Making use of a non-working horn

[knirirr]

Some time ago I bought a cheap trombone with a dodgy outer slide. I thought I could get this fixed but the local repairman (who is good) wasn't able to fix its irregularities. This is a stencil horn and both the distributor and maker have been out of business for about 40 years, as far as I can tell, so replacing the outer slide section is probably not an option.

I like the look of the bell section and would prefer to get some use out of it if I could, so I wonder if it's worth trying to fit an entirely new slide to it. Or, since I now have a good instrument to play, fitting a valve section to it. Does anyone have any thoughts on that?

One other thing; whilst it was away being looked at the slide has tarnished (photo below). I wonder what means can be used to clean it; though it's not of any use for playing, if all else fails this instrument might look good on a wall or as a lamp.

[Matt K]

Are you sure it’s a stencil? Or if it is that it isn’t made by someone reputable? I would expect a Selmer to play pretty well. Good fit for you? That’s a different story and hard to determine if it’s worth having a slide made for it. But you should be able to get a set of inners and others that will work if you still have the cork barrel parts so getting it playable isn’t too unreasonable in terms of cost.

Adding a valve? I have F attachments on all my horns. If. Was set on trying to make this work id get a slide first and see if it’s worth adding a valve to since that’s typically a lot more expensive

[blap73]

So, recently I completed this viewtopic.php?f=13&t=29123&p=194870&hilit=747#p194870
project and learned a lot.

Since you have a slide for it you already have a compatible tenon. And the inner slide is good(?). So it sounds like simply replacing the outer slide tubes. A lot of trombones have very similar dimensions and there's a fair chance you (or your tech) could get replacement outer slide tubes from something that could be used. Some options are Conn-Selmer (so recent King, Conn, Bach), or Jupiter parts (much cheaper) --- Votah has some. It might entail replacing the slide crook, or not. If you had to replace the entire slide, parts cost is going to be substantial (plus labor), and so finding a good used slide of an appropriate bore and swapping the tenon over would be the cheaper route.

Just the opinions of an amateur having some fun making FrankenHorns

[blap73]

https://www.horn-u-copia.net/show.php?s ... %3D"Selmer" Lists it as a 0.500" bore. Lots of possible donors in that size (King 606, Conn Directors, etc.). Try to borrow one of those slides and see if they are a good fit on your inner slide tube (obviously the tube spacing is likely different, but you can check inner to outer fit).

[Mamaposaune]

Just to satisfy some of the curious among us, can you post pics of the entire bell section and the slide?
Pretty-Please?

[knirirr]

Just to satisfy some of the curious among us, can you post pics of the entire bell section and the slide?
Pretty-Please?

I put a few more pictures here - the restoration mentioned is of the finish:

https://horn-u-copia.net/cgi-bin/yabb2/ ... 1656967239

If more are necessary I'll have to take them later on.

[JohnL]

By "valve section", are you thinking of adding an f-attachment, or of converting it to a valve trombone? If it was made by Hüttl, you might be able to find a original Hüttl valve trombone "slide" to fit it.

[knirirr]

By "valve section", are you thinking of adding an f-attachment, or of converting it to a valve trombone? If it was made by Hüttl, you might be able to find a original Hüttl valve trombone "slide" to fit it.

I was thinking of converting it to a valve trombone; interesting suggestion, I'll keep an eye out for one.

[whitbey]

My wife has a lot of flower gardens with a bit of decor things. I spray painted a trombone shaped object with red, white and blue spray paint and planted it in the garden. Put the slide end in about 6-9 inches deep.

[knirirr]

Are you sure it’s a stencil? Or if it is that it isn’t made by someone reputable? I would expect a Selmer to play pretty well.

Apologies, I thought I'd posted a reply with a link to an article about Selmer UK (https://reverb.com/news/selmer-the-lond ... ir-guitars) but I can't see it, so something must have gone wrong.

[brassmedic]

I found this Hüttl ad. Definitely looks like the same maker. Kind of a cool looking horn. The Alllied A135/A136 .500 bore slide tubes are not very expensive. Maybe re-tube the slide. I'd be curious as to why the original outers can't be honed and put back into usable condition. Of course if the inners are worn out you can't really fix that.

https://massullomusic.com/products/used-huttl-trombone

[knirirr]

I found this Hüttl ad. Definitely looks like the same maker. Kind of a cool looking horn. The Alllied A135/A136 .500 bore slide tubes are not very expensive. Maybe re-tube the slide. I'd be curious as to why the original outers can't be honed and put back into usable condition. Of course if the inners are worn out you can't really fix that.

That does indeed look like the same horn, other than the bell engraving. I took a gamble on it because it does indeed look cool (I thought the company history was interesting as well).
What I was told was that the outer slide was out of round and even heating and re-forming it failed to correct the problem.

[blap73]

Heating and reforming??? never heard of doing that to correct out of round slide tubes. Hopefully the techs will weigh in on this.

[brassmedic]

Heating and reforming??? never heard of doing that to correct out of round slide tubes.

Me neither.

[knirirr]

Heating and reforming??? never heard of doing that to correct out of round slide tubes. Hopefully the techs will weigh in on this.

I am no tech, but what I was told was that a section of the outer slide was out of round and, if corrected, would return to the previous shape. Heating then reforming was an attempt to get it to stay corrected.

[Leanit]

Recycling is always an option:

Tromblown-Sonoma-Dec2022-1.jpeg