The One that Got Away

[cmcslide]

In response to the thread about the horns that you will never sell, what was the horn that you wish you had never let go? Or the one that you almost owned, but for whatever reason, you didn't get it?

For me, it was my first pro horn, a Holton TR-156 (the Jay Friedman model). I got the horn in high school and played it through the first three years of college - until I decided that I just had to have an F attachment. I got a Yamaha 682 at that point, and the Holton went in the closet until I traded it for a beater Corporation 42B. The 42B was (and still is) a good horn, but I wish that I hadn't parted with my first large bore tenor!

[mrdeacon]

I deeply regret selling my early TR185. That horn was a absolute gas to play. Light as a feather and could blow down walls. I would go out of my way to use it during my undergrad!

Whoever I sold it to remember I want that thing back if you ever sell it!!!! That horn was so good that the guy I bought it from originally contacted me at some point asking to buy it back. Seems like 2 of us regret selling it!

Most of my regrets have been with selling mouthpieces and leadpipes. I've owned a number of nice Elliott bass setups which I wish I would have kept and one really nice Lasky 93D which I should have kept... but then again I've got some really nice Symingtons so would I even use the other pieces? Probably not but still. They were great pieces!

[hyperbolica]

I've had several that I wish I kept.

A silver plated 79h closet queen. Absolutely pristine.

A tr156 like yours. I was moving and needed cash.

A SilverSonic 3b screw bell. A little front heavy but what a great sound.

A GenII 8h that really played great. I was just buying and selling just to play a lot of different things.

An 891z, a Shires MD+, a 48h, a 10h with widened slide... my life is full of regret...

[Kingfan]

1946 Brooklyn Bach Strad trumpet. Found it at a garage sale, sold it to a music store that sold it for 15 times what they paid me. I trusted this store to treat me right; I played in their big band. This was before the internet before I could research the horn myself.

[dukesboneman]

I had 2 Conn 78H`s
1) 1928 Satin Silver plated. Incredibly free upper range Beautiful sound and It rang on a high Bb
2) 1960`s vintage 78H light weight slide/custom Red Brass bell / Incredible leadpipe. Easily one of the best horns I`ve ever played. Why did I let it go, I switched to Bach`s .

[Burgerbob]

I'm wracking my brain trying to think of a horn I genuinely miss. I did have a corp 50B that was quite good... but I wouldn't use it now anyway.

I treasure the memories I make with an instrument much more than the instrument itself.

[mrdeacon]

I'm wracking my brain trying to think of a horn I genuinely miss. I did have a corp 50B that was quite good... but I wouldn't use it now anyway.

I treasure the memories I make with an instrument much more than the instrument itself.

Your last two main bass valve sections have both been bannanas in their own way. I thought your last setup in particular was amazing.

I still slightly regret not buying those Meinlschmidt valves from you but then I wouldn't have been able to afford the 169!

[bigbandbone]

Way back in the early 1970's I had King make me a 3B bell section with a very thin/lite bell, no rim wire, no rim lead. After I blew out my chops it sat in the closet for years and I finally sold it. Wish I had it back!

[walldaja]

I quit high school band in the last week of school (68) over an argument over my having to work and a no-notice rehearsal. Presuming I was done playing I sold my English made Besson 10-10 to my best friend for $50. In my recollection it was an amazing sounding horn that I played in band, orchestra, and Salvation Army bands of the city, state, and region. I tried to get it back from him in 2003 but he wouldn't sell. Within a year I was back trying to play occasionally but it wasn't until 1994 that I got serious and started playing daily.

[MStarke]

My very first trombone (after playing a few years on a German baritone) was a Conn 88h.

I do not know for sure as this is quite a long time ago, but retrospectively it probably was quite a good instrument. Originally selected by a very good professional trombonist.

I think it was a big mistake to sell it back then. I remember it having some mechanical issues. I was a kid and exchanged it for a nice and fancy new Kühnl Slokar model. That one was technically great, but somehow never made me completely happy. Sold it 2 years ago.

[mfellows821]

I sold a pristine Elkhart 72H and almost immediately regretted it. It was resonance personified. I have bought several others since and none came close

[bimmerman]

My Yamaha 356R. In retrospect it was a great horn, and having the F on a smaller bore made it much more versatile for my non-pro self.

[JBone]

This isn't a horn that I owned, but it is one that I wished I had bought and will never see again. Dillon Music had an absolutely amazing 5B modified with a Brasslab Thayer section at one point several decades ago. It was the right price, and it filled a niche for which I had little use at the time, but a niche nonetheless. Broad and even sound, easy to play... even relatively inexpensive.

At the time, I wasn't really doing anything by way of classical music, much less the orchestral stuff that would benefit from such a horn, and had a perfectly good 88H for what classical I did play.

And, of course, if I bought a 5B today, I couldn't really justify chopping it apart to throw a thayer section on it, particularly without any real hope that it would approximate the horn that I remember (it probably had other modifications, like some manner of Brasslab leadpipe as well).

Probably a stretch to say that I almost owned it, but given the one-off nature of the horn I think it might fit the thread.

[KingOfDreamland]

I've mentioned this one a few times, but the only horn that I've ever sold and regretted selling was my Getzen 3047AFR. I had an Ax Handle added and threw on one of Edwards's wood trigger lever knobs, took everything except the inner bell flare down to the raw brass, and lightly sanded it for a satin finish. I may be biased, but to me, I had it looking as good as any trombone I've ever seen in person. The former bass trombonist in our band went AWOL at one point, which put our band in hiatus with no promise of getting back together, and I had other priorities at the time, so I sold it. Got a fair amount more than I paid for it, but not nearly enough to make me glad to see it gone.

