Posts made by Trumpetb

It is easy to speculate especially about quality when there is no real evidence available one way or the other.

The thing about trumpets is, not all instruments were engraved or stamped with makers marks or details. The better ones usually were but even that means little.

Some instruments that appear to be great when looking at them can turn out to be poor.

It can be a crapshoot.

Even good engravings could turn out to be false and intended simply to mislead purchasers.

You have to know a huge amount about instruments to be confident that you have a good one just by looking at it unless you know its history.

Only one test matters. How does it play.

Have a good player test it and give an opinion or take it to a good tech for an opinion on it.

It just looks like a trumpet and that is all I can say about it from those few images. I dont think anyone can say any more than this.

See what a good player makes of it before having an opinion on it..

My personal opinion for what it is worth is the only magic in Cass mouthpieces is, they are suited to certain players whose playing style suits the Cass designs.

That is all that mouthpieces really offer and we have the capability to change the way we play to exploit the capabilities of the equipment we use.

Of course rubbish mouthpieces will always be rubbish and create barriers to good playing but all good mouthpieces give us room to develop.

And when we have gone down that road as far as we can and finally hit limitations of our equipment, we can change our equipment to take us further in the direction we want to go.

An ounce of polishing of our abilities is worth a ton of polishing our equipment.

If Cass mouthpieces work for you that is great but I dont believe they are a holy grail for everyone.

Thats excellent news,
thank you administrator.

This is an open message to the administrator.

Kehaulani is one of the most respected members of this site and it would be a great loss if he never returned.

I have seen some big problems with other sites preventing their members logging in for no apparent or logical reason, that magically fixed themselves after some weeks of frustration by the member affected and the admin of the site.

I believe kehaulanis issues are of this kind, where he does everything correctly many times over but to no avail, and the admin is defeated time after time when trying to resolve the issue for him.

Can I ask the admin to revisit this issue and work with kehaulani on it in the hopes of defeating this software account issue whatever it is.

And could any member who has contact with kehaulani ask him to try again to gain access.

The members miss him, I miss him, and I want to see this issue resolved if at all possible.

We all suffer issues in our lives from time to time and I know kehalani has suffered more than his share of them, but an inability to log in to a site that he wants to log in to and that wants him to log in to it but the software stonewalls him, should not be one of them.

Can it be looked at again.

Thanks in advance

Interesting comments.

Trumpetboards members are friendly and welcoming.

The members in Trumpetboards are both knowledgeable and helpful

Trumpetboards Members talk on topics about trumpets, related instruments, and other important topics beyond brass instruments.

Trumpet Herald members can be unwelcoming and downright unfriendly and they dont like people who disagree with them, but they have a large body of historic knowledge and posts.

I liken the Trumpet Herald to a library where you can find huge amounts of historic information but you have to keep quiet while you are there.

I have seen the bad treatment that people get in TrumpetHerald if they speak their mind and give an opposing opinion on a topic.

I liken Trumpetboards to a college where there is not as much historic information but you can speak freely and can learn a great deal.

A college is far more useful than a library. I am on the internet, the biggest library on the planet, I dont need yet another library.

The danger with Libraries is they can make a nice warm home for unpleasant people to inhabit who then refuse to leave.

Trumpetboards encourages learning and that is exactly how a good forum should be.

@Dr-GO

Excellent thank you

Apologies but I have not found in the site where I can make a donation.

I have been through the menus but no joy. I not sure what I am missing.

Can some kind soul advise me where to go (politely please lol)

I totally agree.

I have said for years that the instrument, the mouthpiece and the embouchure form a system and all parts can either work against each other and the result is unhappiness or they all can work together and the result is joy.

Our task is to discover this joyous combination.

A few days ago I handed a 1948 Besson New Creation trumpet to a teacher for him to try and he clung on to it noodling and playing all sorts on it, he loved it and was having so much fun he didnt want to give it back. I got it back eventually.

Old instruments so often give new joy. They are a gift to us that just keeps on giving.

You have made me a very happy bunny

I would be very disappointed if this site folded.

There is no other site as good as this.

I find the Trumpet Herald site to be flawed and unwelcoming.

I believe that new members are simply waiting for an opportunity to post, I hope they settle in and become more active.

The Mouthpiece is also relatively inactive. I guess Brass playing is far less popular now compared to Guitar woodwind and strings.

Having said that I see a lot of beginners at trumpet so the future while not bright is at least hopeful.

I know Brandons work and he is exceptional

I believe that blues and jazz are speaking of the natural condition that we all experience, this why jazz reaches into our soul and it resonates with us.

In japan they teach this mantra, learn everything until you can do everything perfectly and precisely, and then throw it all away and just do what comes naturally.

Then we have natural perfection and it is very powerful.

Classical musicians perfect their craft and when they reach this highest level of perfection everything they do will be perfect, and if they can abandon trying to be perfect but then simply play naturally then they transcend perfection into beauty.

