Flugel for $300 or Less?

[ENINCA]

I'm looking for a decent-playing flugel for $300 or less (mostly, the "less" part.) I'm having a tough time finding anything I feel comfortable pulling the trigger on. The no-name flugels on Ebay scare me, but there aren't any Yamahas etc. in my price range. I don't need it to be pretty, just functional, meaning valves that don't stick and decent intonation. It can be pretty banged up as long as it still sings.

I know the answer's probably "save your money for a good horn", but just in case there's a secret stash of decent cheap flugals somewhere, I thought I'd ask the great and wise TH!

[Bill Blackwell]

[ENINCA]

[quote="Bill Blackwell"]I would suggest what you are asking is pretty near impossible.
[/quote]

Thanks. Unfortunately, I knew that was probably the answer. I'll keep my eyes peeled for used "steals", I guess.

[Bruin]

If you want to stay closer to that "or less" than $300, I've seen a few Jupiter flugels on craigslist.org for about $400 that were near-new. I got my near-new Jupiter 846S (silver) on eBay for $525 including shipping - steal of a deal.
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[cjl]

FYI: The Xstream company has 2008 flugels (and trumpets) for $350. Obviously it is a chinese made horn. Is it worth $350? I don't know. Search the Horns forum and see what has been written about the Xstream line.

I don't know if they even have any left.

http://www.xstreammusicproducts.com/specials.htm

-- Joe

[mpo]

Baptiste without a doubt. Can be found at Sam Ash for around $400 new. They are great playing cheap horns. Some were made side by side with the B and S horns in Germany.

[ENINCA]

[quote="mpo"]Baptiste without a doubt. Can be found at Sam Ash for around $400 new. They are great playing cheap horns. Some were made side by side with the B and S horns in Germany.[/quote]

Thanks. I've never heard of Baptiste, but for a usable cheapie, this looks interesting. [/quote]

[Dr. Stu]

If it's the flugel sound you want, you could probably do very well by buying a more conical short model cornet (could get a really good used cornet in the $200+ range) and get a really deep V cup mouthpiece for it. I think Bob Reeves used to have a mouthpiece designed to give a more flugely sound from a trumpet (perhaps they make one for cornet too). There are people on this site who would know much more about this than I do, so perhaps some of them will chime in.

Seems like a really good cornet with the right mp would serve you better than a crappy flugelhorn in the long run, anyway.

-Stu

[dwindham]

I may be the exception to this.

I just recently found a 1977 Olds Super Star flugel off craigslist I got shipped to me for $250 in its original case with mouthpiece.

All I had to do was give it a bath and new spit valve corks and was good to go.

I got it from the 2nd owner that got it in 1982 but had not played it since the mid 90s.

Here's a quick shot of it


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[Thumper]

remember that you rarely don't get what you pay for.

[trmptz]

[rolling360]

Dont cut yourself short, just wait a bit and save a few more dollars and look for a nice used Getzen Flugel. The Capri or even some of the Eternas sell in the 400 to 600 range. Why waste the money for something that may not last and you will never get your money out of when you go to re sell it.

[westview1900]

$395 Blessing
http://dallas.craigslist.org/ftw/msg/979739370.html
http://www.brassreview.com/reviews/showcat.php/cat/198

$350 EM Winston 639L
http://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/msg/983153196.html
http://www.brassreview.com/reviews/showcat.php/cat/144

$195 Amati
http://orlando.craigslist.org/msg/979983360.html
http://www.brassreview.com/reviews/showcat.php/cat/183
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[westview1900]

[Rich G]

[ChopsGone]

For that kind of money, I'd vote for the Xstream. I talked to John Eth about them, found they were made in the same factory that makes Jupiter and many other brands. He checks them out individually before shipping. For $350, it seemed worth trying. And it turned out to be pretty good - better than you'd expect for that price. It doesn't have the same tonal quality as a pro flugelhorn, but careful mouthpiece selection can improve it. It's definitely several steps above the Nom-du-jour Chinese and Indian stencils on eBay (can you say "POS"?). OK, I only bought it as my granddaughter's take-to-school flugel, to save wear and tear on a pro-grade Besson. She'll take a better horn for concerts, but even if she only had the one, she'd be satisfied.
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[Thumper]

that exstream site is wacked! they can't even post real pictures of their horns just some fancy drawing. At least with Sam Ash you can go there and touch and feel and play them.

[Archie Sawyer]

[ndelson]

I hate to put down a brand on the open forum, but the few Jean Baptiste trumpets (and other instruments for that matter) have been unplayable. Neither trumpet played up to pitch, even with the tuning slide pushed all the way in. The clarinets and saxophones were worse.

As for the others, I cannot really say. How about a Curry TF/TC mouthpiece for your B-flat trumpet? That's a nice compromise for less than $100.

[Mr.Hollywood]

I've got a Blessing Artist Model you can have for 200.00 + shipping.

The horn is a little beat but nothing serious. It was my only flugel for a long time. I played it on lots of shows over the years.

Anyway, its just sitting in my garage.

Chris LaBarbera