TromboneChat

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?

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.

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

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

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?

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

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.

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...

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.

brassmedic wrote: ↑Sun Apr 14, 2024 5:49 pm 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.

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.

BGuttman wrote: ↑Sun Apr 14, 2024 8:16 pm 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: and a DEG Quadro: Notice how short the slides are in comparison to the bell.

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

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.

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.

Kevbach33 wrote: ↑Sun Apr 14, 2024 9:19 pm 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."

there was a Holton on ebay that we discussed.

viewtopic.php?p=109076#p109076

Crazy4Tbone86 wrote: ↑Sun Apr 14, 2024 5:01 pm 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.

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