Request: Butler trombones review

[pompatus]

Howdy, folks! I've had my eye on Butler basses since they were announced as a way of relieving some shoulder pressure and enabling me to stay on bass. Unfortunately, Covid-19 happened and the world slowed down, and I put off the purchase for a while.

For those of you playing regularly on a Butler trombone and/or slide, how do you feel about it now? Has your opinion changed over the time you've had the instrument? Do you still consider it a viable alternative to a traditional "brass" construction?

I could ask dozens of questions, but I'm more interested in your assessment. How do you guys feel about your Butlers?

Thanks!

[EOlson9]

I have a Butler slide on my Conn 62H that I've had since July. I haven't had a LOT of time to play it but so far I'm really liking it. It's much lighter, obviously. I just keep mine clean and dry and it's worked great. I plan on sending Dave my whole horn for a conversion of the bell.

[elmsandr]

From the other thread on this:

Still working through some issues with my bass slide, don't want to go too deep into that until I resolve them to my satisfaction. That said...

-I would recommend that you use Butler to make an outer slide. That part is great, if they fit it to the horn, fantastic.

-I would NOT recommend having them make the whole slide. On the bass slide, I have had issues with both the design and execution on the inner slide. We got the execution stuff pretty much cleaned up (though they buffed it into submission), but I am not sure why their design is the way that it is.

If your issue is weight and stiffness on your slide arm, this should be the ticket. Funny thing on this is that by gravity, it may not be the fastest and easiest moving slide that I have... but when you want to move it, it just goes there. Even when sticky, it just doesn't matter and provide any resistance. I haven't done any mic work with it, but I have had no volume issues and I only notice a little difference in feedback to me while playing.

Anyway, I still feel like I am in a shakedown period with this, so all of my opinions may change, but the motion of the tubes is FANTASTIC, the sound is at worst reasonably acceptable, and the overall experience working with Butler has been good. Takes a little longer than they estimate, but not excessively.

Cheers,
Andy

Their designs seem to be evolving.. I think I may have them make me a detachable flare eventually. It isn't my favorite sound, but it is on the stand next to me right now FWIW.

Some other threads:
https://trombonechat.com/viewtopic.php?t=11834
https://trombonechat.com/viewtopic.php?t=6461

Cheers,
Andy