Best Martin Committee years?

[kehaulani]

I'm overwhelmed with threads and this is a simple question. What are the choice years for a Martin Committee?

I'm sure there are individual horns outside this range which are good, but what are the "safe" years? I'm referring to medium bore, BTW.

Thanks.
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"If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn." Bird

Yamaha 8310Z Bobby Shew trumpet
Benge 3X Trumpet
Benge 3X Cornet
Adams F-1 Flghn

[Zman]

Tough one to answer as open to opinions.
For a standard (all brass medium bore) aim my 2 cents is to aim between 154,000 and 179,000 as a rough guide.
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Martins:
HC Committee #2
HC Imperial #3 LB & #4 XL Bore
Deluxe Committee Bb, C & Eb
Taylor Chicago II Lite
Yamaha 8335LA

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[Bill Ortiz]

In my experience, Committees up to the mid fifties are the most consistent-my favorites are ones before 1950. That being said, you can find a good one from the '60's as well, but to me they don't always have the same response or special tone.
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'56 Martin Committee Deluxe #2 trumpet
14B Schilke mouthpiece
Couesnon Paris flugelhorn
Bob Reeves Sleeves and PVA

[Evinerate]

Some have said that the very early RMC Committees from 1962-1963 were pretty much the same horns prior, I've played some and compared then to a late 40s Committee and the blow and response was pretty much the same. To my ears, it sounded just a little more warmer than the late 40s version I tested.

[HERMOKIWI]

The standard response is that the best examples are below serial number 200,000.

There are going to be differences between individual horns since so much handwork went into them, but "best" is so subjective that it's really impossible to authoritatively identify the best years or best individual examples.

In terms of individual experience, who among us has played enough different examples to be in a position to speak authoritatively for the tens of thousands of horns produced? Like any other trumpet you just have to try it out and come to your own conclusion.

Personally, I'm a "just pick it up and play it" player. I don't think in terms of "good" and "bad" horns. I have two Martin Committee Deluxe horns in my collection, a medium bore from 1956 and a large bore from 1953. They both play great for me. Are there better examples out there? Beats me. I don't know that I could tell and if I could I think it would be splitting hairs to the point of irrelevancy, maybe even accounted for by a difference in how I'm playing that day.
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HERMOKIWI

[EBjazz]

I think you'd have to play many to get a definitive answer. I had a student who had at least 7 of them. I played them all and the early ones played better. He ended up gifting me a '57, and while it was a great horn, did not play as well as the rest of his collection, which also included some #3s and one Handcraft #3 that Chris Botti wanted to buy from him.

Eb
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Eric Bolvin
http://bolvinmusic.com/product/the-modern-jazz-trumpet-method/
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[illegalbugler]

Who would be a good retailer for buying Martin Committees? I'm relatively fine buying online but leery of purchasing one of these off of eBay. I don't have any local stores that would ever have one.
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Schilke, Kanstul, Benge, Getzen

[EBjazz]

I've had good service with Trent Austin, Jacek Magon and Quinn The Eskimo. Don't know if they have Martins but they all get good horns. You'll pay well for them though.

Eb
_________________
Eric Bolvin
http://bolvinmusic.com/product/the-modern-jazz-trumpet-method/
www.bolvinmusic.com

[Zman]

[improver]

I think absolutely the mid 40's horns are better horns in terms of sound . I have a 46 that I got from Gabe Johnson that is the only horn I play. I have light springs in it. It takes the edge off and is softer easy to get around. I play no other horn. I've had a few committees and wish I had committed to a mid 40's horn years ago.

[illegalbugler]