DoubleAce

My 10 year old son is beginning trumpet in a few weeks. We have a 30 year old YTR-734 that my wife used to play in high school and college. She pulled it out of the closet and verified that the valve and slides are free and it is playable. A little googling shows this to be a "professional" quality Schilke B5 clone with a value of $400-$600. Would this be a good horn for our son to start with, or should we save it for when he has played a few years and is ready to move up? What makse a horn "student" or "professional"?

Thanks!

SpiritDCI08

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marsuleu

who really want's to learn to play , can learn on any horn ( pro, intermediate or student ) , but a new pro horn costs a lot , and needs pro maintenance/cleaning/handling etc which a beginer will not do correctly . that's why they need a low-cost horn .
in your case, you allready have this old 734 and if you don't have money for another one, you can sacrifice this one . a teacher can learn your son how to play&care the horn.
there are many differences between pro and student horns ... first is the price :)
a student horn suppose to be more open and easy to play than a pro horn . any other detail is not so important in the begining . just let him play if this is what he wants !

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Yamaha 4335GS trumpet
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MFfan

I bought a 734 new in 1970 and played it 14 years in concert bands, etc and enjoyed it. Very light weight. I put a trigger on it. The only negative thing was the wavery "slotting" of pitches, which was pointed out to me by other section members. I eventually got a Strad in 84 and sold the Yamaha a few years later to a fellow church member who had a son starting out, don't recall what grade, and I guess that worked for him, as he still has it. Wish I did!
I have been surprised at the present value of the instrument. I paid $320 for mine.

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Solar Bell

I started out playing on a professional trumpet. I was in the 2nd grade.

If your son is responsible enough to take care of it, it will be a good thing.

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s.coomer

Why not let him start on the 734? It's a decent horn and if he can be responsible and take care of it what is the problem?

DoubleAce

Thanks for the advice, all. I think we'll give it a go with the 734. I am not so worried about my son being careless with the horn, rather that I am not giving him the best chance for success by starting him on a trumpet that is more difficult to play than a beginner/student model. But what I am hearing here is that is not really a valid concern, right? We could come up with $200 for a nice used student model if that were the best option.

marsuleu

MFfan said that this 734 is a very light weight trumpet , so it should be very easy to play ( light horn are usually more responsive and blows free ). so , let him try to play this one.also consult a teacher. he will tell you what's best for your son .

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Yamaha 4335GS trumpet
Vincent Bach 1-1/2C mouthpiece

gglassmeyer

I have one and had bought it from my teacher back in 1983, mine was made around 1970. One thing to be worried about is the slotting issue that someone else had mentioned. Because it's a lightweight ultra responsive horn, slotting is pretty loose. The other issue is the fact that it's lightweight and has a reversed tuning slide, the tuning slide area of the horn doesn't have much bracing so it's in danger of a young kid bending it.

I have a 9 year old daughter who is a beginner and she can play just fine on it. Just please don't let you kid trash that horn, I love mine and haven't put so much as a dent in it since i've owned it.

These horns are known for having lead pipe red rot issues and I've had mine replaced and a friend who owns one just had his replaced too. I gave my old one to someone on the Trumpet Herald site whose pipe was in worse shape than the one i'd replaced. A repair tech would be able to spot this if it's a problem.

Make sure your kid knows how cool a horn it is so he'll respect it.

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veery715

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