babs

I've only been learning the trumpet for three weeks now, and I'm loving it, so picked up an old trumpet for A$400 in second hand shop today. I'd love to find out more about it, as it looks pretty old and has lots of character.
It's a Henri Selmer Paris - but that's all i know.
The markings on the lead pipe near mouthpiece are BS 99 2601 HT
The markings on the first valve is 19
second valve 20, with 64720
third valve 21

Are any of these numbers the serial number?

If anyone can let me know anything about this trumpet.. the year etc, I'd greatly appreciate it.

It's in pretty good condition, as far as I can tell.
I've taken some pics of it, but haven't had time to attach them yet.

Thanks

veery715

Selmer built trumpets in "batches", with the numbers on the valves beginning with 1,2,3 on the first one, 4,5,6 on the second, and so on. So your horn is the 7th in the batch. The serial number puts it around 1978. Tell us about the valves. Are they parallel to each other, or are they arranged with the first valve slanted a bit towards you, the second one straight up and down, and the third canted a but away from you? If so then you have a Radial 2 model.
Most vintage Selmer Paris horns are of high quality and should be a good playing instrument, Radial or not.
I have a 68 Radial and is fine instrument - I prefer it to my 180ML37 Bach Strad bought last year.

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Music = Love

Richard Oliver

Congrats on your new trumpet and beginning to learn to play!

Veery speaks the truth.

All the Best,

Richard

p.s. Your horn may well date from '76 - '77 with that serial number.

Maybe drop Alan Rouse an email. He knows lots about Selmer's and kindly answered a question about K-Modifieds prior to when I bought mine.

http://rouses.net/trumpet/selmer.htm

Norm

You might try faxing Paris Selmer. A fax might not cost very much, especially if you own a machine. Supply your e-mail address for a response. I tried this with a fluglehorn, and heard back from them, however there are some major gaps in their records. Fax number 33 1 4357 2495.

They might understand English, as I got my reply back in that language. They even understood my poor French!!

Good luck from Norm

babs

Thanks Norm, Richard and Veery for your great responses. I'm very excited to find out more about my trumpet. 1977 is year I was born so we're the same age.. it's meant to be! The valves are slanted, so it must be a Radial 2.
I have a trumpet lesson tonight, so my teacher is going to look over Selmer for me, think I might get it professionally cleaned, as it's pretty smelly, and green flakey bits are falling out of the horn when its being played!
Norm thanks for the fax number - I'll fax Paris Selmer and see what they say.
Thanks

veery715

Clean it yourself first while you locate someone to do it professionally. Take the valves out, and unscrew the bottom caps and put them (GENTLY- AVOID HAVING THE VALVES CONTACT EACH OTHER) in a glass of lukewarm water with one or two drops of dish soap, water level to about a half inch under the felt washers (near the top). Then fill your tub with more lukewarm (NOT hot) water and immerse the horn for an hour or two. After that, just hold it under the shower and run clean water into the bell, holding your hands over the valve cylinder bottoms and tops to encourage the water into the slides for a thorough rinse.
Turn it around and around to drain the water. Remove the valves and bottom caps from the glass and rinse them as well, one at a time, and then shake out the excess water. Screw on the bottom caps (probably not numbered and doesn't make a difference). Give each valve four or five drops of valve oil and reinstall them in the horn (there are numbers on each to match the 19, 20, and 21 on the outside), being careful to insert them so the notches in the casing match up with keys (projections) on the pistons. Each piston has two keys opposite each other, one is narrow and one wider, with corresponding wide and narrow notches in each casing. (On my Radial 2 the wider notches are towards the left hand) It works best to line them up correctly and let gravity do the rest - they should fall into place. Do NOT rotate them once inserted to get them to line up, nor should you have to push them down into the casings. They may be tight and need a little encouragement, but once they are in place they should be loose. Pull the slides, shake them out, and blow while working the valves to empty the water completely. Lubrucate the slides as needed and replace them.
Give it a try. You need to be comfortable with disassembling and reassembling the horn; it isn't a big deal once you get used to it.
While it is apart - look into the slides and the lead pipe and you will probably be able to see some gunk. You can try to clean that out with a snake, but since it is a "vintage" horn a professional cleaning is probably a good idea. A pro would also align the valves and replace felts and corks. If the outside of the horn is in good shape then a pro would see to it that the inside was as well.

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Music = Love