I am a grade 4 trombone player who has played for two years, I recently stumbled upon the triple tonging video and thought it was the most helpful yet. Thank you, keep up the great work.
I would certainly never recommend to do this to a historically or sentimentally important instrument, but the excessive valve clearance can be reduced (somewhat) by soaking the pistons in engine additive containing PTFE, such as Slick 50. You will want to (1) fill up the air paths in the pistons with clay because you don't want them getting narrowed, and (2) soak only the metal piston itself (which may mean hanging them at an appropriate height), and (3) keep the liquid at about coffee-drinking temperature. The last makes the process take hours or a day, rather than forever and a week as it would at room temperature.
Beautiful playing, Trent! I recently picked up a Boston 3* from the late 1800’s, it’s a wonderful instrument to play, and has such a pretty sound. A few notes: these old instruments are extremely mouthpiece sensitive. You’ll want to use the mouthpiece designed for it, to get the best playability and intonation. Also, cornets/trumpets didn’t start having finger hooks until mutes became popular in Jazz... it’s pretty easy to get used to playing without a hook if you play your normal trumpet/cornet with your finger on TOP of the hook for a month or so. I now find it more comfortable that way, it naturally relaxes your hand and also prevents excess mouthpiece pressure. Final thought: I have used Monster oils since finding out they have a copper passivator; I think that’s a big benefit for antique instruments, and I run an oil-soaked spitball through my antique horns to spread that passivator love :) I like their oils a lot, especially the “smoother” (or original) for vintage horns, and the Adams for modern horns. A little goes a long way. Their slide oil is nice and handy, and the slide grease is very thick which is also a benefit for vintage horns which may have loosened up a bit.
I actually own an old 1940’s cornet similar to this made by Gretsch, and it was also passed down through my family. Great review, keep up the good work!
Hi. I have a 1899-1900 Boosey and Hawks Imperial cornet with the same tension spring system. One of the valves would not return properly so I have replaced the tension system by taking out the tension mechanism and spring and simply putting in compression springs. Works faster and more sensitive. Cheers George, NSW Australia.
I have a Cleveland Cornet from the 1920s missing its second valve piston. I'm dreaming of the day when I find a replacement and can get that beauty playing again. If anyone has one lying around, give me a shout. I'm in Northeast Ohio, USA.
so there's a "distin" london cornet sitting on ebay for a heavy $5999, anyone know anything about distin, or london cornets dating back to 1880s, 90s? the description doesn't give much context. just curious
Could you provide a link to that listing? It sounds interesting (and overpriced, most likely). Robb Stewart has some good articles on Distin, this one on a London-era cornet might be most useful: www.robbstewart.com/distin-london-cornet and there are more articles on them here: www.robbstewart.com/distin-instruments
Jeremy Peplinski unfortunately, as soon as I went to check the listing, as I had it as a watched item, it was removed. It had been up for quite a while, so i'm suprised to see it gone, but thank you for the article!
how do you do your audio for when you play because mine always sounds good in person and horrible in camera audio. do you have any tips for me on how to fix this and if so, what are they? thank you :)
Trent any suggestions for an inexpensive trumpet because I currently play Tuba in my high school and I’m interested in playing Trumpet for Jazz band and tips and keep up the great videos 👍
Those could be the pieces out of a kazoo... That horn players used to put in the 3rd valve slide or down at the bottom of the tuning slide... You might want to see is that what they are for
Hey Trent. I find with my flugel that has leaky valves that I can get a longer lasting seal by using 4 to 5 drops of monster smoother and I also add 2 to 3 drops of their slide oil. Cheers
Hey Trent, I wanted to ask you about a euphonium. I am a euphonium player and I’m looking for a good sounding horn that isn’t to expensive. What model would you recommend for going into a professional horn? And I also wanted to ask are you selling any of these euphoniums yourself? Keep up the good work
Anything to be honest mate, Euphonium players do what they want and make up their own tuning and sound so if recommend get a Boosey & Hawkes (round stamp) frosted instrument, it has excellent valves and almost never goes wrong
"ACME" was a branding Boosey & Co used for their export models. It appears that they mostly went to North America, but I have seen at least one example in Australia. I've done a light refurbishment on a 1911 Solbron example. The Acme branded ones often had a rising sun motif engraved.
