TromboneChat

Came across this instrument with no manufacturer label or other identifying info on it whatsoever; I (and the guy I acquired it from) have been referring to it as a "tenor bugle" in the meantime. 8-inch bell, Db tuning. Anyone know where I could get more info on this horn?

I've attached 3 photos of the instrument in question, as well as a link to a Google Drive folder with a few videos of me tooting on it (all too big to post here). Let me know if y'all have any ideas!

-Dan

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

It looks like a straight euphonium but too small

There was a time when "drum and bugle corps" used actual un-valved instruments.

Perhaps that horn is part of that?

I've read that all began to change after someone monkeyed with a bugle tuning slide enough to get a couple of half steps and played step-wise melodies at competitions.

It's not a trombone, that much is certain. You have diverged from the path.

That's odd. There was an old horn that looked like that in an antique shop in south Jersey for years. It was listed as "Tuba - $120". No longer there. I always thought that someone "repaired" it without putting the valves back.

It's certainly not an old drum corps bugle, as the bell still points up. The only thing I could possibly think of if it was made this way from the factory is a lower voice to play with those little Spanish one-rotor bugles in Db/C.

I think it's much more likely that it's just a modified baritone horn. Someone chopped off the valve section/main tuning slide/original leadpipe to use on a project and threw on some tubing they had lying around to be the new straight leadpipe.

Looks like a crappy baritone horn that somebody sectioned the valves out of and pieced it back together with those crooked sprinkler joints.

Options: Lamp, spittoon, urinal..

A clue would be what key it's in. Could be modified from either a bell up baritone or a bell front bugle. The leadpipe looks out of place for the rest of it.

I vote for the bugle. The fact that it appears to be in Db indicates that a lot of wrap was removed from either something in Bb or G (below that). I agree that the leadpipe is rather odd shaped.