TromboneChat

I have a bell flare from a williams 6 - original earl spun that's been just sitting around waiting to be finished. Literally just the bell flare. My old professor said that he played it until the rest of the instrument just fell apart/rotted away. I guess it was from a time when he wasn't using the greatest brass, but it played so well he held onto the bell flare hoping to turn it into something someday and now it's mine. I would love to finish it in a way that true to the original but also a modern horn at the same time.

If you were me... Who would you have finish the instrument and how? I had previously talked to BAC and they suggested going the route of finishing it with their paseo parts but using my bell. Seems like a solid option, but I always see mixed feelings about how bac instruments end up playing.

I may end up going the butler route for the slide - but how do I handle turning the bell flare into a full bell section? I have pretty much always played on kings so that is the familiar blow to me. My favorite small bore I ever played was a michael davis shires. Would love the ease of that shires but with that vintage williams sound!

Go crazy! Open to all options!

John Duda at Calicchio would be my suggestion. Is it an LA or Burbank flare?

Yeah John Duda seems the way to go for that!
Be careful who you choose as this will clearly influence the value of the horn if one day you want to sell it.

Since John Duda is now working with BAC, that would seem to be the best option.

Just to be clear - you have everything back to the first ferrule, right? Bell flare plus bell tail/stem?

You might consider getting it set up with the appropriate modular hardware and then going to someone who can let you try a bunch of different combinations. That would depend on whether the end of the bell tail is the of a diameter that it would match well with the parts of a suitable company.

FYI: In case you were not aware, John Duda is now at (the well discussed) BAC in Kansas City.

JohnL wrote: ↑Thu Oct 29, 2020 8:28 am Since John Duda is now working with BAC, that would seem to be the best option.

You are faster than I on the enter button today.

Setting it up to plug into a Shires seems like the most reasonable route. You really like the MD Shires already and I would guess that adding mounting hardware to the bell and then finishing the rest with Shires parts would be a lot quicker than getting the rest of the instrument built from scratch. Not to mention that you could keep swapping out parts until you found your magic.

Would love the ease of that shires but with that vintage williams sound!

Well, then you know exactly how to get it! You can't get a horn that plays like a Shires from anyone but Shires. You could get a good-playing horn elsewhere, but you already know what you like. Why risk it?

Buy an Edwards. Have the studs put on the Williams. Now you can change or hold.

Boneyard is my first choice.