I'm going to try to tear through a dozen F attachment trombones (half are silver plated Conn 88H, and half silver plated King 607F) that all belong to one university. When I finish with these, that university's instruments will be done.
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Dear band directors,
Please don't soak the taxpayers by buying stuff like this to be marched with and destroyed. First of all, please get over the "silver" thing, which is really dumb. Secondly, buy a dozen really high quality half inch bore 8-inch bell trombones like John Packer (remarkable knockoffs of Yamaha 354 trombones)!for a few hundred bucks a piece rather than the instruments described above for a few thousand dollars a piece. Your trombone section is not the Chicago Symphony trombone section, and - even if they were - they're not going to play those big fat horns as loudly and as well running around on the football field as they would sitting down in a concert hall. Give them some smaller brighter sounding trombones that will project well and are made well. When they tear them all up, have them repaired if repairable or just spend a few hundred bucks and buy a couple of replacements. Buying huge bore silver plated instruments - that cost several thousand dollars a piece (just because the system allows the taxpayers to be abused in this way) - is very selfish, and (again) you're not going to get as much sound outdoors out of those instruments as you would out of the medium-sized instruments I described above.
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The most expensive individual repair is one whereby I quoted $475 to repair it, because they trashed it. That said, when these instruments first came in, I spent some time getting that one to the untrashed point, whereby I could answer the band director's question as to whether it was repairable, so that one may not take a whole lot more time than any of the rest of them. (I probably tend to brag, but most repair people would probably have ordered a bunch of replacement parts which - instead - I repaired, and this includes a tuning slide tube which was folded flat and shut, as well as the rotor casing assembly.) I didn't order any parts.
Re: today
Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2026 6:01 pm
by Heavy_Metal
"Young scholars".....
Re: today
Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2026 9:48 am
by prodigal
bloke wrote: Wed Jul 22, 2026 11:25 am
I'm going to try to tear through a dozen F attachment trombones (half are silver plated Conn 88H, and half silver plated King 607F) that all belong to one university. When I finish with these, that university's instruments will be done.
---------------
Dear band directors,
Please don't soak the taxpayers by buying stuff like this to be marched with and destroyed. First of all, please get over the "silver" thing, which is really dumb. Secondly, buy a dozen really high quality half inch bore 8-inch bell trombones like John Packer (remarkable knockoffs of Yamaha 354 trombones)!for a few hundred bucks a piece rather than the instruments described above for a few thousand dollars a piece. Your trombone section is not the Chicago Symphony trombone section, and - even if they were - they're not going to play those big fat horns as loudly and as well running around on the football field as they would sitting down in a concert hall. Give them some smaller brighter sounding trombones that will project well and are made well. When they tear them all up, have them repaired if repairable or just spend a few hundred bucks and buy a couple of replacements. Buying huge bore silver plated instruments - that cost several thousand dollars a piece (just because the system allows the taxpayers to be abused in this way) - is very selfish, and (again) you're not going to get as much sound outdoors out of those instruments as you would out of the medium-sized instruments I described above.
--------------------
The most expensive individual repair is one whereby I quoted $475 to repair it, because they trashed it. That said, when these instruments first came in, I spent some time getting that one to the untrashed point, whereby I could answer the band director's question as to whether it was repairable, so that one may not take a whole lot more time than any of the rest of them. (I probably tend to brag, but most repair people would probably have ordered a bunch of replacement parts which - instead - I repaired, and this includes a tuning slide tube which was folded flat and shut, as well as the rotor casing assembly.) I didn't order any parts.
Thank you!
It's marching band, play the cheap stuff outside.
Really, how many kids need an F attachment. When I see teens play, they all use normal 1-7 positions, and I ask them what the valve is for, and they don't know.
Re: today
Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2026 8:35 am
by iiipopes
prodigal wrote: Thu Jul 23, 2026 9:48 am
It's marching band, play the cheap stuff outside.
As a junior in high school, since I was playing well, and right after as a birthday gift my folks had my Dad's King Super 20 trumpet reconditioned and silver plated for me, I got promoted to right guide in street marching. I wasn't about to take Dad's trumpet outdoors. So we found a King Cleveland in great shape. Remember, this was 1978, and I think my folks got it with the form case from another family for @$75. That's what I played outdoors. But still, I took such good care of it over the next couple of years until I graduated that we were able to sell it for more than we paid for it, I think for @$125.
