Aha! My forte!
Righto, I don't want to recommend any particular models too you, but I definitely would avoid makes such as Lark! (really crappy China make) or Lafleur. Anything by Yamaha, Besson, Vincent Bach, Selmer, Conn or a few others would be absolutely fine. If you get offered a random second hand one, try and research the make before you buy it. Even just a simple google search could throw up some stuff for you.
Also, if you're buying from new, don't be sucked in by a famous face advertising certain brands... It was more of a problem with the kids I used to teach, as their parents would see Louis Armstrong’s face plastered over a certain brand and want to buy they trumpet for their child, hoping they would be the next trumpet talent. Don't do it!
Are you still at school? If so, you can usually buy a new one through them and get the tax off. I bought my trumpet 2 months before I left and got over £500 off
. I’m not quite sure if the same thing can be done through a college or uni, but it’s worth checking out.
So, if you get a second hand model, try and get a look at it before you buy and commit yourself. Be careful about internet purchasing, you could find yourself in a similar situation to a man who has met a woman through internet dating and been given a picture of Angelina, only to find themselves in front of Susan Boyle. I cannot stress enough how much I recommend you see it in the flesh! (or metal.. whatever)
-Check the bell, see if it has a lateral seam or not. That means they’ve been crafted using two pieces and are generally cheaper than the axial seam that is more commonly seen.
-Take out the valves and check them carefully for signs of wear. If someone presses down on the valves at the wrong angle, it gradually wears then down and damages the inside of the valve too. There might be thick lines down the side of the valve or it may been a bit squint if this has happened. Know what is normal and keep this in mind when looking at them.
- Check the valve springs too. When you press down and release the valves they should rise smoothly, if they bounce or wobble it may mean the valve springs need to be replaced.
- Have a look at the spit valves and check they don’t leak or that the cork is not cracked. They made need replacing if this is the case, you’ll end up with a dribbling trumpet otherwise. Never a great look...
-Check that the tuning and third valve slide move freely, if they don’t move, simply
don’t buy-Check out your valve and slide compression by pulling out the third slide and pressing the slide, you should hear a pop if all is well. Again, no pop, no buy!
-Try and find out how long the previous owner has had the instrument, if they were a heavy or light player, and often they bathed it. Ask if they smoke too, I personally probably wouldn’t buy a trumpet off a smoker unless I know it’s been kept clean. After gigging in Europe last year I washed my trumpet out when I got home and the insides where really black and rank. Obviously there’s no smoking ban over there (yet) so everyone was smoking hunners of bines inside and then I was blasting it through my trumpet. Sick!
- Check all over for dents too, as they will damage the tone of the instrument. A few little glitches don’t matter, we’ve all got a few, but the bigger they are the more shit they’re going to make your instrument.
Finally, one of the most important things to look for in a second hand brass instrument is evidence of red rot on the inside of the leadpipe of valves. These are little pinky spots, caused by depositions of copper due to the dezincification of brass. It’s sadly due to neglect of the instrument and once it’s started it can’t be reversed. Never, ever, ever buy an instrument with red rot.
So, enjoy these 700 words of trumpet talk, I’ll add anything else up that I think of. Let me know how you get on!
(if you chose to buy a saxophone after all this I might deck you )
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