eclipse trumpets

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Hi All

Ive been back in the UK a few days now from attending the ITG in Denver.

Firstly i would like to thank Bruce Lee and Trent Austin for helping to run the Eclipse stand, they showed me clearly why so many people want to deal with them!

One of the benefits for me was to get to hear Trent play, which only made me more glad that the guy is on my team.

It was also great to meet so many of the people from the TH and TM sites that made the trip there, its always nice to see the face behind the name! (too many to mention, but you know who you are)

I have in the past showed at the Frankfurt Music Fair and that is great, however to attend a show that is just for trumpet players is a different experience altogether.

Although not a player, my love for trumpets, manufacture and just about everything else to do with them is one of the main things in my life after my family, so to meet the people behind the other brands and the top class players playing them was a huge high for me.

I saw many wonderful horns while there, but to be honest the one thing that grabbed me more than anything else was an oil! (yeah shocked me too!)

It was on the first day of the show that i spoke to Rich Szabo about his oils.
At the workshop we mix our own oil as a general medium running oil, as we know that the players are going to put there own in straight away so we thought what is the point in doing anything else? But i was wrong.

Our valve sections already work amazingly well, but after i oiled a horn up with that Zaja blue i had to go through the rest of my horns and oil them all with it!

For close tolerance valves i have never felt anything like it, super silky smooth running and the oil doesnt seem to dry out quickly or break down.
Anyhow i am going to be a dealer for this now in the UK if anyone is interested, and a bottle will be going out in the future with every Eclipse product. Thanks Rich!!

The Eclipse line itself i felt went very well

We launched the new flugels which were in my opinion a great success, as were the C trumpets and Bb's.
Thankyou to all the players who tried out our products at the show without whom it simply would not be worth making the trip.

I am now very keen to attend some of the other big shows in the States to show our line.
As i have not been to these before if anyone has the relevant info on these (where,when etc etc) then i would appreciate it.

Lastly we had some extremely fine ITG artists try out our horns in the jam sessions and on the actual gig!
Thanks to Mike Wade and Dennis Reynolds, it was a pleasure to meet you both.

Regards

Leigh

Oops! almost forgot, thanks George!

Mikester

Leigh,

Was great to meet you, George, and Trent. Thanks for bringing your wares to the states. You are a fine gentleman.

Knowing Bruce has it's perks. His old Eastman classmates are now amoung the "Who's Who" of the Trumpet world.

Glad you made it home safe. Now stay there a while with that family of yours!

If you need any more advice on American Cuisine, let me know.

Mikester

Tootsall

He he.... if you look at the time he posted, add the number of hours between local time and GMT... you'll see that he IS "enjoying his family"; especially the newest member.

Welcome to parenthood, Leigh. First you wake up in the night to feed'em and burp'em and change'em.... then you wake up in the night to get 'em a glass of water. After that you graduate to staying awake in the night until they come home from their "date". Then of course, you lie awake wondering if they're ever going to "phone home". It's a trap, that's what it is.

"Children are their own form of birth control!"

Bruce Lee

Trent and I were discussing our ITG withdrawal symptoms, just the other day. I guess that I've had enough time to savor the experience, and to finallly get back to posting.

It was a great pleasure to spend time with at the Eclipse booth with Leigh and Trent, in "Trumpetland"... George, that goes for you, and Meg, for you, too!

Leigh... YOU ARE ONE OF US!

For those of you who didn't have the pleasure of meeting Leigh, please add his name to the list of "trumpet people" that you really need to meet one day. His knowledge of the instrument, and his uncanny ability to understand how trumpet players "tick" has earned him a place on the list of all-time greatest craftsmen in the trumpet world. I'm sure that Eclipse trumpets will be around for a very long time!

Mikester, you're right... it was like old home week for me! To see my Eastman colleagues in one place was very heartwarming. It was such a pleasure to see Allen and Laura Vizzutti, performing together. Allen never ceases to amaze me with his ability, creativity, and the genuine love that he displays for the trumpet, not only as a performer, but as a person. It's always a pleasure to see Vince Dimartino. And, seeing Dan Patrylak was a great surprise! Time has a way of melting away, at events like ITG.

Putting faces to names... seeing friends, and acquaintances... old, and new, and making new friends with people who share the same affection for the trumpet... all in one place. Life doesn't get much better than that!

As Leigh said previously.... Thanks so much for stopping by the Eclipse booth! I hope to see all of you again, and I hope that it's not long before that happens!

Best always,
Bruce

DrunkIQ

I thought zaja blue juice was a synthetic or synthetic blend... if not then chime in

I would not break in my horn with it. I would do the intial break in with some alcass, flush the vavles once a week and then switch down the road if you want to use a synthetic.

Also a word of caution. Stuff like Zaja Blue whcih has teflon additives will fool you into thinking you do not need to oil your vavles. It is like teflon coating the inside of your car engine and running it without oil. yeah it will work but it is not suggested and it will break down at some point. So no matter what product you use, I would make sure to oil your vavles daily. My vavle set is from 1976 and they are still perfect. Synthetic oil has never touched them either.

Ahhh - It's probably the car nut in me...

-marc

Bruce Lee

Hey, Marc!

Leigh and I talked about synthetic oils, quite a while ago. I would have to say that, at the time, he was in total agreement with you. Then there's the old adage... "the proof is in the pudding". I saw the look on his face as he put the Zaja Blue on the valves of the Eclipse trumpets and flugels. He was amazed at how well it worked, to put it mildly. He talked about it for hhmmmmm.... about 4 days.

By comparison to the use of synthetic oils for a car's engine/valves, I don't think that we'll ever see a trumpet player come close to matching the same number of RPM's that a car can produce. Beyond that, how the heck would you notate that music?

I'm sure that Leigh will add his thoughts, once he has some time.

Best always,
Bruce