Posts made by Dale Proctor

@ROWUK said in Student trumpet:

@Trumpetb, I report my first hand experience. I did not say that the importer dictated price. I said that the manufacturers have a catalog of options and that the importer can put instruments together from junk to great. The assumption that there must be a moral obligation in commerce is simply naive on your part. That is why there are laws to protect the end customer…

There’s a similar perception about Lucas electronics produced in England years ago for the automotive and motorcycle industry. The popular joke was “Lucas, prince of darkness”, because they were notoriously unreliable. However, the electronics were built to the price point required by the companies using them in their products. Lucas also built electronics for the aircraft industry, and had a reputation for high quality with those, because they were built to a much higher standard and price point. So, Lucas built products that were “just good enough” and products that were world class at the same time. The various markets dictated the quality level the factory produced.

Thanks for your concern. It sits on a shelf in the spare bedroom, and I’m not overly concerned about any health hazards or deterioration of the bugle itself. It’s probably 80 years old and still looks fine, I don’t handle it, and it will probably still be on the shelf for my daughter to dispose of when I’m gone…

Typically when a trumpet is new, it’s best to oil the valves frequently because of the tighter fit in the bore, and wiping them down before re-oiling is a good idea, too. After they wear in a bit, I don’t think they will need oiling quite as much, but oiling a little too much is better than not enough.

As for the “before and after” comment, if you oil them after you play, that would seem to take care of the before when you pick it up again. Most oil evaporates a bit over time, but if you play every day, I wouldn’t think it would need oiling again if you oiled them after playing just the day before.

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.

Years ago, I received a frantic call from a choir director asking if I could fill in on 2nd part for a big, multi-performance Christmas extravaganza that was at its mid point. The 2nd trumpet had a meltdown the night before and quit. I said yes, and showed up the next day and sight read the book, which luckily wasn’t too complicated. I played 2 more performances after that, and received the same stipend as those who played the entire run of the show.

@J-Jericho said in Doubling on tenor sax:

@Dale-Proctor The mouthpieces in your Bach Mercedes case look fairly deep... or is that an illusion?

They are what I’d call a medium C-cup depth. The gold one (top one) is a Connstellation 9C-W, and the silver one is a Curry 3C.

@barliman2001

Here are a few of my finds over the years:

1977 Bach Stradivarius at a junk store for $150. Just needed polishing.

1983 Bach Stradivarius C trumpet, almost new trade-in at a music store, $500.

1890 Besson (London) A/Bb/C cornet on eBay, $65. I did have to pay a shop $50 to unstick everything.

1976 Bach Mercedes on eBay (my most recent find), $175. It plays as well as my Strad, and BTW, it’s not a Mercedes II.

@Richard-III said in Old vintage maintenance.Conn:

In 60 years of playing, I've never seen red rot. Some of my horns are well over a hundred years old. I don't swab or put oil down the lead pipe. I rarely give my horns a bath. If they get gunky, I'll then do the bath thing.

So that brings up a question, how common really is it for those of you that have had the problem?

I’ve never owned an instrument that developed red rot, and I’ve played a couple of them for 40 years now, and a third one for 20 years. And, I am pretty lax about cleaning them as often as I should. Maybe the brass used was resistant to it, but I suspect a large part of the red rot problem is just a high level of acidity in the owner’s saliva, with a lack of horn cleanliness just being a contributing factor. We’ve all seen people whose hands quickly eat through the exterior finish on a trumpet and then attack the brass underneath, while other people don’t have that problem. I’d guess it’s the same thing with saliva - some peoples’ saliva corrodes brass, and others’ saliva doesn’t.

I own a couple instruments that do have red rot, but they already had it when I bought them. The rot is an aesthetic blemish right now, but I’ll probably be 6 feet under before there are actually any holes in the leadpipes.

Those old Conn trumpets have a sleeve over the leadpipe, so you’ll never see red rot on the outside of one. The only way to see it is by pulling the tuning slide out and looking inside the leadpipe for hard, crusty spots that are slightly elevated.

Jack should have told Merv that he would play Cottontail if Faddis would sing Conjunction Junction…lol

@Vulgano-Brother said in Jack Shelton:

@Anthony-Lenzo I also remember him from "I'm just a bill," and saw him on "Dragnet" a couple of times. He reminded me of Larry Mondello from "Leave it to Beaver."

Yes, he sang on a few of those “Schoolhouse Rock” shorts. “Conjunction Junction” was another one.

He also starred in the old TV sitcom, “Run, Buddy, Run”.

About the only thing the cold affects is the viscosity of the valve oil and slide grease. The valves and slides may be a little sluggish till the horn warms up. If there’s any moisture in the horn, it could freeze, but I wouldn’t think there would be enough of it to damage anything.

@Anthony-Lenzo

In my opinion, rubber is good if the water key and nib are in really good alignment when the key is closed. If they’re a little out of alignment, cork will deform a bit to seal better.

@Anthony-Lenzo

Yes. I held the water key open with one hand and popped the old cork out with a mini screwdriver. Held it open again and slid the new cork in. Here are two I did a few weeks ago.

Yes, it’s not very difficult to do. I just replaced one that way this week.

@Gendreauj said in Universal copper top and bottom valve caps:

As a very amateur comeback hobbyist player these cornets are good enough for my needs.
Buying these Chinese cornets does stop me for running up my credit card.
In the past, I have owned many used vintage, student, intermediate horns. Also several modern professionals trumpets.
Quit playing for four years and I am shocked at the price of used horns.
I bought my new ACB doubler for less than a beat up intermediate cornet on eBay.
Both cornets are cheaper than a used quality used professional cornet.

If the cornets play well for you and you like them, there’s nothing wrong with that! I used to own all sorts of older, inexpensive trumpets and cornets that I bought mainly just to see how they played. I came to the realization that for what I’d spent on them, I could have bought a couple nice used upper-tier horns. Over a span of a couple years, I sold most of them that I never played (and some were really nice instruments) and kept the ones I did. Variety is the spice of life, as they say, but I decided the closet full of old, rarely-played horns might be better enjoyed by other people. I’m down to 10 now, and that seems to be a good assortment - two antique 19th century cornets I kept as collectors’ items, two more modern cornets, 3 Bb trumpets (one is an inexpensive one for “high traffic” gigs), a C trumpet, an Eb/D trumpet, and a flugelhorn.

Sounds like you’re enjoying yourself, and new and/or different horns are a good incentive for practice. Have a good time with it and add some bling to them if you like. I’ve had a few horns customized in the past…nothing wrong with that.

I’d just get an inexpensive set of caps that fit correctly and have them copper plated. As part of an overhaul years ago, I had an entire bell copper plated, and it wasn’t very expensive at the time.

@Gendreauj said in Conn.Coprion student ? trumpet.:

One of my first trumpets was a Conn Coprion. Loved the color of the trumpet. Good student horn for the time and built like a tank.
Would love to find a copper professional horn.

Conn made a few, like the 10B Artist trumpet and the 9A Victor cornet. I have a 1962 Conn 9A cornet and it’s a great instrument.