My first cornet was a Boosey and Hawkes found in a kind of musical junk shop. I think I paid $25 for it in 1979. It was rather pretty, rose brass with some nickel plating. The valves were so worn that I used 3-in-1 oil in it instead of normal valve oil. Boy could I bend notes with that thing. I sold it after I got a better instrument. A few years ago, having not played cornet in about 30 years, and no longer owning one, I found a similar instrument in a charity shop, which, however, may be an India-made copy of the British original.
Another remedy of leaking valves is having the pistons nickel plated making them oversize then lapping them back in. Kanstul in Anaheim used to do that often. If I had a leaking Kanstul horn I had a choice of whether to plate the pistons or for the same price they'd just rebuild me new oversize pistons. Worked very well.
You may find that the double water-key works better if you use a rather soft natural cork, not the typical synthetic cork you find these days. The softer natural cork will "bed-in" and form a better seal. It often works better if you keep the corks slightly moist or put some lanolin-based valve oil onto them. This ensures that they get a better seal. They actually work quite well, but they won't work if you try to use modern synthetic cork.
I have a question but it might have been asked before. Trent, have you ever played any jazz music in bands or played any jazz ever in your career in brass instruments, or are you purely a marching band/classical player? Thanks
One my family members handed down a Conn cornet. I’d been researching a few sites to find out more about this model and is good model to start with. The serial numbers is L21017
I never used a pinky ring, I only rest my pinky on top of it. I was never taught or encouraged to use one, and was only ever told it was for conducting and playing at the same time, ie. playing one handed. Looking back, they are definitely there to be used, but they can be a cause for bad habits such as mashing the mouthpiece into your spinal cord trying to reach the high notes. No big loss that this doesn't have one I guess.
Trent, apropos of absolutely nothing, you look amazingly like my cousin did at your age! He and I both played tuba, though I switched to trumpet when he moved up to high school. I like your videos, so keep up the good work.
Seems to project to me although it may be the acoustics of a small room. Do you feel you had to work hard to get the volume of sound . ? Does the sounf get brittle or out of tune if you put in more air? How about a larger mouthpiece cup diameter .?
Hi Trent. I woundered if you could possibly do a video on standard and reversed leadpipes on Trumpets. It would be nice to have an idea of what the differences are and the pros and cons of each.😊
So, you seem to know your shit pretty damn well. So I've got a question for you. I've tried to research this myself, with very little luck .... A friend, many years ago, gave me a trumpet that she said was her dad's. She doesn't play brass. I have no idea how old it is. It is a Bb/C trumpet (changeable first bend) that is silver in color, but as it doesn't tarnish, I'm guessing it's nickel plated, not silver. It is etched (pretty sure not stamped, it looks hand etched to my eye) "A. Csurcsia, Mannheim." Build quality seems pretty darn decent to me, tho it has some intonation problems (as most dual-key instruments do) It is a straight valve trumpet. I mention this because most of what I'm finding re: "A. Csurcsia" involves rotary valve horns. I've found "A. Csurcsia" as a manufacturer, but nothing actually ABOUT them. Have you got any info? Thanks.
some of the old horns had weights that fit in the valves and the extra springs are a different tension so the valve response can be changed from light to firm
First of all I want to say that I really like and appreciate the content on this channel, as well as stating that you are a good player Mark. But I want to comment your use of vibrato. Vibrato is a very important technique on a brass instrument, but I find your vibrato to be quite slow and a bit misused. It sounds a bit "jazzy" on songs that aren't really meant to be played like that. Players like Philip McCann use the vibrato to enlarge their sound, which is done by a much quicker, maybe subtler vibrato. But this is just a comment. Love your videos! Have a nice day.
Hi Trent. For REALLY bad valves I have used a product called 3n1 oil. It is thick but viscous and allows instruments with very poor valves to be evaluated. FWIW
I had my grade 4 exam earlier today and I sure I failed it I played utter nonsense. I had the wrong scales, messed up every time I played and failed the aural test.
