Posts made by djeffers78

@BigDub said in Most bang for your buck!:

@djeffers78 said in Most bang for your buck!:

@administrator said in Most bang for your buck!:

I know how I feel:

If I want the tool now, I go to Harbor Freight. I pay for this later.

If I want a better tool a little later, I wait and go to Lowe's or Craigslist.

Either way, I pay later.

I’ve many Harbor Freight tools that have outlasted and outperformed many big name brands.

A very small core sample group, however. And you have either been very lucky or very careful with tools.....IMO

Not at all. I’m a commercial electrician! My tools get used and abused. Since Home Depot and Lowe’s now sell what were once high quality professional grade brands the quality has went way way down. The price has not went down as far to match though.

Doyle linesman pliers
SDS and SDS max bits
1/2” drive sockets
Wrenches
All have been very dependable tools and if I ever have to I’ll buy them again

@administrator said in Most bang for your buck!:

I know how I feel:

If I want the tool now, I go to Harbor Freight. I pay for this later.

If I want a better tool a little later, I wait and go to Lowe's or Craigslist.

Either way, I pay later.

I’ve many Harbor Freight tools that have outlasted and outperformed many big name brands.

I actually enjoy fishing more than playing trumpet. Right now it’s really good fishing in the local rivers and I’ll be out today.

@Kehaulani
Yessir you are correct.
What were the conditions of the industrial boom in the US? Terrible as far as I’ve read.

$5.25 an hour is $2 more than I entered the work force at

@administrator

Come to Cincinnati. We’re known for our flying pigs

Did you file a police report?
Good luck in retrieving your horn
Hopefully these thieves get wats coming.
In today’s haroin times it will probably be sold for very little. Keep you eyes open
This is the kind of situation where I’m glad that I have friends in low places

The description calls it a French horn and a baritone?
Looks like a trumpet.
Way over priced! Maybe? Looks exactly like some of the $300 trumpets
Probably plays pretty well but for that price it’d probably be a let down

That’s what I hate about the upper range. Fingerings barely mean a thing. Seems all notes can be played with any combo or none.
Although it does marginally help to center the notes

Looks like old lacquer that was left after stripping the rest of the horn.

I’ve stripped a few and the valve block is the toughest part of the job

I’ve been very interested in buying some of the sub $90 horns. I bet with a little diligence and care the can be quite serviceable.
Even tradesmen tools from China are becoming quality tools. I haven’t carried Klien pliers for a long time. For about a year now I’ve had a Harbor Freight Doyle set and they are legit. $12vs$40.....
I’m going to try to get a good deal no matter what.

I really like all brands!

My absolute favorite for whatever reason is Holton. I have a nice little collection of Holtons

The Mendini drove me nuts with its valve issue. I guess with that one I kinda did the lapping in at home with many a toothpaste strokes.

The Cecilio 3 was an absolutely stunning instrument. Just beautiful, and it played as nicely as my HS Holton t602. After I got my B47 and joined TM I heard of something called a C trumpet! WOW I thought. I have an idea. So now I have a kinda C trumpet with a rimless bell. And I’ve got more plans

The tt500ses is just plain nice. Nothing at all that this trumpet can’t do well. And it looks cool to boot.

The Brasspire has seen 3 NABBA competitions and 2 Dublin brass festivals competitions. One season it played front row. On a Wick 4 this baby is a cornet. On a 5b it is a cornet. I’m very happy with it. The trigger system is a bit weird but works fine and is easily disassembled and reassembled for cleaning-which I’ve only done once. I know.

Nothing has broken on any of them and the bell of the mendini has been WORKED.

@Brian-Moon

I have a Mendini-the $99 job. At first it had lots of valve issues. But now runs smoothly. I bought for my kids to play along with. They were very young then and I didn’t want my good horns destroyed. I’ve learned a lot about straightening the bell flair with this one

I also have a Cecilio 3 series, an intermediate trumpet that sold for $250 when I bought it. I think they’ve went up in price since. It is a fine horn that plays fine. Jason Harrolson even reviewed one on YouTube. Not a glowing review but not a bad one either

Not sure who the parent company is of the above two but my next Cecilio is the tt500ses. It is a JinBao horn also sold by a company called JZ for around $800. K&K music has msrp at $599 I believe. Bought mine for $130 used on eBay. It is a fine trumpet. Great build quality and nice finish. Really blows and plays nicely!

All of the above have been used by me during rehearsals and performance with two different community bands.

I switch up between my Holton B47 and the Cecilio tt500 regularly because I like them equally

Lastly is my Brasspire Unicorn dual trigger cornet. It is only 3 years old and has been a great cornet. I’m very happy with it. Many miles has been put on it as well. I use this cornet in a competitive BBB. It has worked flawlessly since day one. I believe it was about $850. Bought from ACB upon Trents recommendation over his house brand.

At NABBA I’ve been able to try out many makes and models of cornet and the only one I could really tell a big difference between was a Smith Watkins (not sure of the model but WOW!)

I’m not a professional with a screaming range but I do require a horn that I can trust is reliable so I can play and not worry

And in case you’re wondering Hetmans 2 across the board. Hetmans 4 for the fast slides

Seems the hard fact is you can get really nice trumpets for under $1k.
I for one will not pay for a name when good stuff-quality stuff exist at much more reasonable prices.
I own 3 Chinese made trumpets and 1 cornet. The trumpets are nearly 10 years old at this point and the cornet 5.
No valve problems, no ferrules coming apart, nothing other than clean tones and reliable horns.
If I can get a fake Strad for 1/10th of the cost of the real deal I’m going with it.
R&D has been done on the 37, 43 & 72, it’s all profits now. Nobody in manufacturing needs to make more than $25 an hour.
The equipment that is used has been paid for many times over.
The materials are not in the hundreds of dollars to build a trumpet not by a long shot

@Niner
https://www.trumpet-history.com/Holton Models.pdf

Check the Holton Collegiate model 172.
On or about page 100 in the Holton model guide

@Richard-III

Apparently many old cornets were designed in this manner to be fine tuned on the fly.
My Arbans book I think explains the use of the slide using the thumb on the right hand

@Niner

Looks just like my Olympian.
Which looks like the very first Holton Collegiate line.
Not 100% sure but may be made by a company back then called Beaufort-maybe
OldSchoolEuph probably will have the most knowledge on this subject and I consider his site to be biblical in trumpet history content

Although I despise such excess, as an electrician I love to wire these types of large projects

Doc said my thyroid was running quite slow. I’m pretty sure I’ve none of the symptoms.

I wake up at 4, at work absolutely gittin it (gotta show up the young cats). Home to three kids and home owner duties. By 10:30 I’m wiped out. But that seems legit

I’m going on 41, my hair ain’t as thick as it once was but again this seems normal

Weight gain? In winter yes, in the summer it gets worked off

Very recently I acquired a UMI King Tempo 600.
Wow! What a disappointment. I have better fit and finished Cecilio’s. Stuffy, squirrelly and dead tone.
Also got my high school Holton t602 Collegiate back. Way way different horn! They are very similar looking but the Holton plays way easier and is of seemingly better quality
At any rate neither compare to my professional level horns.
But, all my student cornets seem way better even than these two.
Just some thoughts. What say you?