Bach 25 leadpipe with 37 versus 43 bell

[stephensonclan]

Preparing to buy son a Strad... 9th grader, first chair, lots of potential ... has been playing my Olds Studio and doing well ... want to reward and motivate him.

Gonna go to Washington Music Center in Wheaton, MD and play and evaluate.

My question is: 37 or 43 bell? Standard 25 leadpipe seems reasonable, but I don't know enough to evaluate bell size other than listening.

Son will be doing typical symphonic band stuff, occasional jazz ...

Comments and recommendations?

Thanks for a great forum!

George Stephenson

[jophst]

At his age, I would recommend getting him the 43 bell and possibly looking into a 37 bell his late junior to senior year. The 43 bell will be a little easier to play and he will be able to project a little easier with it as well. If the sound is really a large problem, I recommend some Heavy CCaps.

To be honest you won't go wrong either way, but if I were in the 9th grade knowing what I know now, I would choose the 43 bell. Just make sure you play a LOT of them and then choose the best one! Get a trumpet teacher or professor to help choose if possible.

Good luck!
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[Trptbenge]

Josh knows his Strads real well so the only thing I can add is play several horns and have someone listen to him play. My personal preference is the 37 Bell but each player needs to discover what they like and sound best on.

Good Luck!

Mike

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It's the sound that makes the difference!

[ This Message was edited by: Trptbenge on 2004-01-28 09:23 ]

[bgwbold]

I'd just add that for me the 37 has a little more middle of the road sound. Nothing wrong with the 43, though. Another interesting bell is the 72* and I would rank all three of them very high.

Mike

[bigbrowncow]

Let your son decide!

Just make sure he can articulate the difference between the two.

At the end of the day it doesn't make much difference between these fairly similar bells.


Steve
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Bach 43 custom

[stephensonclan]

Thanks to all ... we visited with the folks at Washington Music Center in Wheaton, Maryland and spent about three hours trying horns ... an incredible store ...!

It was way cool to listen to my son and the various employees talk about preferences and to try the horns themselves ... after trying standard 37, 37 with goldbrass bell, 37 heavy bell with lightweight frame, standard 43, fancy 37 with gold and engraving (549XXX number indicated was a couple of years old, but unplayed), an ML and an L version of Xenos.

For the first time I think I figured out what "slotting" means ... while playing and several of us blind listening on like pieces of music, it was clear that some horns he was able to clearly "lock in" on the notes in complex stuff like Carnaval and Hummel and other horns were more difficult ... spent a couple of hours doing the comparisons.

In the end, even though he is paying the difference between the baseline 37 and the 37 with gold caps, split valves, inside bell and spcial engraving - he chose the fancy one ... whether it was pyschology affecting his decision and playing or not, he slotted and played a small bit better on the fancy one ... he made the decision and it took into account hundreds of hours of his own work to pay the difference ... so, good process based on his hard work.

What do you guys think about how we did it?

[musicemt]

Sounds exactly like what I did when I tried out horns at WMC a couple of years ago (I ended up getting a Strad with a reverse leadpipe and a 43 bell). That trumpet room is something else, isn't it?

Just curious if you met a guy by the name of Byron Toney....he's an instrument salesman there, and a really great guy to work with. He's also my uncle.

Sounds like you guys had a great time, and I hope the Strad works out for y'all. Have fun blowin'!

Ben
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[Trptbenge]

Hi,

It looks like he tried a lot of horns and found the one he really liked. That's great.

Mike
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It's the sound that makes the difference!