And this is what Brandon has done here.

The Japanese Shakugachi player is taught that to try to sound musical is a failure and to try to sound beautiful is a failure, and yet in not trying to sound musical or beautiful they sound both musical and beautiful.

It is a paradox.

Is it Jazz or is it Classical? why can it not be both.

Welcome

You are facing some obstacles

My thoughts are with paralysis of your entire left arm then you need a substitute for holding the instrument.

A possibility is some kind of jury rig strapped to you like movie camera rigs as in this on ebay

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/115883673313?var=0&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5338943143&toolid=20006&customid=CjwKCAjw29ymBhAKEiwAHJbJ8rTv8uyecNC09tMrcbTNGdtNeCG7bhww_t7eomRTNWtNXKBePYX1lBoCv-sQAvD_BwE&gclid=CjwKCAjw29ymBhAKEiwAHJbJ8rTv8uyecNC09tMrcbTNGdtNeCG7bhww_t7eomRTNWtNXKBePYX1lBoCv-sQAvD_BwE

I think you will need to work on playing with very low mouthpiece pressure.

I usually advise new players to practice making pitches as beautiful as humanly possible, to practice striking pitches confidently and strongly on pitch and practicing smooth unwavering tones.

If you can master these or at least work on them then you have a good chance of sounding at least as good as others in your community band and possibly better than many.

Range of course is always a challenge

My advice here is to practice musical phrases that include pitches at the upper end of your range and at the lower. This should see your range develop and gradually extend.

If you can play confidently and sound good at articulating and sounding pitches then you will win a place in the band and the respect of the other musicians.

Uan Rasey has been mentioned and he overcame disability to reach the very top.

It might seem like an impossible task at first to overcome your disability and reach a high standard but remember this, everything is impossible until you know how to do it.

I love your can do attitude.

Apologies for jumping in about the possible replating of the valves on this.

Replating could cost between 350 and 500 dollars depending on the shop or tech.

It is a difficult decision and I would want to be convinced that the instrument would be worth beyond this figure before embarking upon it.

Many well respected and known fabulous pro grade instruments from makers such as Olds Besson Conn Martin Bach Selmer Shilke Yamaha Bouescher can be purchased relatively inexpensively and would be a better prospect for a valve replate.

They are well known instruments and a valve replating would be a good investment on such instruments.

On this instrument I would think carefully before going down that road.

I have refurbished Conns, Selmers, and Bessons, sometimes at very high expense and it always made sense to me, but I doubt I would replate this instrument it just doesnt make financial sense to me, in my mind it is a simple cost benefit equasion.

Will the resale value after the work is completed equal the cost of the work on the instrument.

I dont see the value in the instrument to justify the work.

I dont see many similarities with my older instrument and I want to avoid speculation on this, I can however make a few comments now that I can see a lot more detail.

The metal valve guides are robust and suggest early manufacture and high quality.

Various hexagon shaped parts have been seen on artisan models and this also suggests higher quality.

The water keys are slung beneath the tubing in the manner of a trombone and this is fairly typical of a manufacturer that has a history of manufacturing trombones prior to manufacturing trumpets.

Olds for example manufactured trombones before trumpets and adopted the underslung trombone style water key on some of their trumpets, they also adopted brass valve guides very similar to yours, although we should not draw conclusions from these two facts.

Martin adopted trombone style side action water keys on their Committee horn and you cant get better than that.

As to the hexagon shaped parts Bach used hexagon receiver ends as did Olds and several others.

I also believe I see Nickel balusters on top of the brass valve casings, this suggests the valve casings were fabricated in two parts in the manner of Bach Strads, and the Bach strad is about as good as you can get.

Additionally all the ends of all the slides are rounded like a bead, I have seen a lot of beginner intermediate and pro horns and you tend to not see this on either beginner or intermediate horns but you do see this on some pro horns.

It looks like a great deal of money and care was lavished on this instrument during its manufacture.

There are so many elements that singly do not prove quality but when all are taken together they suggest quality.

Adding everything together I have reason to believe this horn could easily be an intermediate or better instrument.

But none of this really proves anything. An instrument can be made well but still play poorly.

There are many factors that could relegate this instrument to beginner or worse quality, the resistance, the intonation, possible valve wear, bent or ill fitting parts due to damage, we cannot yet know where the gremlins are.

The only opinion that will mean anything is that of a competent player following an extended play test.

Regarding the mouthpiece, I believe that the mouthpiece and instrument should be matched to each other so as to deliver the timbre and tone that the player aspires to.

My mouthpiece is unlikely to be of any value for you I have many and can swap them to discover a good match.

You may need to swap mouthpieces out to reach the tones you are looking for.

This I have never seen before however I have not seen everything of course

The name appears not to be Ciicel but Cusel and the u is the umlaut u as seen here in the explanation of the umlaut below.

