Artist select program

[pogchamp]

Hi all, are there any other makers who have something similar to Bach's Artist Select program? Basically something where one of their artists play tests some bones and gives those which are "good enough" their "seal of approval". Looking for a new bass.

P.s. unfortunate that the old tromboneforum is still down

[mrdeacon]

If you buy something new from any of custom makers (Shires, Rath, Edwards, M&W, ect.), Yamaha or Getzen anything you buy is going to play great out of the box.

Random question... I've seen the Artist Select thing on social media. Do they charge more for the artist select horns?

[pogchamp]

I would think that they will be more expensive than the non artist select counterparts.

I know that they will be great, but I'm sure that some will be greater so that's what I'm looking for

[BGuttman]

If an artist selects a particular trombone, it's going to be perfect for that artist. If you happen to be identical to that artist it will also be perfect for you. But we are all different. What's worse, we all change as we develop and what's "perfect" today may not be so tomorrow.

A number of teachers used to buy trombones for their students. This is a form of "artist select" since the teacher has chosen instruments that are a bit better based on his personal feelings.

Shires and Edwards made trombones that can be customized to a particular player. This is great for those of us who have achieved some level of consistency and we can then choose the instrument that gives us our best sound. Generally you get fitted for one of these with the assistance of an excellent player like Christan or Ben.

For developing players Shires and Edwards have offered a "stripped down" version of the pro line using the most popular components. These are great for advanced students since they may change anyway. For Edwards, it's the Getzen 3xxx series and for Shires it's the Q series (and at one they had a different concept called Pro Select).

If you are a really strong player you don't need "Artist Select". If not, all you need is somebody who will pretest the instrument for you to make sure it's in good condition.

Note that Yamaha trombones are pretty good "out of the box" and remarkably consistent from horn to horn. You don't really need somebody to play test them for you.

[elmsandr]

I would think that they will be more expensive than the non artist select counterparts.

I know that they will be great, but I'm sure that some will be greater so that's what I'm looking for

How do you know that? Evaluating an instrument is a skill. One which many (perhaps even most) professionals do not practice.

Having done play testing of horns, doing that right is not the same as practicing a horn for a performance. You are trying to judge the range of the horn and the functionality of all items. Like driving a car on a test track does not tell you whether or not it would be comfortable to drive in traffic or a long trip, those are different interactions for the user. The test driver is trying to determine if the hardware matches the plan, not whether or not it matches your drive cycle.

That said, I am sure Bach gets good feedback from the artists on how their production is currently varying and what they like in horns. Invaluable feedback for the manufacturer. Mostly worthless to me as the buyer. All it tells me is that somebody that is not used to inspecting horns daily did not reject this one. I'd like to know more about which artists selected it and how they went about it before adding any value to my perception. They are more than qualified for the job of inspecting horns, but I doubt they were taking significant instruction on how to do the job and it is their first day doing it. Would it make a Big Mac any better if Bobby Flay inspected, wrapped it, and put it in the bag?

Cheers,
Andy