TromboneChat

Hey! Just hoping someone in here could point me in the right direction of how to identify this trombone, that was left to my son. been in the family since the 1960s, story is it was given to my wife's uncle as a gift, by a member of the church. he took it to school and the band director told him never to bring it back because it was extremely rare and valuable. its been in storage for years until it was left to my son (only trombonist in the family) after her uncle passed.

based on my very limited time poking around online it looks like it could be an original King?? Serial number 8, Can't really read what is etched on the horn, looks like someone's name maybe? and Erfurt, Germany

Any chance the name engraved could be Ed. Kruspe? That company was historically located in Erfurt. Looks like a very nice example of a German-style trombone.

If it IS a Kruspe and is in good playing condition, it's a desirable instrument, but only to a relatively small pool of players.

This is most definitely a German style trombone. The wire forms on the tuning slide and end of the slide are called "snakes" and this one has some pretty impressive ones. I can't quite make out, but is there a band of a silver color around the bell? You sure there is absolutely no engraving on the bell?

The fact that it fits together by friction (rather than having some kind of screw to hold the bell and slide sections together) means it will possibly fall apart at the worst possible time; especially in an environment with a lot of kids.

Very valuable? probably not. Unusual and interesting? certainly. By all means try to play it and see what it sounds like. Most likely use would be in an orchestra playing 19th and early 20th Century German works.

JohnL wrote: ↑Sun Jan 28, 2024 6:56 pm Any chance the name engraved could be Ed. Kruspe? That company was historically located in Erfurt. Looks like a very nice example of a German-style trombone.

Definitely could be Ed Krupse… tarnishing makes it hard to make out.

BGuttman wrote: ↑Sun Jan 28, 2024 6:57 pm This is most definitely a German style trombone. The wire forms on the tuning slide and end of the slide are called "snakes" and this one has some pretty impressive ones. I can't quite make out, but is there a band of a silver color around the bell? You sure there is absolutely no engraving on the bell?

The fact that it fits together by friction (rather than having some kind of screw to hold the bell and slide sections together) means it will possibly fall apart at the worst possible time; especially in an environment with a lot of kids.

Very valuable? probably not. Unusual and interesting? certainly. By all means try to play it and see what it sounds like. Most likely use would be in an orchestra playing 19th and early 20th Century German works.

No I don’t think there’s any silver around the bell, there is some engraving, it was just real difficult to make out, my son is very excited about getting it cleaned up and playing it. He did mention there is no tuning slide? Is it just seized up?

Sorry for the ignorance on my part lol.

It's very possible that there is no tuning slide. Some old (and prized) German trombones were made without them. After all, you have a 4 foot (1200 mm) tuning slide in your right hand.

Another name to look for under the tarnish is Piering.

A Kruspe could indeed be valuable. They are quite sought after. Not sure that's a Kruspe, but definitely German-made. This looks like somewhat later or at least less traditional design (possibly even a German jazz trombone, even Kruspe had an "American-style Jazz trombone" model), based on the tuning slide, the counterweight, narrower bell section (and smaller bell?). But that's just based on looking at one picture so I could be wrong.

In any case, this definitely has a J-shaped tuning slide, just probably stuck after all this time in storage. You can tell because of the very long and cylindrical nickel silver sleeves in the bell section and the extra braces (a tuning slide-less German trombone would very rarely have 2 braces, let alone 3. It typically would have only one.)

Other things to look at that could help us help you: are the inner slide tubes chrome plated or raw metal (and nickel silver or brass)? Are they one-piece with drawn stockings, or two-piece with soldered-on stockings? Could you post a picture of the bell engraving?

Definitely German and not a HN White/king. From your pictures on Reddit my guess would be the HN white counter weight was just added later.

Briande wrote: ↑Mon Jan 29, 2024 9:10 am Definitely German and not a HN White/king. From your pictures on Reddit my guess would be the HN white counter weight was just added later.

If there are more pics on Reddit, could someone post a link?

Not likely Piering; from what I see on the interwebs, they were never in Erfurt.

JohnL wrote: ↑Mon Jan 29, 2024 10:31 am

Briande wrote: ↑Mon Jan 29, 2024 9:10 am Definitely German and not a HN White/king. From your pictures on Reddit my guess would be the HN white counter weight was just added later.

If there are more pics on Reddit, could someone post a link?

Not likely Piering; from what I see on the interwebs, they were never in Erfurt.

Here was the link to more pictures.

Briande wrote: ↑Mon Jan 29, 2024 5:03 pm Here was the link to more pictures.

Well, it's for sure a Kruspe (Kruzpe?) from Erfurt.
The aftermarket H.N. White counterweight (which must be very old; I've never seen one like it) was a red herring.

Value? Could be worth a lot to someone interested in German trombones (and willing to refurbish as necessary).

Okay, so it's a Kruspe "Amerika-Jazzposaune". Below are the trombone pages of the 1929 Kruspe catalog. Not sure whether yours is pre- or post-WW2 (do you know if your wife's uncle was gifted a new instrument, or a second-hand one?).

It's probably not the best instrument for someone to learn on, but probably a very interesting instrument to have later on as a special one. As for value, I doubt it's going to be anything crazy like the very sought-after orchestral and solo Kruspes that go for several thousands. Probably somewhere between 1K and 2K, maybe less.

That does indeed look like the Jazz/America model from the catalogue. Wow, have never seen one before! Would be great to get a comparison between this and a usual American jazz trombone, e.g. King2/3b.