TromboneChat

JeffDeault wrote: ↑Sun Feb 16, 2020 9:17 pm The markets targeted by Bundy are music schools and school bands. And for those markets, main criteria are low price and toughness. So to make their trombones "schoolproof", I suspect flare and bell walls are thicker than professional horns and the inner slides have more "play". That would make a tough instrument that can take lots of hits and dents, but could be a challenge to get a good sound out of it.

rzeilinger wrote: ↑Sun Dec 11, 2022 12:13 am ANY trombone can play poorly when abused, filled and coated with crap on the inside of the bell or where most people overlook...the inside of the inner slide. Andy crust or calcified deposits on interior surfaces any where will negatively affect the performance and resonance of a brass instrument.

Crazy4Tbone86 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 01, 2020 9:49 am We must differentiate between the three different vintages of Bundys. 1. There were the original Bundys of the 1940s? and 1950s. These instruments were made by Selmer, before they had any affiliation with Bach. I have a bell from one of these and it plays very well mounted to the body of a 1970s Conn Director. 2. There were the Bundys that were produced in mass by Selmer from the 1970s-1990s. These are the ones that said “Designed by Vincent Bach” on the bell. 3. There are modern Bundys that are made in China and sold at very low prices. Many of these lose the chrome playing on the inner slides in the first few months of playing.

Since most trombonists think of Bundys as being the ones engraved with “Designed by Vincent Bach,” I will only refer to this particular vintage for the remainder of my post. Bundys were designed to help young students with weak embouchures and very little air support. The resistance is very different, even when compared to .500 bore professional horns. With that in mind, we cannot judge Bundys and like instruments from the perspective of a well-seasoned player.

I worked in a repair shop that did “play condition” repairs on hundreds (well... actually thousands) of student trombones (Bundys, Holton Collegiates, King 606s, Yamaha 354s, Jupiter’s, etc....) every year. All of these models have similar resistance, with Yamahas being the exception....they were slightly more open. Many times I would play test these horns using very little air support and they would somehow hold pitch and an acceptable sound. In other words, the instruments did exactly what they were designed to do.

One thing that struck me about the Bundys was that they were infinitely reparable. Many times, a Bundy would come to my bench completely smashed and nearly destroyed. One hour later, I would be sending it along to be rented for another year. They say that cats have nine lives.....I believe some Bundy trombones had about 20 lives.

Another thing....as Bundys were repaired repeatedly, there seemed to be greater variation in how they played. Yes, some got worse with wear. However, there were quite a few 1970s and 1980s Bundys that played EXTREMELY WELL after a few cycles of repair. I remember one horn on particular that left me mesmerized....I think I play tested it for over an hour.

To conclude, I think we need to be open to the possibility that any model made by any manufacturer has the potential to be a great trombone. I can state with great certainty that there are Bundy trombones out there that play very, very well.