Umlaut (literally "changed sound") is the German name of the sound shift phenomenon also known as i-mutation. In German, this term is also used for the corresponding letters ä, ö, and ü (and the diphthong äu) and the sounds that these letters represent.

This is similar to the umlaut u in the name of the instrument maker Rudy Muck who has an umlaut u in his name.

Rudy Muck should I believe should be pronounced Rudy Mook so this makers name perhaps should be pronounced Coosel

Rudy Muck is a well respected maker familiar to many and is of German extraction and he emigrated as I understand it to England and then to the USA.

The general appearance of the instrument has a look of German or Czechoslovakia instruments of between 1910 and the modern era, this means little quality wise as many of them are good instruments, but some admittedly are not so good.

The engraving style is typical for example, of many ancient instrument makers that ultimately were gathered under one company name in the eastern block.

Hornucopia has nothing under Ciisel or Cusel but that means they simply have not seen one yet, the chance of it being a stencil is high.

Selmer London for example around the 1930s routinely purchased high quality instruments from Europe specifically Germany and Czechoslovakia and had those engraved as Selmer and we would not question the high quality of those instruments today.

On a personal note and as a warning This instrument has similarities to an older European instrument I owned some years ago, the valves were problematic and would bind because each part of the valves were individually manufactured and fitted by hand and some past owner had disassembled all the parts and mixed them up so you had a stem from valve one fitted into valve two etc etc.

These days this would not be a problem but the valves would not run sweet until all the parts were swapped around and the original configuration hit upon. After that the valves were buttery smooth and sweet as a nut.

This would never happen in a modern instrument parts on modern horns can usually be interchanged freely.

I mention this just in case you have valve issues in this instrument. Each little part of each valve may need to be in its original factory fitted position to work well.

The play test is everything and try several mouthpieces they can be very mouthpiece specific, and all the usual applies, chem clean, corks and felts, and a good lubrication.

@Dr-GO I cant imagine anything better than playing classic New Orleans music in a great band like the Queen City Krewe

That makes me smile inside, good luck sir.

Correct me if I am wrong but the Recording has a single slide and brace on the main, this one looks like it has a specially fabricated removeable extra slide inserted into the main slide.

This pushrod looks like it allows the player to extend the main slide under thumb control of the right hand.

If this is set up like a trigger with an internal spring, and that looks possible, then the player suddenly has trigger control available on first and on third.

Additionally this trigger would be useable when the left hand is occupied by a mute.

The plunger now becomes more user friendly.

It looks to me like a classy addition to a classy instrument.

Just my 2 cents.

Hi all. What I am about to post is in no way to labour the point and I am not trying to prove anyone wrong, but it simply is a statement that establishes that flushing every day is not an odd, weird, or maverick activity.

It is a traditional method of cleaning an instrument that was favoured by some of the best players of the instrument.

This is a quote from the internet about Louis Armstrong and his approach to trumpet care

Armstrong said once he went through trumpets fairly regularly. “I give my horns about five years. Of course I look after them, run hot water through the instrument every night so you know it's going to percolate.” “It will last forever if you keep it cleaned out, like your stomach,”

Of course Louis may have been very over cautious and wrong about this, his belief is simply similar to mine.

I am simply saying that anyone who chooses to "run hot water through the instrument every night" is in good company and it does appear to work,

It is an option that members might wish to try.

@Kehaulani-0

Hi Kehaulani by way of explanation I stated my opinion and that was disputed, I stated what I have found over many years to work and solve a major valve issue, I was then accused of wishful thinking, which is a nice way of saying I was making it all up.

I felt I had no choice but to support my position with some stats and facts.

This seems reasonable to me, not supporting my statements with facts when called to do so would be a mistake.

I stated reality and it appears that some people in here think that reality was instead a fiction.

I am giving you truth supported by facts which is reality.

That seems reasonable behaviour to me.

@ROWUK

I dont think it is wishful thinking.

I cannot recall the last time I had any valve issues certainly not any time during the last 12 months.

In my experience all valves are equally excellent.

As for posting more than practicing, in my case I practice around 5 hours a day 7 days a week, I used to practice more than this. That adds up to 35 hours of practice each week.

I post maybe on average 5 minutes a week, that I believe is posting less than I practice.

I dont think that experiencing zero valve issues over 1,800 hours of playing and practicing can be called wishful thinking.

I am sure I would have noticed if my valves became slow or hung up or stuck partially down.

Does any player experience any valve slowdowns or hangs at all in 1,800 hours of playing. I dont believe they should expect any valve issues.

My present daily player is a conn built in 1965 the valves are perfect and never give any trouble at all. I am not wishing that were true I am stating that is true.

So yes I will continue to flush as it works, it is not possible to experience less than zero valve issues. I attribute this to keeping the valves clean and well lubricated.

I have experienced occasional valve issues once every 3 years or so due to spring or guide issues. Easily fixed but that is all.

Or I could just be lucky of course.