I had a C7 come through my shop. It played beautifully.

Hi, I am in Brisbane

@terryc Thanks for that, an interesting article and the link to the serial number suggests a 1984 date range.
Mine has the backward pointing waterkeys like the "older" Sovereign models rather than standard ones described for the 723, I wonder if that is significant?

Here you go! Boss didn’t buy that Connstellation, but we do have this!
https://www.brassandwinds.com/blogs/news/what-s-on-my-bench-a-1956-martin-committee-deluxe

@rowuk Thanks for your opinion, I do respect it.

@grune

Through most of the 40s up to 1952 Harry played a variety of Selmer Paris balanced models ( I believe the last one given him was a 25A Gold Plated model ). But according to Chuck Par-Due's book HARRY JAMES Trumpet Icon Cathryn White, a daughter of the owner, convinced Harry to visit their plant and try their new models. This he did and switched to King in 1952. So he was likely playing the Selmer A25 Gold Plated model for the Movie, Young Man With A Horn.

@dr-go You have beautiful daughters! They don't look like you at all!

I haven't tried the Schilke but, generally speaking, I don't like copper bells on trumpets. The ones I have used and tried sound too dull or something.

Copper bells on flugelhorns = terrific Copper bells on cornets = terrific Gold brass (high copper content brass) on trumpets = great Copper bells on trumpets = not my cup of tea

@georgeb said in keeping your first Trumpet:

@dr-go

Yes, Doc, I realize I am fortunate to have a reasonably good memory at my age. In fact, when I started playing again after 50 years I was surprised at how many of the valve fingerings I remembered. Some eluded me but after a few weeks of playing all the major scales I pretty much had them down pat. I still do those scales on a regular basis, along with chromatic scales just to keep the old brain nimble.

You sir have my total admiration and complete respect!

Bach doesn't make the same claim for their 500 and 600, but I don't know if there's a price difference between those and the 300.

@curlydoc I blew a few JP models a music fest. heavy horns, very average, nothing stands out to commend them. I found the price too high against competitors.

Dr GO's Ambassador is one of a fairly small herd of unicorns; they do exist, though. A larger number plays anywhere from mediocre to pretty good. They were all well-made and sturdy. I particularly like the water key arrangement, and Olds put some thought into producing visually appealing instruments.

Aside from appearing to be a Bach Stradivarius, what caught my eye was the reversed front bell brace, the finger ring under the third slide, and the red upper valve cap felts. Upon further examination, there is only one third valve slide brace, and there is no third valve slide stop rod, just the piece that the rod would go through on the moveable part of the slide, and I'd say that the tuning slide water key is an Amado.

Alan Rubin lived up to his name, "Mr. Fabulous". Whenever I think of "Peter Gunn Theme", I think of The Blues Brothers' version, and vice versa. Hearing the way he handles it continues to be an inspiration. I've posted it before, and here it is again for those who share my enthusiasm for it:

@dr-go said in Louis Armstrong’s Trumpet:

With what I paid in taxes this year, I could have bought 5 of them.... Would have give 4 of them to the closest of my friends here on TB.

MAKE ME ONE OF YOUR CLOSEST FRIENDS, DOC pretty please 😊

@flugelgirl said in Differences between grades of instruments:
“...My first horn was a VERY used King Cleveland cornet - my mom paid way too much for it, and I still have no idea how I played it successfully for as long as I did! It plays so badly that I kept it to make sure no other kid ever got stuck with it. I’m pretty sure it was a terrible player even when new! It will become a lamp this summer.”

My first instrument was one of those, a brand new one around 1963. I didn’t know any better back then, but after playing it again a few years ago (my youngest brother now has it), I’m really surprised I stuck with playing cornet at all. That thing is terrible!...lol

@dr-go said in My low notes sound like a gibbering Dalek:

...Recordings just cannot convey the physicality, the powerful acoustic resonance, of being in the room with the instruments, right up there near them....

I have a Hammond B3 with a Leslie Speaker only a keyboards distance away... gotta agree with you on that when I put the peddle to the metal!

I loved Hendrix's use of the Leslie and the emulators like Rotovibe, Dejavibe. Also loved the B3 and the Moogs. Timbre always mattered as much or more to me than quantity of notes.

I noticed that on this trumpet, the stems of the valves each have the instrument's serial number stamped on them. This is a great touch, because it allowed me to know that they were original.

I now notice that the 3rd valve slide also has the last three digits of the serial stamped on the underside. However, none of the other slides have this. So, I was wondering....does this mean the other slides may not be original? If not, why only stamp the 3rd valve slide, and not the others?

What markings does your Silver Flair have?

I've test played a few of the TARV cornets from Leningrad, being involved in the Vienna Russian Wind Orchestra - the only orchestra outside the former Soviet Union to concentrate on Russian military band music in original settings and arrangements (

). These instrument were better than they looked; but not better than the usually low prices asked for them. Acceptable as tutti instruments, but usually not capable of solo playing. For that, the Eastern Bloc used either the Amati and Cerveny brands from the CSSR or the GDR-made Weltklang stuff. Most musicians from these countries, however, tried to get hold of Western instruments.
There was a joke in those days: What's the difference between a Capitalist and a Communist violin player? The Capitalist has an old violin and a new car, with the Communist it's the other way round.

@kehaulani Still not comparable.