Old Guys (and gals) Club

I suppose I'm just trying to cope with the fact that I spent over $5k on one trumpet!!

I used to be super anti buying cheap knockoff instruments. However, if it gets you playing (vs not playing at all) it's probably acceptable. I've been impressed with some of the knockoff instruments. They can be better than expected at times.

Cold, hot, humid, dry...this will make exactly 0.0001% of a difference to your horns....in the short-term. If you are moving to a very humid climate (think, Florida), you may want to consider storing your trumpets in a relativity dry area. Eventually (after a long period of time), the leadpipe can start to wear (red-rot). However, these things are literally brass pipes. What could possibly happen?

Regular maintenance will nullify any climatic effects. However, playing is a different story. Cold & hot make a tremendous difference on intonation.

@Gendreauj said in Schiller elite pro Shepherds crook cornet:

I have owned other PRC cornets and yes it is definitely a crap shoot. I appreciate the tweaks ACB brass did on my cornet. The Wisemann took over a month to break in.
The Schiller was so cheap, thought the cost of any repair would be minimum.
Recently bought a Holton 602 RC it was made in Japan. It is a clone of Yamaha model.
Did find the bottom caps of the Holton and PRC cornets are interchangable.
Would the bottom caps of Yamaha trumpets and Yamaha cornets be the same size?

Yes, the Yamaha bottom caps should be identical.

@Gendreauj said in Schiller elite pro Shepherds crook cornet:

Today I received my recent inexpensive used cornet purchase from eBay. Cost of cornet was $85.00 dollars. Total cost was $106.75
Very impressed with the overall condition and it does look like a new horn.
Dissembled it and give it an extensive bath, cleaning, wipe down etc. Added fluids , reassembled the cornet and played it.
Did notice the excellent articulation, projection and ease of use.
Also noticed both of my cornets are identical in many ways; Other than the color it reminded me of my other PRC stencil cornet. Both cases are the same except for the logos. The valves and slides are interchangeable. The bottom curve of the shepherds crook is the same in both cornets.
Where it differs is the Schiller cornet has heavier valve caps than ACB cornet. Another difference is the unmarked mouthpiece is a different size than the other cornet.
My conclusion is both cornets were assembled in the same factory in China.

They likely were. The ACB does come with a guarantee from Trent Austin, and he tweaks them after the factory. The PRC Cornet is a crapshoot. But, I'm glad you're happy with the one you got.

Why not just swap the caps between the 2 instruments, the bottom caps do not matter but if the top caps are of a different thickness the valve alignment will be effected.
If you are adventuress there is a great number of DIY copper plating instructions on youtube,

Regards, Stuart.

With any vintage instrument it is a question of the true condition, how hard it was played previously and if it gets past these mechanical checks, if we can get the sound that we need.

Granted, there are people that get the warm fuzzies every time the word vintage falls. There it does NOT matter what a reality check is worth.

I would say that about half of the vintage instruments that I have ever played were not worth my time or effort. Pitch, intonation, valves and tone were simply not up to snuff. I have a lot of old instruments but they are ALL PLAYERS.

I do not consider the coprion bells to be special in any way except to the marketing departments. There are simply too many truly sensational instruments based on "standard techniques".

Interesting. Please tell us how it goes.

They're very pretty horns and a neat design. Very unique for its era. I think they look much better than they play.

You should oil your trumpet / cornet / flugelhorn probably min 1x a day (every day you play it, that is). You can't technically "over-oil" your horn; if you do so, you'll just end up with a bunch of nasty oil in your lap. You can, however, certainly under-oil it, and this could result in damage to your valves.