Need to see a photo showing what actual part is missing. OP says valve then slide. I have a Recording on my bench at the moment, this model has a mobile slide plus a dump slide with water key, Do they want the trumpet to just play or do they want it "restored". Any competent tech can come up with a solution; compatible crooks and slide tubes are available, it is a case of machining and fabricating.

Bach Strad Bb tuning bell trumpet with 5 bells! Serial 111xxx, mid 70s. Awesome compression, zero red rot. This could be the ultimate all-round horn because it comes with a Bach 37 bell plus 4 Kanstul French Besson bells. The Kanstul bells are: 2 with a standard round bell crook, one regular gauge one heavier gauge, and 2 with a squarer bell crook, one regular gauge, one lighter gauge. For any style just select the bell to give you the appropriate tone color. Supplied with a Bach double case. Plus Sales Tax for New York buyers. Shipping to lower 48 at cost. Contact me for pictures and video.!

Two different things here. Zoom is for "meetings" and solo performances to a group. I have played some solos on Zoom to a Zoom audience of one of the orchestras I play in.

Ensemble playing is done with each member individually recording their part to a click track or backing track then someone clever puts it all together. Here is an example that I participated in for Memorial Day.

I saw (but, sorry, can't find again) a video of Mark Inouye from San Francisco Symphony describing this very alternating fingering technique for fast passages like in "Scheherazade". And I also remember in Brass Band back in the 60s using this technique to simulate string tremolos (I think it was in an arrangement of Lalo's "Le Roi d'Ys"). There are probably many techniques that we don't utilize as much as we could.

A note on the serial numbers. Small builders normally outsource valve blocks. Valve blocks are typically the repository of serial numbers. The valve block manufacturer often wants to retain the record of manufacture so will reserve the right to number these according to their internal systems.

@Dr-GO said in Company Timelines (Besson, Diston-Keefer, Frank Holton, Vincent Bach):

Good new here is I was born in 1955, so I am lead free!
That may have just made room for other contaminants!

@Kehaulani said in Company Timelines (Besson, Diston-Keefer, Frank Holton, Vincent Bach):

@OldSchool, I may have asked you before (age befuddlement), but is there a modern trumpet that is the same as a pre-WWII French Besson? And, now that a lot of time has passed, in comparison with modern horns (any brand), what are the advantages and disadvantages of the Besson? (if it exists)?

I apologize for butting in, but would like to make some points.

To make a trumpet "the same as a pre-WW11 French Besson" you would have to recreate the types of machinery used, the exact preparation of the brass alloy used, the exact methods used e.g. bending with lead. Even if you did duplicate the design right down to the valve geometry and port wall thickness etc.

Some major idiosyncrasies of the French Besson trumpet are:
angle of 2nd valve slide
valve casing elbows are "outside tubes" not "inside (bore diameter) tubes
relatively thin gauge

Plus some other details like the top valve cap is 2 pieces soldered together rather than 1 piece. All this makes a difference (better or worse - the player's choice).

Incidentally when Vincent Bach said that his trumpet was based on the French Besson, his trumpet had none of these features.

Thanks for this.

It is my understanding that Bach have always had 2 piece casings (in spite of some company literature). The change that was made, which is often misunderstood, is that they changed from both halves being yellow brass to the top half being nickel silver and the bottom half yellow brass.

I put up 4 short videos about these trumpets. Caveat: they are about the instrument not the player!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFIZFsBwI0s3pY-Hq0995JffFJqpSS5Wp

@Kehaulani I think I understand you now. The Resonance Enhancers are not braces, they are thermoplastic rubber (so no effect on silver plate) inserts that go between the valve casings. They are not permanently mounted. I have not been told of any models that they do not work on, however 2 players have not liked the difference they made. I supply a set with each of my trumpets.