lostbot

my son plays a bach bundy in high school. he is going to college in o6. one of his buddys has a darby trumpet for sale for $350. is this agood qualitiy trumpet? he sounds good on it but he sounds good on the bundy.

uatrmpt

Darby designed these horns as an alternative to the Bach Stradivarius for students who may not be able to afford a good quality horn, but need to get off of a student horn. Mr. Darby spent time at Olds and Selmer and has been in business for himself for 50 years. Not to mention, he used to be a great lead trumpet player. New, the Darby horns sell for about $875, so you're getting a great deal at your price.

I've had a chance to play the Darby horn and would consider it for myself if I were ever in the market for a new horn. In the future, when I start teaching, I am going to recommend these horns for my trumpet students who wish to get off their student models but really don't need to (or can't) drop the cash on a Bach or Yamaha. You can rest assured that before that trumpet left Capitol Music, Mr. Darby himself took a blow on it, and it wouldn't have left if it wasn't right. You don't stay in business as a private business man for 50 years unless you're doing it right.

I was fortunate to get to spend about an hour and a half a couple of weeks ago with Mr. Darby after-hours at his shop while he worked on my trumpet. This was after he had been out doing service calls all day. If you've never seen a 76 year old man in a suit and tie take a torch to your horn, you really should!

http://www.capitolmusicusa.com/darbytrumpet.html

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--Matt--

dbacon

Very interesting, we may check this out. Many of my students buy Bach's from Dillons used, but this price makes this interesting.

If I guessed Zig makes this trumpet, would I be correct?

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Dave Bacon

uatrmpt

Actually, they're made by Blessing, which surprised me given the quality of the horns.

Capitol Music has just started their website within the past year. I asked Mr. Darby why they don't do web sales and he responded that he prefered the one-on-one interaction with the customer.

You should give Mr. Darby a call. One benefit about buying "over the internet" is that you can avoid sales tax. If you go into his store in Montgomery, AL, you'll get hit with a 10% sales tax! That was the first time I had heard of a place having 10%.

He might be an old guy, but he's got a firm grasp on the current state of the music industry. He showed me one saxophone that he had built that is a copy of a Selmer Paris with additional features (and was much, much heavier than the Yamaha student saxes we used in WW Methods) that only cost him $198 to have it made. The music store that survives is the one that comes up with its own house brand to compete with Wal-Mart/Costco/Sam's/etc. for the entry level business.

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--Matt--

trptbenge

Dave,

The horn is made for Mr. Darby by Blessing. I have tried it several times in my trips down to Capitol Music and it is a nice horn and a great value.

Mike