My wife swore up and down that I would regret selling that trombone, and I didn't think at the time that I would. As usual, she was right.

[FullPedalTrombonist]

I traded a really sweet Martin small bore for a really great mouthpiece a few years back. The horn needed work, but I wish I had waited to have my friend to some work on it. I don’t think it quite fit me then, but who knows now.

I also sold a Holton 160, which I understand isn’t exactly sought after and I don’t recall the last time I even heard the model mentioned, but I wasn’t using it and I think it went to someone who needed it more. It seemed to bridge the gap between what I liked about my Yamaha 882O and a good 88H and I think I’d like that spot filled again so I could play more tenor stuff with a local orchestra.

I actually don’t think I NEED these horns back, but I’d like to be able to play them from time to time.

[Jimkinkella]

'70's silver 3bf - played it for years, sold it to a high school kid
42b with a Brasslab thayer - section-mate's in college - fantastic sound, he sold it off to buy a stock 42BG
John Engelkes' old Greenhoe TIS independent (62h style) - the most consistent horn I may have ever played

[elmsandr]

Passed on a couple of interesting pieces.. a Holton 169 and a Bach Model 1 Alto. Probably wouldn't ever have brought either out of the practice room with the others I have, but I really want to know what they could have been like.

Cheers,
Andy

[deanmccarty]

I have 3...

King Duo Gravis... solid horn.
Elkhart Conn 88H
Coutois Alto

[Finetales]

In some ways I miss the amazing Selmer Largos I had...but since I have no intention of becoming a tenor trombone soloist there was no possible playing situation I would have ever come across where it would be a good idea to use them, so I don't regret selling them. Everything I've sold I either sold because I got something better, or I wanted the money more than I wanted the instrument.

[Cotboneman]

I think I've told this story on the old forum site. When I was a Freshman at DePaul University in the mid-70's I was studying with Mark McDunn, who was a clinician for Selmer. I was playing on a beat-up Conn 6H at the time and Prof. McDunn suggested that I purchase one of the Selmer Boleros he was bringing back from the Selmer factory in Paris that summer of 75-76. I agreed and worked my tail off to save the $680 (!) he told me the horn would cost me.

Well Fall arrived, as did the horn. And what a player it was! At least it was mechanically in much better shape than my old Conn, which needed slide work badly. I played the Bolero throughout undergraduate school, but I began to become less impressed with the lacquer workmanship and soldering as time went on. Both were very poor jobs. Still it played well, but then graduate school came around and I began playing concert band and symphony music, so I turned to Bach for its 42B and eventually the 50B in the 1980's. More on those horns in another post.

So the Bolero sat in a closet unplayed for a few years, until I got married. With a new wife and then a baby that came along I needed the money; out went the Bolero. I wish I had been able to keep the horn now, because restoration would brought the horn back to life. It had developed bell red rot, and the outer slide tubes needed major work. But that .508 (or .509 bore I think), could really speak, and had such a full range of sound, from biting to dark and mellow. I see that Dillon has had a used one on its site for some time now. Might be worth a look!

[ddsbstrb]

The trombone I totally regret selling to another university student, was a Holton TR 180. I went to the factory and picked it out. It was an early model, with the large style ball and socket, side by side linkage. When Holton came out with the Glantz "Magic Bar," I returned the bell to the factory and also added a D slide (the one which was tightly wrapped.) I never could get the Magic-Bar to work for me and sent the horn to Larry Minick for a conversion to his set-up for splitting the triggers and also had him do an open wrap D-slide. I really didn't have enough money for a complete open wrap F-attachment set-up.

That was my first split trigger system I had ever used, and, it was a big improvement. Not long after that George Roberts spent a short time as a Holton clinician, and, I sent the TR 180 hand slide to Holton for a GR leadpipe. That was another nice addition to that TR 180.

Sometime after all of these conversions and changes, I was on a gig in Northern KY; and, the bari sax player moved his chair back on a riser without a backing, fell over backwards, and knocked my music front over, which knocked my TR 180 over. This was before goods stands like UMI or K & N. Hamilton's were the only thing we had in those days.

It fell over and closed the bell into the outer slide and then, into the inner slide tube. That was at the start of the gig. Try playing a three-hour gig with that big dent in the TR 180's slide. Both the inner and outer tubes had to be replaced. My local repairman did the tube replacement; however, the technicians in those days were nothing like our guys of today. It was never the same, and, I sold it. If I would have kept it, I could have sent it to one of the great slide-tech's around today.

There were a couple more. That is for another day!

[Inspector71]

My first "real trombone" after my Cleveland King 606 was a brand new Bach 36B. I played it from 8th grade through my freshman year in college. I sold it to help pay for my first set of Thayers. I still kick myself for selling that horn. It's the only sale of an instrument that I've ever regretted.

[sterb225]

I sold a NY Bach 6 Mk VII years ago to finance a .508" Edwards that never quite lived up to the idea I had for it. The reason I sold it was because it needed a new upper inner slide and leadpipe ... I would have been way better off repairing it and holding it forever!

[drbucher]

My Holton TR-156 got away for a while, until I got it back. Left it in a shop in May 2019. It had a poorly made f attachment that I wanted modified. The tech preferred to sell me one of his premade f attachments, which was too expensive for me. Exasperated, I left it there to be donated. Bought an 88H in June. August 2021: I missed the 156. The shop still had it, unchanged. He agreed to remove the f attachment and restore it. Got it back November 1. Beautiful job by Matthew Walker, M&W Custom Trombones. I'm still playing it.

[MistedSwan]

A VERY short time after I bought my most recent Bach, about 3 Corp Bachs popped up at around the same price range. I don't know if this counts, but I feel my pain will be entertaining to y'all.