Reynolds bass

[dxhall]

Any opinions on this horn, particularly on the forward-facing F tubing? I’ve never seen a horn in this configuration.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/REYNOLDS-CONTE ... 1438.l2649

[BGuttman]

The forward facing loop tends to help the balance.

Note that this instrument is in Bb/F/flat E and you can't buy a stock device to put it in Bb/F/D or Bb/F/Eb. You would have to have one made.

Side-by-side triggers can sometimes be a pain to shift between.

I know someone who had attachment tubing from one of these grafted onto a Bach 50B. Played much more open.

[spencercarran]

That one looks to be in really nice shape. If I didn't already have a good bass, I'd consider bidding. Split trigger conversion and D slide fabrication probably runs a couple hundred dollars depending on your tech, so factor that into any price you'd be willing to pay unless you're happy to keep it old-school.

[CalgaryTbone]

I had one of these for a while but mine had the deeper copper-coloured bell. I think the Red brass came later.

The good : Very responsive - bell rings as you play it. Speaks easily with killer soft attacks available. Warm colour to the sound - would be great for playing George Roberts style ballads.

The bad : The .565 bore, 10" bell and tight valves make it tough to get comfortable with the horn. The forward wrap of the F attachment makes it very front-heavy - tendinitis in the making. The old linkage has to go, and more modern valves would also probably be a good idea (even just stock Bach or Conn valves would be much more open).

Some of my issues may have been that I am a tenor player, who seldom plays bass - the Reynolds wasn't a user-friendly doubling horn for me. I did get mine for a steal of a price, and sold it for enough profit to invest in something that suited me better. There were some players that loved those horns in the late 50' - 60's but you'd be hard-pressed to find too many still in use.

My $.02

Jim Scott

[boneagain]

Interesting links at "Contempora Corner":
http://contemporacorner.com/company/arc ... ostrander/

Doug Yeo has interesting notes on one of his sites about Kahila laying out the tubing and valves with yarn or something like that.

One of the members on the old Trombone Forum had one of the few (only?) factory D slides, direct from the factory.

This design seemed to focus on getting around the low B in Bartok, rather than adding alternate positions for the low range.

The Reynolds was either the first, one one of the very first, production double trigger basses. There was an Olds model in the 1930's sort of. But the Reynolds was more "mainstream."

[tbonesullivan]

I know some people who really like them. The main question is, will YOU like it.

[MrHCinDE]

I have one and have played it regularly for about 10 years, mainly big band, wind band and oom pah band.

Mine‘s an older version with higher copper content in the bell and seems to have been customized with most tubing nickel silver plated.

I actually quite like the ergonomics of the forward F wrap and find it handy to reach the F tuning slide occasionally for a quick adjustment.

I still have the unmodified side by side trigger, I kinda got used to it and never noticed it, that is until I got an independent flappy paddle bass but honestly I always get used to the Reynolds pretty quickly when I change between them.

In terms of playability, it is very responsive and has a rich sound in the pp-f range, if maybe a little less focussed than some other instruments I‘ve played. At some point above that it can tend to flip into a manic roar if I‘m not careful. Maybe the newer model (like this one) with less copper in the bell is a bit more linear? I don‘t know, I haven‘t tried one,

It can be tamed but needs a bit more effort to play than some other basses. Rewarding when it all clicks, frustrating when I‘m out of practice. If you want a smooth, consistent easy ride, maybe look elsewhere.

Then again, you‘d be lucky to find anything better in the price range I’d expect this to end up at with two valves and in good condition like this one.

[Hobart]

I have the single valve version long before 1979. That particular horn was at the very end of Reynold's lifespan, and was made in Fullerton, California. I'm not sure if this will cause any quality issues, but that bass is probably one of the last ones put out under the Reynolds name.

I have not played many fine bass trombones, I played on a school Holton 181 and a school Jupiter. I got the Reynolds I have, with the tangerine bell, for extremely cheap and it plays great, at least as good as the Holton.

Is it the best bass trombone you can buy? Probably not, especially if you're going deeply into performance.

Is it one of the best bass trombones in terms of bargain? Perhaps. If prices stay this low, you're getting a lot of horn for $800.

It's not going to be perfect, of course. The triggers aren't split and flat-E tuning is rather antiquated these days, but from what I hear, this is at least a better choice than chinese. I'm not sure about the weird F-attachment tubing, but the rest of the horn is decent from my experience, although not the most ergonomic. The single valve version blows surprisingly freely; asides from this, there is nothing notably special about the horn, good or bad.

If you seek a bass trombone that plays alright, if you don't need a Cadillac of a trombone, and you have a rather low budget, this one might be for you.