Point of post: it doesn't matter if it is a boutique expensive horn or a beater. Take care of it as if it were your only instrument and your playing life depended on it. Because it does. It will pay off (literally, if not metaphorically) in the long run.
Re: today
Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2026 11:40 am
by bloke
Horn players don't take their German-made Geyer-style triple horns outside to march with...
... They play mellophones.
Re: today
Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2026 12:20 pm
by bort2.0
I blame the use-it-or-lose-it budgets of state schools. When they get the money, they need to spend the money... Or else they have not demonstrated a need for the money, and will get less money next year. And nobody needs less money!
I don't know the source of the money, but when I went to University of Maryland, a year or two before I started, they got a full new set of:
~20 Conn 20K sousaphones
~40 Bach Stradivarius trumpets (#37?)
~20 Bach Stadivarius tenor trombones (#42)
~4 Bach Stradivarius bass trombones (#50)
I forget if the marching "baritones" and mellophones were new. I don't think they were new that year, but they weren't old either.
It was hundreds of thousands of dollars of new instruments. We took it seriously and worked hard to protect them and keep them looking as good as possible for as long as possible. That might have been the ONLY thing we took seriously, but we definitely took it seriously.
That was the late 90s. Those 20K's were pretty nice horns, but I still preferred the old naked lady Conn from the stash of practice horns that we used for daily practice on the field. The new horns were just for indoor stuff and dress rehearsal/performances.
Re: today
Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2026 2:17 pm
by bloke
As much waste as is found there (buying way to nice instruments to drag around in the dirt),
just IMAGINE how much is wasted on stuff that costs REAL money...
...the purpose of which (duh) is to prevent the serf class from accruing any surplus wealth.
Re: today
Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2026 2:31 pm
by shovelingtom
prodigal wrote: Thu Jul 23, 2026 9:48 am
It's marching band, play the cheap stuff outside.
I had a gig at a ‘circus’ a couple weeks ago and it was 101° outside. From now on I’m going to take the high scjool’s fiberglass Sousa to those types of things.
Re: today
Posted: Sat Jul 25, 2026 4:47 am
by prodigal
bort2.0 wrote: Fri Jul 24, 2026 12:20 pm
I blame the use-it-or-lose-it budgets of state schools. When they get the money, they need to spend the money... Or else they have not demonstrated a need for the money, and will get less money next year. And nobody needs less money!
I don't know the source of the money, but when I went to University of Maryland, a year or two before I started, they got a full new set of:
~20 Conn 20K sousaphones
~40 Bach Stradivarius trumpets (#37?)
~20 Bach Stadivarius tenor trombones (#42)
~4 Bach Stradivarius bass trombones (#50)
I forget if the marching "baritones" and mellophones were new. I don't think they were new that year, but they weren't old either.
It was hundreds of thousands of dollars of new instruments. We took it seriously and worked hard to protect them and keep them looking as good as possible for as long as possible. That might have been the ONLY thing we took seriously, but we definitely took it seriously.
That was the late 90s. Those 20K's were pretty nice horns, but I still preferred the old naked lady Conn from the stash of practice horns that we used for daily practice on the field. The new horns were just for indoor stuff and dress rehearsal/performances.
Definitely the budget plans are to blame. BTW, if you don't ask for money ALL THE TIME, they forget about you when you do need equipment. That's me.
We keep our string instruments pretty well maintained, and I do most simple repairs myself. So a couple of years ago when I asked for some new cello strings, the admin were surprised, as I never ask for money.
Re: today
Posted: Sat Jul 25, 2026 9:13 am
by Schlitzz
prodigal wrote: Thu Jul 23, 2026 9:48 am
Thank you!
It's marching band, play the cheap stuff outside.
Really, how many kids need an F attachment. When I see teens play, they all use normal 1-7 positions, and I ask them what the valve is for, and they don't know.
Yeah, until you’ve seen what the dummies do in the Army bands, this is just chump change.
Do you see ANY high school, or college bands doing this.
Re: today
Posted: Sat Jul 25, 2026 10:00 am
by bort2.0
And then the VA says: your injury is not service connected.
prodigal wrote: Thu Jul 23, 2026 9:48 am
Thank you!
It's marching band, play the cheap stuff outside.
Really, how many kids need an F attachment. When I see teens play, they all use normal 1-7 positions, and I ask them what the valve is for, and they don't know.
Yeah, until you’ve seen what the dummies do in the Army bands, this is just chump change.
Do you see ANY high school, or college bands doing this.
Unfortunately, tubas WERE harmed in the making of this film.
