Best posts made by Dale Proctor

I just ran across an old, dusty photo of me, taken in the mid 1980s during my 3rd chair symphony orchestra career…lol

Have you ever thought of buying a cornet? The Getzen 3850 is a very good, mellow one and isn’t terribly expensive.

@georgeb said in Old Photo:

@dale-proctor

As for the picture, I must say, Dale, you look like a very distinguished gentleman indeed.
George

I was trying to appear so…lol. That was about 40 years ago, but I’m still playing!

It’s a real Bach, a model 182 made in their Eastlake, Ohio facility around 2007. The bells read “Handcrafted in the U.S.A”.

“The Bach Stradivarius model 182 trumpet features a standard weight #37 one piece bell and #25 leadpipe, a lightweight body and a .459” bore. This particular combination, along with traditional Bach design values and classic features, responds quickly and delivers a quality of sound that is distinctly Bach. The instrument outfit includes a genuine gold plated Vincent Bach mouthpiece and a professional classic style case. The instrument is available in bright silver plate.”

Frederick Fennell had just told us a funny joke right before we were to play at a band festival in Kentucky. That’s me on the far right.

Lipping notes is fairly easy, but with a mouthpiece and a trumpet that really center/lock-in the notes, you lose some fullness of tone when lipping notes with that setup. Jazz is jazz, but playing orchestral, brass band, and concert band music, I want a mouthpiece and horn that center well, and do use the 3rd (and sometimes 1st) slide intonation aids.

This thread has officially jumped the shark…

@trumpetb

Thank you for the kind comments. Wrestling with that 150 year old cornet in a band for about 25 years gave me a strong appreciation for modern instruments, for sure! I’m the guy right behind the kneeling drummer on the right.

I’m a moderator on a couple Facebook pages, and the first back and forth name calling I see gets the comment(s) deleted, and if the originator of the post is the instigator, the entire post is deleted. They are “PG” sites, and extremely foul language and/or images also gets a comment (or entire post) deleted.

@rleegabe said in Conn 22B Trumpet ?:

Looking at buying a Conn 22B Trumpet but having trouble telling what model it is. It reads 22B the serial number is 5 542159 can't tell if it's a Victor, New York Symphony, or other. Assuming there is a 5 and a long space to the rest of the serial number it's a later year. But would really like to know what model it is. Would anyone have that information?

The serial # isn’t a vintage Conn number. If the bell to leadpipe braces are slanted, it’s a recent student model Director, not a “real” Conn 22B. Also look for USA stamped near the bottom of the 2nd valve case - if it’s there, it’s a 22B Director, not a Victor or New York Symphony.

It’s that day again!

The Bach Mercedes arrived today. I measured the bore, and it’s the .456” size, which Bach called an MP (medium plus) bore. It’s in pretty decent shape, valves are great, slides are all free, and it and seems to play well. It feels noticeably lighter than my Stradivarius. I’ll take it to a rehearsal next week to see if it plays well with others…

The Mercedes plays well with others! I played it in a 1 hour church orchestra rehearsal tonight, and was pretty pleased with it. The sound doesn’t have quite as much body as my Stradivarius does, but it played very well in tune and had a slightly easier upper register than my Strad. Reading some older reviews of the later Elkhart Mercedes had me worried about the possibility of a horn that wouldn’t play in tune, but this one is a good one.

I just found another photo of the Bavarian band that I haven’t seen in about 35 years. I’ll post it here for posterity. I see that I was also playing trumpet on some of the songs. I think that trumpet is the 1955 Mt. Vernon ML43 Strad that I sold about 20 years ago.

Still playing the Mercedes, and tired of the awkward 3rd slide ring assembly. I took the horn to Southeastern Musical Services and asked them to replace it with a fixed ring I had bought on eBay. About a week later I picked it up - old adjustable ring assembly removed, new ring soldered on, slide polished and relacquered, all for $50.

@administrator said in Smallest car trunk I’ve ever had:

Yeah, Miatas are a lot of fun, but very tiny!

Yes, in city traffic I feel like a roach who’s about to be stepped on…lol. I ride motorcycles, and it takes the same mindset to drive one of these. Here’s the view from my window at a stop light.

A nice photo I took last summer.

@BigDub said in How about a "Random Meaningless Image...let's see them string"?:

@Dale-Proctor said in How about a "Random Meaningless Image...let's see them string"?:

Five piece cornet de-composition, deBell Bb..

It was actually a 1920s Conn 22B trumpet that a guy bought on eBay. When he received it, he discovered it had been badly rebuilt and the valves were worn out. In a fit of rage, he beat it to pieces and posted a photo of it. I needed a 1920s 22B tuning slide and contacted him. He mailed the slide to me at no charge…lol