mostly they tend to stick because the coating wears off. This also would cause some leaks if they do work.

But if the valves are good, those old Bundy horns were solid. School models -- built to take a licking and standup. They also produced a fairly solid sound. They are like many student horns -- solid but very limiting once you get past a certain level.

Just more info to think about.

Jim