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Kanstul California Model 101, the one and only



 
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Stradbrother
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Joined: 13 Apr 2015
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 20, 2022 5:50 pm    Post subject: Kanstul California Model 101, the one and only Reply with quote

In October of 2018, I was at the lowest point of my life.

An odd way to start an article, but my journey with the Kanstul 101 started there. In my grandma’s living room in Kentucky, being ousted from a job I saw set up to fail. A violent classroom in a community that didn’t value or care about music and an administration that told me, “just suck it up and use your anger for classroom management”. Six months prior I graduated from college with my Bachelor’s in Music Education and was ready to be a high school marching band director for life.

I quit that job, and my administration cared more about the certified UPS overnight envelope that told me I had broken my contract than me. I didn’t care. On a whim, I had a bag packed for California. California paid well, jobs were everywhere, the sunshine, the eccentric people, and it was a blank slate for me. Far from any judgment I had to deal with in every small rural Kentucky town.

Little did I know, California was expensive. I thought it was expensive in Chicago or New York. No, this was another level. I landed with $700 in my pocket and quickly found myself almost sleeping in my car in the San Francisco Bay Area. Luckily I found a substitute teaching job and my life did a 180. I was a blank slate to be who I wanted, gigs and jobs were everywhere, and I was playing 5 nights a week. It was the first time I ever felt like I was in the land of true opportunity.

Somewhere in that mix I found myself in the Los Angeles area for a day and was visiting the Kanstul location in Anaheim. I tried the brand new California Series horns on display. The model 66 did not resonate with me very well, but the model 101 was incredible. One of those horns that feel like an extension of yourself. I remember it feeling 100% human. The valves weren’t heavy or overly light, they were perfectly human. It played like a “dark horn” - the free blow and easy slotting of a big copper bell horn with a large taper bell, but the tone was naturally “commercial” and really zinged when you gave it the beans. The engraving was awesome, and the concave mother of pearl valve buttons looked classic. It looked like a classic 40s horn in some aspects, but completely modern in others, and as a purist, I loved the bright yellow lacquer and the classic heavy lever water key with 3rd valve slide dumper.



Unfortunately, I wasn’t in the market for a $3,000+ studio-level horn. The California Series was Kanstul’s foray into the true studio musician horns. Instruments that pros in Hollywood would buy just a few miles away to use on a recording for some form of media, and it truly played that way.

The summer after that experience, Kanstul closed their doors, and even though I still didn’t have the cash, I sent an email to Kanstul asking if they had any 101s they were looking to sell, but at this point, they were sold out of everything in the trumpet and cornet category.

It seemed like it was gone forever, but the journey had just begun.

Over three years later, I wasn’t over the horn, and playing a Kanstul-made Wild Thing only brought me back to looking for a 101 model. This is where a new friend of mine and an integral part of Kanstul in their final years came into play, Charles Hargett. Charles acted as Kanstul’s Sales Manager from 2003 to 2013, and then in 2018 rejoined the Anaheim company as the Director of Sales.

Charles had a huge role in the later Kanstul models, and the California Series was to be Kanstul’s jump into the mainstream custom professional studio level (or however you want to call it) market. It was to be a modern series using industry innovations to produce an industry-leading product. Unfortunately, Charles confirmed one huge glaring fact about the California Series horns; only one was produced.

One 101 model and one 66 model.

They were taken to a few shows, demoed a bit, and then placed in the Kanstul showroom where it was eventually sold off the wall for a heavy discount as the company liquidated everything.

Only one.

The only one.

My only trail was a listing on Reverb, long since expired, and with this new information, I knew that was the one and only; the one I tried years ago. I reached out to the seller on Reverb who happened to live in my area, and they told me it sold quickly on eBay to a buyer on the East Coast. While the purchase history of the horn had long expired, Martin (the Reverb seller), was able to give me their eBay username.

Now, on eBay, I was able to find the buyer by their username and I asked if they still had the horn. They answered back quickly that it didn’t work out for them and they sold it to a company in Minnesota back in 2020.

After doing some research, I found Schmitt Music in Minnesota, and they seemed to be a fairly large chain that sold some used pro horns. Unfortunately, the trail ran dry, as none of their used inventory listed online yielded the 101.

About a week later, I decided on a whim to call their locations and just see if they had any Kanstuls in stock that would have been mistaken as something else that could be the 101. After a few calls I was met with, “Oh yeah, we have a Kanstul trumpet here in the back. It's a Kanstul California.”

I found it. After offering the horn to Charles first (an offer that still stands by the way), he let me have first dibs, so I gave my info over the phone, and the horn was mine.



The Kanstul California Model 101, the one and only, is a Bb horn with a .464 large bore. It has a big 5-¼ inch diameter bell, and a number 25 leadpipe. The valve guides are metal, the valves are perfectly aligned, and the horn is extremely light, despite having traditional smooth-sliding yellow brass inner slides. It has a braced reverse tuning slide and combined with a large bore, it offers just a tad of resistance with a free blow that really zings above the staff. The design of the valve block, mouthpiece receiver, and of course the deluxe engraving are all unique to this specific horn.



The Model 101 was named after Highway 101, the main highway in California that connects the whole state, and also the one I took to my job every day when I first moved here. Since my time in moving here, I am now entering my 5th year as the music director at the school I initially subbed at, and I’m still gigging whenever I get the chance.

