Your reviews and opinions please.
They are very popular in UK.
What about here,at home?

When i played a guys Chicago Custom it felt like a Monette Ajna that was just kind of missing something, although i have never played the lighter ones i have heard very good things about them and wish there was someone around here who owned one that i could give a try.

cmcdougall ,Where are you located?

A little town 2 hours west of Memphis Tennesee of about 10,000 named Stuttgart Arkansas.

That's a bit far from me.
I was going to suggest that you come over my office to play some Taylors.
Any time you are in New York.
Felix

Thanks for the offer Felix i'll be there in 2 days, leaving right now. hahaha

OK Felix, I'll give it a go.

To put this all in context I play a Chicago II Standard with a red brass bell but I chose it at Andy's workshop and got to try all sorts of 'exotica' including a Phoenix and all copper Chicago as well as his more mainstream trumpets. It's about 18 months-2 years old (serial 38XXX) and is large bore with the new straight 1 piece leadpipe.

Hardware is first class. The first thing I do (not for any particular reason) when I pick up a new horn is move the valves....rightly or wrongly for me it makes a difference..first impressions and all. The valves are excellent, general fit is also very good-I've seen some older ones where finish was an issue but all the newer trumpets have been excellent. Weight is not an issue if you're a healthy adult and it's only a pound heavier than a Bach Strad...this seems to be important to some people, as I get older it's getting more important to me too.

The Monette comparisons are unavoidable but probably unfair to both trumpets so I'll stay totally away from those. So how does it play?

Well differently!! Sound is what sold it to me ..I simply sounded better and I played more easily than on anything I'd played before..straight off the bat, no doubt. What did take some time is getting used to the fact that I, like most other trumpeters, was trained on a French Besson clone which by the very nature of the beast has it's own compromises programmed into it.

It was only when I started to look at how my playing had been 'customised' to suit those compromises did I start to get the best from the trumpet. The biggest of these adjustments was the realisation that I had been overpitching just about everything..particularly the middle register. Whenever, somebody new picks up my trumpet they do exactly the same thing..."Hey, why is the tuning slide so far out?!!!" is a common catch cry...then complain about the intonation!!

However, this process rewards the player with a great sound (brilliant,resonant) and stable. My high Cs ring out on this trumpet and they are of the same sonic and tonal intensity as my middle Cs. A ffp high A explodes and builds right to the end of the note regardless of volume. It's not dead and dull behind the trumpet either (gees there some garbage written about this on these sites)..but the trumpet is definitely made to sound it's best in the middle of the auditorium.

Must go now...

Regards,

Trevor

Hi Trevor.
Did you have a chance to try the Chicago II 46 Lite?

No I didn't. I tried the larger bore lite and thought it was a good trumpet..it didn't have quite the sound I was after though ( I hesitate to call it 'character' because they all have character..difficult to put my finger on it).

Regards,

Trevor

A couple of years ago I played the "heavy" Taylor at wwbw. Had to beg them to try it, they did not want to let me try it even though it was hanging on display right behind them. It had a wonderful warm tone and played very much in tune. The only complaint I had with the horn was its weight. I imagine that I could overcome that problem very quickly if I purchased one. All in all a very nice horn, just couldn't justify the cost being a very average part-time player. old geezer Dave