Straight Contra?

[Sdoubler]

Has anyone ever seen a straight contra?

I'm playing a production of "Music Man" and I just noticed the graphic they have on posters is a double-slide straight horn.

Just an amusing marketing fail, or does it exist?

[GabrielRice]

Yes. I've played one. The Boston Symphony owns a Conn BBb contrabass trombone with no valve, which was rented for me for a concert a few years ago. It looked a lot like that picture.

[Burgerbob]

That looks like an Eb or Bb double slide horn. A BBb contra has a doubled over bell section as well.

[Crazy4Tbone86]

Yamaha made a straight contra in F for Doug Yeo. They show it at the end of this video:

[Sdoubler]

Good info guys!

Of course, I meant a straight contra with doubled slide.

Sounds like Gabe has played one! Gabe, was it actually a BBb, or Bb as Aidan suggested?

[Sdoubler]

Either way, I doubt Harold Hill was selling it to Iowa band students!

[brassmedic]

If by "straight", you mean no valve, a lot of them have been made. A BBb or CC contra would usually have a loop in the bell section so as not to be ridiculously long. You can find some here: https://collections.ed.ac.uk/mimed/sear ... rombone%22

Conn made several double slide BBb contras without valve. I have built a couple of BBb contras myself.

I have seen pictures of Eb bass trombones with double slides. That's what the Music Man picture looks like, although I suspect it's just artwork and not an image of an actual existing trombone. But such things certainly exist. An Eb or F instrument would actually be a bass trombone, not a contra.

[Sdoubler]

Thanks Brad! So a double slide trombone with no valve and no extra bell loop is likely an Eb (or maybe F) bass trombone. Cool!

Now if only I could turn this to my advantage and have the theater pay me for an Eb bass trombone double...

[GabrielRice]

Actually there are also a couple of double slide straight F bass trombones in existence and I think available for rent: one is at Osmun Music built by Steve Shires when he worked there back in the late 80s or early 90s, and I believe Edwards made one too.

[AtomicClock]

I suspect it's just artwork and not an image of an actual existing trombone.

Imho, there's enough detail in that image that the artist must have been working from a real-life model.

[BGuttman]

I don't think it's a bass. Very reminiscent of the (DEG?) Jazzbone which was a tenor with a doubled over slide to make fast runs easier (after all, the positions are half distance). Big problem with such an instrument is that intonation is really a challenge. You have to hit those short positions pretty accurately.

[JohnL]

I don't think it's a bass. Very reminiscent of the (DEG?) Jazzbone which was a tenor with a doubled over slide to make fast runs easier (after all, the positions are half distance). Big problem with such an instrument is that intonation is really a challenge. You have to hit those short positions pretty accurately.

The proportions seem a bit off to me.

Here's an image of a Tromba Jazzbone:

tromba-jazzbone.jpg

and a DEG Quadro:

deg_quadro.jpeg

Notice how short the slides are in comparison to the bell.

[AtomicClock]

Doug Yeo's gallery contains the contra Gabe mentioned, plus another Salvation Army contra. Other than the extra loop in the bell section, the proportions align well with the graphic.

https://www.yeodoug.com/home/text/trombone_gallery.html

[Kevbach33]

I vote for a lower pitched instrument, just not lower than F or Eb. (Why would one build a G trombone with a double slide though...?) Such an instrument isn't necessarily a contrabass though; in the 1920s Conn listed a 72H (before the Bb/F 72H that we know) as a "#5 bore Eb bass with double slide."

https://cderksen.home.xs4all.nl/ConnTrbHFull.html

I wonder if this is a drawing of such a Conn.

[claf]

It is more likely an artist's view of what a trombone looks like.
An artist not knowing what a trombone looks like I mean.

[Finetales]

I vote for a lower pitched instrument, just not lower than F or Eb. (Why would one build a G trombone with a double slide though...?) Such an instrument isn't necessarily a contrabass though; in the 1920s Conn listed a 72H (before the Bb/F 72H that we know) as a "#5 bore Eb bass with double slide."

[jacobgarchik]

there was a Holton on ebay that we discussed.

viewtopic.php?p=109076#p109076

[bbocaner]

Yamaha made a straight contra in F for Doug Yeo. They show it at the end of this video:

That's a bass trombone in F, not a contrabass.

[Tbarh]

The Miraphone BBb was available without a valve sometime ago..I have seen a cataloguewith a picture.Looks alot like the Conn pictured above.