California saved my life. It was a place I could let my education and talents shine without any worry about judgment. Where I could be the best player and educator I could be without needing some sort of connection. Where my character, sound, and skill mean more than some pedigree or lineage you are up against back home.

The Kanstul California was too little too late. It was a great horn that would have changed things, but it was just too late for it to take off.

But the California character and experience are still there. The 101 gives you a blank canvas to paint with your sound. One of those horns that acts as an extension of yourself. You don’t have anything you have to compensate for. It is one of the best horns I’ve ever played that fits into any situation; a true custom-crafted horn that just didn’t get a fair chance.
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screamer1
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Joined: 21 Dec 2002
Posts: 15

PostPosted: Tue Sep 20, 2022 7:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Is there any indication it's the same as a Dick Akright Bel Canto? It looks like it has the same valve slides.
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Subtropical and Subpar
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Joined: 22 May 2020
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 20, 2022 10:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This is the greatest thing I've ever read on Trumpet Herald, on multiple levels. Truly, thank you for sharing this.
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1958 Reynolds Contempora 44-M "Renascence" C
1958 Olds Ambassador
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2003 Kanstul 991
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stuartissimo
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 21, 2022 2:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Indeed, very cool story.
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Shawnino
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Joined: 27 Jun 2020
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 21, 2022 4:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Beautiful writing--maybe the best I've read anywhere all month.
Enjoy the horn.
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mafields627
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Joined: 09 Nov 2001
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 21, 2022 4:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well done. A fantastic lesson in persistence.
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No representation is made that the quality of this post is greater than the quality of that of any other poster. Oh, and get a teacher!
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kehaulani
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Joined: 23 Mar 2003
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Location: Hawai`i - Texas

PostPosted: Wed Sep 21, 2022 9:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Meh. All that angst. Should've just gotten a Benge 3X+ and be done with it.

Just kidding (sort of). I normally don't read long posts but the reader feedback was so positive, I decided to give it a whirl.

First, there are a number of first-rate horns available and, second, our distant memories can distort. Normally, I wouldn't be interested in the topic but then you mentioned the horn was named after California's Hwy. 101 and the nostalgia of cruising up and down the beautiful. by-the-sea drive.

I drove that highway often in my Fiat Spyder convertible. Any artifact that can bring back those days gives it special significance. Now I understand.
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Last edited by kehaulani on Wed Sep 21, 2022 10:35 am; edited 1 time in total
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Croquethed
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 21, 2022 9:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The Holy Grail has three valves. Great story.
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Stradbrother
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Joined: 13 Apr 2015
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 21, 2022 10:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thank you all so much for your comments!

Just a few things - first off, I'm actually unsure about any links to Bel Canto. I do love their work, I live in Oakland and I go to A and G Music where Bel Cantos were made pretty regularly, but I don't know any specs of any Bel Canto horns.

The horn is great! And its true that history does cloud some memories and judgement but I'm so happy my memories didn't fail me this time the horn plays awesome.

And also, I'm actually a writer by trade! When I'm not playing, teaching, and restoring cars that is, I'm a writer for a few online car magazines. I'm looking to bring my writing style I use with my car articles to horns. I feel like I read about horns and playing constantly, but rarely is a story told you know? Anyway, I'll be sure to link any other pieces I write.
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dershem
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Joined: 14 Jun 2007
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 25, 2022 9:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I felt and still feel the same way about a Dick Akright horn I used to have.
WAY back in the 70's Dick made a few horns for Mic Gillette. Not the BelCanto, which was also a great horn, but something completely different.
Mic was my mentor since I was 10, and I consider him family - our families go back even further than those mere 50 years. But he had this monster horn made for him, and Dick likes to experiment and to not just do one-offs, so instead of one, he made 36 of them: .470 bore, 6" bell, Committee style spit valves, unbraced bell, a few other refinements (well, 30 were .470 bore - the other 6 were large bore - .485. Geez!).
But I was in the service at the time (no longer an MU), living on board a ship with NO storage space (those who have been in the navy know what I'm talking about). I played on Mic's a few times when we were in the same place at the same time, but ... only 36 made, and my chops were not up to the level needed to play the damn thing to the level it deserved.
I finally got shore duty in '82, and started to get my chops back.A few months later a friend and I went up to the bay area, and I decided to show my friend (a horn player) Best Music. Dick greeted us at the counter and had some dim memories of me (Mic was always in the spotlight wherever we went) and I asked if he had any of those left.
He went into the back room and brought our a red leather case. "Last one" he said. I gave him every penny I had and he put it on layaway. I flew up the next payday (MAC flights are great that way! It cost me nothing to fly from Miramar to Alameda) and paid the rest.
I had that horn from 1982 to 2007. Loaned it to Mic once after he had sold his after he left the biz to raise a family. Finally sold it in 2007 to pay the rent one month (to a dynamite player). But I really wish I had that horn back. Like you described, it fit like a natural part of myself - it could play ballads like nobody's business, and put a Schilke 24 on it and it could damn near play Flugel lines; but push it a little bit and you could part someone's hair.
I'm glad you found your holy grail.
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BKA! Mic Gillette was my mentor and friend.
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