Best posts made by J. Jericho

... rode hard and put up wet....

When I bought my Yamaha YFH731 flugelhorn, The valves would invariably stick after a bit of playing. I would remove the valves, wipe them down, and wipe the inside of the casings as well with paper towels. There would always be dark gray stains on the paper towels, indicating piston/bore wear. I would then flush both with valve oil to the point of the oil dripping off/out of their respective parts. I would have to repeat this once or twice a day for 3 - 4 months. Then one day, presto magico!, the valves worked absolutely perfectly, and they've been that way ever since.

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

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

Absolutely meaningless, maybe even incomprehensible, for most. But, at age 67, I am planning on drag racing for the first time with my 2006 Mustang GT this weekend.

You will love it! It's a great way to learn focus, self-control, and confidence, which you will find enhances your approach when you play a solo.

ADDENDUM - Don't forget the old adage: "The best way to make a small fortune is to start with a large fortune, and go auto racing."

Straightening the bell, followed by cleaning and filling the crack presents a number of difficulties that make the job risky. You might end up with a trumpet that plays worse as a result after the wasted effort. I wonder what caused the crack in the first place. The tone ring should do a great job of keeping things together indefinitely.

Unless you have a specific musical part the requires you to flick the bell of your trumpet, don't worry about it. As Trumpetsplus (who should indeed know) mentioned, some bells ring, and some bells don't; I don't believe it's an indication of any aspect of playability.

It looks like a good horn. What I can see of the valves looks pretty good. Enjoy your new trumpet, and dismiss any concerns about it.

@barliman2001 said in Greetings from Florida's Jazz Scene:

@administrator As to "a basement chock full of trumpets"... I once knew a guy in Ireland who collected Martin Committees... had the house full of them. When I met him (some fifteen years ago), the count stood at 565 (yes, indeed, five hundred and sixty five Committees), all of them unplayed, still in the original cellophane wrapping, with factory papers and everything. He could not even play (clarinet guy)...

eyeoftheflyer.com

@Dr-Mark said in Some good...."non-trumpeting" music :

@J-Jericho
Here's a little something I hope you like!

Very energetic. Makes me think of this:

After going to one of his concerts a couple of years ago, I remarked that Peter Frampton used to be a spectacular guitarist, but he's gotten better since then. Unfortunately:

@Dr-GO said in Vintage Horn Eye Candy:

@J-Jericho said in Vintage Horn Eye Candy:

@grune said in Vintage Horn Eye Candy:

@Dr-GO said in Vintage Horn Eye Candy:

@Kehaulani said in Vintage Horn Eye Candy:

VINTAGE HORN EYE CANDY?

I don't see it.

IF you look real close, you should see a bugle.

I thought the purpose of the picture is to eye Candy. That is her name, right?

Eye?... don't know for sure.

Perhaps you're having a hard time visualizing.

@discount-bassy Welcome to TrumpetBoards! You'll find learning to play the trumpet to be a challenging, rewarding, and sometimes exasperating journey. Please feel free to ask any questions or add comments as you like. You will find many helpful members here.

The brand of my first trumpet is lost to my memory. I think it had "American" in the name, but I'm not sure. It most likely came from the Montgomery Ward catalog as the "Good" of a "Good, Better, Best" choice. The rest I recall clearly.

It was chrome plated. Can't get shinier than that, can you? Nor hotter to the touch when playing outside in the sun, like at outdoor concerts and in parades. The manufacturer plated the slides without compensating for the thickness of the chrome, so they all were an interference fit. Nice. Do you know how much time and effort is involved in sandpapering hard chrome off the slides? I do. The bottom-sprung valves, on the other hand, weren't burdened by any plating whatsoever, so they did not resist wear, even with Holton valve oil. Remember the glass eye dropper bottles and the smell?

The case was just big enough to hold the trumpet, mouthpiece, a bottle of valve oil, and a cloth to wipe the horn down. I made a larger case to hold mutes and music, along with the trumpet. I lined it with green velvet, and I trimmed pieces from an old bed sheet to cover the outside, painting it tan, the same color as the original case. I did get compliments on it (not bad craftsmanship for a 13-year-old boy, if I do say so myself). There was just a sli-i-i-i-ight catch. I couldn't find wood thinner than 1/2 inch plywood to make the case out of. Lightweight it was not!

