Anyone else have a Jim Darby (J.H. Darby) horn?

[radiobob]

I have a J.H. Darby horn designed by Jim Darby at Capitol Music in Alabama. here's a link to the site and the horn:

http://www.capitolmusicusa.com/darbytrumpet.html

I'd appreciate your impressions of the horn. They're built by Blessing and look like an ML-1, but Mr. Darby told me he added some designs of his own. My impression is that it's a well made horn, very nice tone, but a bit too much resistance for me, I can't get used to the blow. However, the leadpipe has a very slight bend which could be causing some stress thus contributing to the resistance. I picked this up off of Ebay cheap, I think because they're not very familiar, so I'm thinking of selling it, but I don't want to get rid of a potentially great horn, so I'd like some impressions if anyone has tried these. Thanks!

Bob

[mafields627]

Darby designed these horns as an alternative to the Bach Stradivarius for students who may not be able to afford a good quality horn, but need to get off of a student horn. Mr. Darby spent time at Olds and Selmer and has been in business for himself for 50 years. Not to mention, he used to be a good lead trumpet player. New, the Darby horns sell for about $875, so you probably got a great deal off of ebay. If the body of the horn is sound, you could get Charlie Melk to put a leadpipe and tuning slide on it to open things up and have a very nice horn.
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--Matt--

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!

[Trptbenge]

I have had the opportunity to play the Darby trumpet several times during my visits to Capitol Music. It is an excellent horn and a great value for students. Additionally, Jim Darby is a treasure within the music dealer community. He is a wonderful guy to do business with. If you ever are in MontgomeryAL should stop by and see Darby.

Mike
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It's the sound that makes the difference!

[radiobob]

Thanks for the replies, I did talk to Darby on the phone and he seemed like a real nice guy. I happened to talk to Randy Johnson at Blessing on the phone yesterday and he said these were a mix of the ML-1 and some of their other models, but he didn't elaborate. It does seem to be a well made horn, I wonder why Blessing gets such a bad rap? I invited him to the forum to talk to us about their products like Brett Getzen does, we'll see if he shows up.

Bob

[stevericks]

Nothing like resurecting a thread. I picked up a Darby horn a couple of nights ago for a great price. It was in good shape except for 4-5 dinks. Took it to Mr. Darby himself at Capitol music and the guys rubbed out the dinks to where the horn looks close to new.

Darby himself is a really interesting fellow and has several lifetimes of interesting music stories to share. He designed the horn to compare to pro models, trying to hold the price to what students might typically be able to afford-i.e. student priced. Other than an Olds Ambassador, this is the only non pro horn I own (Olds Supers, Recordings, BAch Strads, and a number of Kanstuls). While it isn't a $2-3K horn, it does play very well. Much of the bracing resembles a Strad, including the double brace posts on the leadpipe. However, the Darby has 2 spit valves, unlike Strads. It has monel valves, brass inner slides and nickel silver outer slides. .460 bore. THere is a 1st valve saddle and a stop rod with nut on the 3rd valve slide. Lots of pro features.

THe one thing I didn't like was the feel of the valve caps srewing down -seemed the threads were not machined well. It is manufactured according to Darby's design by Blessing. Best I understand, Blessing sends it unassembled to Darby's place where they clean up and assemble them.

So how does it play? To me, unlike the original poster that said it was resistent, I thought it was open -more like my Chicago Kanstul Benge clone. THe sound is brighter than a Bach. All in all, this is a horn that ought to be able to handle about any trumpet player through high school.

Anyone else have an impression to share?
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Steve
Olds, Kanstul, Bach

[B_Starry]

One of my former students had one, and I did not care for it at all ... I would recommend a Getzen 300 or Yamaha 2335 for young trumpeters before that Darby.
Just my impression based on a single horn; it wouldn't surprise me if there were a lot of variance among different specimens.
- Brian
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do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God

[Wildman]

I am beginning to understand what Don Miles was talking about.
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"Political power grows from the barrel of a gun."

- Mao Tse Tung -

1935

Yes libs, your hero said that!



OhhHH YeaAAHHH!!!!

[William B.]

Unfortunately, Capitol Music has gone out of business. At the tender young age of 89 Darby has chosen to retire. This happened a few months ago. I bought several horns from Darby and though he was not the main music store for my band program, I always reminded parents they had him as an option. He's a good guy and had good people and I hate yo see him go. I have a Darby C trumpet. I bought it new as a starter C horn. Now I'm ready to move up to a big-boy horn and wish to sell it. I have no idea what to ask for it. It is in great shape: no dents, no scratches. Plays fine. It's tone above the staff is not as open and dark like I would like and I suspect that is because of the two piece bell and (no offense intended) Blessing's production standards not being quite as high as other manufacturers. I am not trying to sell it here, merely seeking feed back for price. Would $500 be too much? Opinions welcomed.
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I got some horns.

[stevericks]