Fun with TSOs

[VetPsychWars]

I had some "ebay bucks" coming and I always wondered, so I got one of those Chinese pocket trumpets on ebay.

It's a "Merana", which is a ripoff of Merano. Here's a link to the horn on the Chinese wholesaler page.

One thing I can say about it, I like the color of the lacquer. I would have liked my red Aristocrat to be this dark but Charlie doesn't like how the lacquer holds to the horn when it has a lot of dye in it, so there you go.

I pulled it out of the case this evening and immediately it went into the sink for washing. Overall it wasn't bad, but the valve casings had a lot of black crud in them, so that was good to get out. The pieces fit together pretty well and the valves aren't awful.

One thing is for sure, these guys have no concept of deburring. One of the bad spots was in the first valve casing and I think I got most of it out. It was shredding my cheesecloth!

The gap in this thing is huge, like a half inch or more, so I expect it to be a non-issue. The taper isn't standard and my mouthpieces wobble a bit. The 7C clone it came with of course fits perfectly.

I've cleaned and reoiled the valves a couple of times and they're not bad. Nowhere near the equal of my Buescher valves, of course, but few horns are (yes, the Buescher valves are that good).

As for how it plays... stay tuned for part II tomorrow morning!

Tom
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1950 Buescher Lightweight 400 Trumpet
1949 Buescher 400 Trumpet
1939 Buescher 400 Cornet
GR65M, GR65 Cor #1

[VetPsychWars]

Today, the playing test.

I warmed up on my red Aristocrat with Clarke's Technical second exercise and then did my lip flexibilities also on the red Aristocrat. Then I changed to the Merana red pocket trumpet using the James introductory exercises, which are simple quarter-note and half-note pieces with some intervals in C and F.

First thing I noticed, quite obviously, was that I could hear myself a lot better. When the bell is a lot closer to your ear, that's not a shock. The tone is somewhat darkish, and if you would have told me this was a pocket cornet, I would not have been surprised. The bell is smallish and the rate of flare does not abruptly change near the end like most trumpets do.

After pulling out the tuner and setting middle C where it needs to be, I started bending around and wow, this thing is really bendy. If you like a horn with tight slots, this is not for you. On the other hand, if you, like me, learned on a slippery wide-slotting horn, the intonation on this thing is fabulous. It goes exactly where you tell it with no complaint, and playing scales while watching the tuner, every note was right on, including the low D (forgot to check C#) within the range I played.

The valves mostly worked ok in actual playing. I cleaned and reoiled a few times last night. Clark Viper was merely ok, so I stripped it out and used Bell's Superlube, and that works a lot better. After a few more cycles of clean and reoil, the valves should be ok. I couldn't really examine whether the alignment was any good as it's a pocket trumpet and clearly wound up tight.

The lacquer job is pretty good and the assembly of the horn isn't bad. The slide fit is good and the valves seem to be tight.

I tested it with four mouthpieces: my custom piece, an ancient Parduba 5, a late 70s Bach 7C, and the included mouthpiece that was marked 7C. It played equally well with all mouthpieces. The Parduba sounded a little brighter.

Is it worth $99? Probably, as long as they didn't mess up the valves. As I mentioned previously, they have no concept of deburring, so that's something you might want to have done professionally if you don't have the tools. I could see stuffing this into a suitcase if you had to go away somewhere.

One thing it is not is complete crap. You might not like how it (doesn't) slot, but that is, in my view, personal preference.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Tom
_________________
1950 Buescher Lightweight 400 Trumpet
1949 Buescher 400 Trumpet
1939 Buescher 400 Cornet
GR65M, GR65 Cor #1

[Wildman]

My question is; would you like to buy the Broooklyn Bridge?
_________________
"Political power grows from the barrel of a gun."

- Mao Tse Tung -

1935

Yes libs, your hero said that!



OhhHH YeaAAHHH!!!!

[veery715]

[VetPsychWars]

[veery715]

Thanks for your post, Tom. I have actually considered buying one of those myself and might now.

Actually I do have a question. When you stuff it in a suitcase and go away, will you please let us know how it works out?

And can you post a brief clip?

Pay no attention to the wrestler behind the curtain. Got a fly swatter?
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veery715
Hear me sing!: https://youtu.be/vtJ14MV64WY
Playing trumpet - the healthy way to blow your brains out.

[VetPsychWars]

[ChopsGone]

They apparently work out OK for travel use. My daughter and her kids are spending the month in Idaho, and the youngest wanted to be able to practice while they were gone. I let her take an older DEG pocket trumpet in a newer hard-shell plastic case. It fit right into the luggage, survived the flight nicely, and she's happy with the way it plays. That seems like a better option than paying the extra-bag fee and risking a better horn.

I've got a couple of other pocket trumpets around here, a 1970's Imperial and a current production Dillon. They all get some use now and then, and they all play at least acceptably well.
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Vintage Olds & Reynolds & Selmers galore
Aubertins, Bessons, Calicchios, Courtois, Wild Things, Marcinkiewicz, Ogilbee Thumpet, DeNicola Puje, Kanstuls....

[p76]

G'day Vet,

I had one of these (a red one too!), which now belongs to my five year old (who is wrecking it, piece by piece).

I too was pleasantly surprised by how much it was actually like a trumpet - took it to a band rehearsal, and instantly got complaints from the drummer that he couldn't hear me at all, and not to play it on a gig (which was NEVER going to happen anyway ). So if you're going to take it to rehearsal, take a "real" horn along too, as you might find it wanting - don't think because you can hear it better that it's projecting much, or at all!

I then happened upon a Wisemann Pocket Trumpet, with a 5" bell - a much better made thing, so the boy got the toy. (I got it for about what I paid for the red one, otherwise wouldn't have been interested - RRP is about 4-500 I think). I use this a bit at rehearsals, when I ride my motorbike, as it fits neatly in the topbox, and I don't have to stress about damaging it. Better sound, more projection, but it does have some tuning issues.

I totally agree with you though, it's useful little gadget to take away with you - better by far than just buzzing on a mpc, and cheap enough not to worry if you damage or lose it on a trip.

Keep us posted on what your band thinks of it.

Cheers,
Roger
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Bb - Selmer Radial, Yamaha YTR634, Kanstul 1001, Kanstul 700.
C - Yamaha 641.
Cornet - Olds Ambassador A6T, Besson 723, Olds Ambassador Long.
Flugel - Kanstul 1525
Mpc. - ACB 3CS, ACB 3ES, Curry 3BBC, Kanstul FB Flugel