As difficult as it was to remove the plating from the slides so that they could actually slide, the chrome on the valve block wasted no time in starting to wear off, so I bought a leather protector to stop the wear. I later discovered that the leather protector absorbed and concentrated moisture and salt from perspiration from my hand to voraciously pit the metal underneath.

Better times were ahead a little over a year later, when I traded the remains of my first trumpet for a Selmer Signet Special cornet, an intermediate-level horn that served me well for the next three years and enabled me to play in tune without having to lip almost every note into pitch, like I had been doing. What a pleasure that was! Traded that in on my first Bach Stradivarius trumpet, but I'm getting away from the subject of this thread, am I not?

@ladonna2 Welcome! Many members of TrumpetBoards are comeback players, so you'll fit right in.

@administrator said in Differences between Olds models:

I am interested in knowing the differences between Olds models. I know there are several. If anybody on here is an expert please advise. Here are the models I can think of off the top of my head:

Olds Ambassador
Olds Mendez
Olds Studio
Olds Super
Olds Superstar "Ultrasonic"
Olds Recording
Olds Super Recording

Here's an updated version of a post I made about a year ago:

Here are my estimations (not pontifications) of Olds trumpets:

Ambassador - Some are competent; many more are crappy.

Pinto - An odd, ultimately unsuccessful experiment in unconventional design.

Special - Underrated; slightly bright sound. Because of its price bracket and pre-tritone marketing when new, it was presumed to be one step up from a basic trumpet. In reality this was a mighty big step.

Studio - A magic trumpet for some, it produces a unique lyrical sound. If your sound is bright, it will project brightness; if your sound is dark, it will project darkness. As with the Special, players have been discovering its virtues for several years now, driving prices up. The later nickel-silver plated Studio is acknowledged to have been change for the sake of change. Not considered an improvement. Quite the opposite, although some players are happy with theirs.

Super - Most owners will not sell theirs for any amount of money, period. A good, generic sound. Unfortunately, some have serious intonation problems.

Recording - A legendary trumpet for many. An odd ergonomic setup that works well for some players. Flexible and versatile; there are few other trumpets that play better, but they do exist.

Opera - If you can play a cavernous mouthpiece, you will overcome its bright timbre and produce an awesome, gorgeous, incomparable sound.

Mendez - Speaking of bright-sounding trumpets, the Mendez also has a unique timbre, putting it in the same category as the Olds Studio, Olds Opera, and Conn Connstellation in the sense that these four horns have a sound specific to each model; they do not necessarily sound like one another. FWIW - the Mendez and the Connstellation were both manufactured in long cornet versions, too, which have the appearance of their trumpet counterparts and have a distinct, cornet sound.

Super Recording - The Holy Grail for aficionados with a willingness to spend the money it takes to acquire one. YMMV.

Olds deliberately designed each instrument they manufactured for eye appeal, and there is eye candy to be found in their entire lineup. The subtle benefit of this is that you want to take it out of the case often, which leads to more practice, which leads, hopefully, to more competence.

Also, when Sonic is used in conjunction with an Olds model, it refers to the method of bell production, not any specific sound or playing characteristic, although it could be argued that marketing at the time was designed to mislead potential buyers into thinking that it did.

Welcome to TrumpetBoards. You apparently have been on a challenging journey. Hopefully we will be able to help you along the way. While a few self-taught trumpet players, such as Uan Rasey, have succeeded tremendously, most self-taught trumpet players develop habits that must be unlearned and relearned properly in order for them to advance without undue difficulty. Feel free to ask any questions you might have.

@Tobylou8 said in Some good...."non-trumpeting" music :

Reading the posts on here made me think of flipping through vinyl at the mall when I was a kid. Harmony Hut was the bomb and had the Top 40 45's in their own section! It was right next to the door. So while I'm looking at Parliament's "Flashlight" etc., this is blaring in the background! Enjoy!

This is one of my favorites, too.

@Vulgano-Brother Wow! It must be well over fifty years since I last heard them. Thanks for posting! There was an oddball album I bought at the time that had a brilliant assortment of then-contemporary themes (including wry musical humor) using J.S. Bach as a basis. Lost in the shuffle of years; I still think about it from time to time.