@administrator I think it's a great idea! I hope it gets traction. I will certainly be glad to post about my horns and some I tested, once I find the time.

There are plenty of "user reviews" on shopping sites, but as a shopper, I never know if I can trust them. Buyers on, say, thomann.de, tend to only review horns they liked. At least, that's my theory to explain why everything comes with 5-star reviews... Hopefully, an independent site will be free of some bias!

@Kehaulani Then it would no longer be the perfect fit it was for my Yamaha and other trumpets...

Yeah I know, I could own two harmon mutes. But the discovery coincided with a friend really needing a new trumpet, and after playing my Olds, it was clear it was meant for him.

Loved my old Recording. Unfortunately it didn't take modern harmon mutes well, for some reason they kept falling out. Sold it to a player who doesn't need it in a big band...
I take it this model has a pretty mainstream bell design? Might be better for my use, then...

Without knowing any trumpeters in particular beginning with "Z", yeah a 1503 must be it, being Kanstul's "72LT clone".

So I take it the Plaza is not a straight up copy of any Kanstul? The name makes me think of the Kanstul Coliseum but the specs don't match up.

@Kehaulani said in Mouthpiece recommendations for young beginners:

Well, here we go in circles. Isn't a Yamaha 11C4, Yamaha's take on the Schilke 11?

I think it is, yes. And not coincidentally, an 11C4 was included with my Yamaha beginner's horn in the 80s, so that's what I played all the way up to age 23. It's actually marked "11C4/7C".

I noted they now include their 11B4 with (at least some of) their student line. I suppose that should work well for youngsters, except if the student has thick enough lips to find the B cup too shallow. Both pretty middle-of-the-road pieces, on the smaller side. They ship a 16C4 with their pro line trumpets - IMO, they might as well not include one...

@OldSchoolEuph said in BAC Plaza:

Kanstul DNA

Is there anything particular about this model that shows a Kanstul heritage? I assume you're seeing details either in the picture or description that I'm overlooking.

If we look at the description of their Paseo 'Z72' Model Trumpet, they leave not-so-veiled hints. Not sure why they couldn't use the trademark, I guess that was not included in the sale. Anyone know exactly what model they mean by "one of the more popular commercial models"?

https://www.coolisbac.com/paseo

The tooling used for this instrument came from a very respected American workshop in Anaheim, CA, and was one of the more popular Commercial Models produced among studio and session players.

@barliman2001 said in Looking for Besson Meha piston (Kanstul):

@Jolter There is a Besson Meha for sale at Votruba's shop in Vienna. I've test played it, and it's one of the really good Mehas... here's the link: https://www.votruba-musik.at/gebrauchte-instrumente/trompeten-fluegelhoerner.php

But did you try the Benge?

(Thanks for the tip, but right now, I don't have the money to spend on a valve job, much less on a new Meha...)

@Trumpetsplus said in Looking for Besson Meha piston (Kanstul):

Worn valves on a trumpet normally cause plying issues before sticking issues.

Yeah that's what I've heard before, too. I don't really think I've experienced any leakage at all with this horn, because it plays beautifully across the whole range and I find it to compare very favorably to my Xeno in most respects. The exterior is not very worn at all, in fact the plating is near perfect and there are virtually not dings on it, so I'm hesitant to say this was caused by normal wear on the valves. Of course, it could have been a very careful previous owner. (Apart from that drop on the bottom caps.)

@grune You're right about the horns branded "Thomann". I agree the ones I've tried were not terrible.

But more importantly, keep in mind this is Europe's largest music business we're talking about here. They have a very complete inventory of almost every imaginable (major) brand of instruments. So to say that their horns are made in China can come off as unnecessarily disparaging.

@Trumpetsplus said in Looking for Besson Meha piston (Kanstul):

I am still interested in knowing the dimensions.

Good call.
My tech tells me (my translation: "Your horn has probably had an accident and someone replaced valves 1 and 2. I feel there is too much play in 1 & 2, at 0,05 mm compared to only 0,02 on number 3"

Actually only valve 1 sticks, number 2 seems to work fine.

There is corroborating evidence that there was an accident: when I got the horn off eBay, the bottom valve caps were replaced with heavy caps. But what's more, the threads on the valve casings were dented to the point where one of the caps wouldn't reliably come on and off. I got that fixed by a different local tech, but I only asked him to fix the threads as I hadn't really noticed the sticking yet, then.

Myself I have no idea why the dimension are different. It's certainly possible they were replaced, but I suppose another explanations might be that the casings were damaged and someone did a poor job of straightening them, perhaps including excessive honing/lapping?

Would you happen to know how much play there normally should be in a Kanstul piston?

Would re-plating and re-fitting the pistons be a surefire way to fix this, you think?