Natural Trumpet

[popotrpt]

I'm thinking about buying a natural trumpet. What's out there? Whats good? How pricey do they get? In your opinion, whats the best horn for the money?

DT

[trombapaul2]

Here is some good info from a recent thread (even of the same title):

http://www.trumpetherald.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=33946

Paul
_________________
"NEVER practice...ALWAYS perform" (Bud)

"NEVER look at the trombones...it only encourages them" (R. Strauss)

"What the hell does sound have to do with music?" (Charles Ives)

[rwbanks1962]

In addition to the aforementioned thread:
http://www.trumpetherald.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=33946

It really depends on the repertoire you plan to play, and how "authentic" you want to get with the horn. Most modern reproductions use a variety of non-authentic devices such as seamless tubing and may use vent holes to bring the out of tune partials into tune (at the expense of slightly different timbres when they're uncovered). The vent holes may or may not have some 18th C. precedents, but most of the well known players including Gottfried Reiche (who the Brandenburg #2 in F was written for) didn't use them. In general they're thought to have been a 1960's invention, but when you need absolute precision when playing with un-tempered scale instruments, they can be very useful.

If you've got the time to master note bending on the historical-type instrument (light handmade bell, seamed tubing, no vent holes) the sound is really incomparable for it's richness. If you can play (lip) diatonic scales (i.e. c'-c") and chromatic scales (from c"-c"') without using valves on a B-Flat trumpet, or have done lots of jazz-type note bending, you'll probably be able to take to that baroque trumpet skill pretty easily.

Most of the "modern" reproductions of the historical natural trumpets by reputable makers (Rainer Egger, Ewald Meinl, Frank Tomes, John Webb, Andrew Naumann, etc) are available without vent holes as well.

There are also some things to note about the really authentic horns -- namely, if you're looking for modern production standards (say like that of a Wild Thing, Kanstul, Edwards, etc), you won't find them there, because the makers such as Robert Barclay are usually employing the historical production methods (including building on the fly without marking up the decorative elements first). Sometimes the originals, even 17th-18th C instruments by masters such as Hainlein, Ehe, and Haas (all of them) have elements that are kind of haphazard looking when viewed with 21st C. (i.e. "shiny-horn-syndrome") eyes.

Then there is the question of type early (shallow flare) or late (exponential bell), Short (inventions trumpet) or long model, Jagd (a coiled "hunting trumpet like that played by Reiche), etc.

The cheapest method that you can get in to a quality instrument would be Robert Barclay's trumpet building class (around $600) -- it will get you an extremely authentic early style instrument, taught by the guy who wrote the book on the subject.

There is also a "renaissance" trumpet kit available from Renaissance Work Shops, ltd., available for about $700-900 (USD), but I've never seen the kit reviewed --also the RWS kit is of the right shape, but most of the construction methods for the RWS kits aren't necessarily authentic. While the RWS kit looks the part, you never know about an instrument -- I once had to rebuild some horns built for a renaissance fair by well-known mail order company (built out of stock trumpet and trombone parts), because the incorrect end correction had been taken off the total length of the instrument. It looked the part, but even with a proper style mouthpiece prior to rebuilding they played 1/4 step sharp in the 2nd octave, and close to 1/2 step sharp in the 3rd octave (ouch).

Next up the list cost-wise would be Andrew Naumann's instruments, staring at about $1850 USD). Again from the earlier post, these are definitely worth checking out for their value. The folks at these links can definitely help you in your search:

http://www.aswltd.com/

and

http://www.baroquetrumpet.com/

Most of the other makers (including Egger, Meinl, Barclay, Parker, etc) fall into the $2500-3500 range, for a corpus (body), 1 or 2 crooks, and no mouthpiece or case.

If you want an exact reproduction of a sterling silver, Haas baroque trumpet (such as one made by Rainer Egger), be prepared to shell out about $6000-7000, without additional crooks, mouthpiece or case. Its a lot of money, but still more reasonable than a fiddle of comparable quality.

Again, from the earlier post, your best bet is to learn all you can about the instruments types, and see (and play) as many of them in person as you can prior to putting a deposit down on a horn. Natural trumpets are a class of instrument in which modern construction methods don't necessarily equate to better instruments, and some of the aspects of their construction that make good playing natural trumpets run counter to which you'd expect in a modern B-flat, C, or D, trumpet.

You can get a real head-start on the research by hooking up with the Historic Brass Society, attending their annual convention (this year its in VT), and also checking out the Natural Trumpet group's archives on Yahoo groups.

One thing I've noticed about trumpet players/builders/historians/merchants in general is that they are a great bunch of folks, who are eager to help.

Take care and happy hunting,
_________________
Ron Banks
Fort Worth, TX

Kanstul ZKT1600 WB
75 LA Benge 3X