Hi everyone,

I am new to the site and would like to introduce myself.

I live on the south coast of England where I play in two bands, one military marching band and a swiss style 'GUGGE' band. i play an Olds ambassador trumpet of 1960 vintage and an ambassador cornet dating back to 1964.

I have just bought a rotary valve trumpet from an auction held in a village in the new forest. It has a registration document in what i think is russian.


It has a logo a bit like a capital A but without the cross piece.

can anyone help with identifying this horn?

Rob.

Welcome to TM, jjbrit!
The documentation, while maybe in Russian or another Cyrillic alphabet, shouldn't have any "A's" withouth the crosspiece. It could be the "A" engraved on your trumpet is stylized and comes from Amati Kraslice, an old instrument manufacturer in the Czech Republic. It is located in that nifty "rotary triangle" where the Czech Republic, the Old East and West Germany meet. A great tradition of building rotary instruments there.

As far as I know, unless your instrument is very, very old, the Russians (old CCCP) had a sour taste in their mouths after WWII towards anything smacking of Germany, so I am doubtful your instrument was made there.

The most important question: how does it play?

OK, thanks for that, I looked on the website but the logo's did not match. The trumpet needs some work before it can play properly, but playing 'open' the tone sounds good!

if you can take a picture of it,I may be able to help,if it is in fact a Russian instrument.

Originally Posted by Vulgano Brother

Welcome to TM, jjbrit!
The documentation, while maybe in Russian or another Cyrillic alphabet, shouldn't have any "A's" withouth the crosspiece. It could be the "A" engraved on your trumpet is stylized and comes from Amati Kraslice, an old instrument manufacturer in the Czech Republic. It is located in that nifty "rotary triangle" where the Czech Republic, the Old East and West Germany meet. A great tradition of building rotary instruments there.

As far as I know, unless your instrument is very, very old, the Russians (old CCCP) had a sour taste in their mouths after WWII towards anything smacking of Germany, so I am doubtful your instrument was made there.

The most important question: how does it play?

Vulgano,
The "A" without a crosspiece is Cyrilik capital "L",which could stand for Leningrad.
Old CCCP(USSR) used to have 2 trumpet-making factories,one in Moscow,and the other in Leningrad(St.Petersburg).

Originally Posted by NYTC

Vulgano,
The "A" without a crosspiece is Cyrilik capital "L",which could stand for Leningrad.
Old CCCP(USSR) used to have 2 trumpet-making factories,one in Moscow,and the other in Leningrad(St.Petersburg).

Cool! Thanks, Felix!
(Sometimes the quickest way to a great response is to disseminate false information! )

Perhaps? (Cyrillic "El")

A without a crosspiece is a Lambda (I think) which would make an L sound and might represent Leningrad (or maybe "Large Bore" - I kid, I kid). I don't really know what I'm talking about but the part about the Lambda is true. Regards

Cyrilic for dummies...let's start with the letter Л (though the first letter is normally A)

Our first word with Л will be Ленинград (Leningrad)



What Bagnewauckland thought was an L is actually a D

Originally Posted by trumpetnick

Cyrilic for dummies...let's start with the letter Л (though the first letter is normally A)

Our first word with Л will be Ленинград (Leningrad)

isn't this what I just said? :)