TromboneChat

I read about these horns last week on one of the FB groups, but can't find the thread now. I got to play one yesterday, and wanted to give my impressions.

The Bravo line is being produced by Eastman, and includes the Shires name and engraving on the bells, but beyond that there are not a ton of similarities to the Shires or Q Series horns. They are not stencil horns per se, but a number of music shops seem to be marketing them as "a line being produced exclusively for us." (I don't believe this as I've seen at least three shops selling these, but it is what was said to me yesterday.)

The Bravo I tried was a .547 bore with a traditional rotor, appeared to have a gold brass bell, slide with nickel oversleeves and crook. It's being marketed as an intermediate horn, and I thought it superior to the Yamaha YSL-448, but you wouldn't mistake it for a full-blooded Shires. Completely fixed configuration, no modular components.

It was listed at $1500, and would make a pretty good step-up horn, but to be honest, I prefer the Wessex (Yamaha copy) that I bought for my son about two years ago for $500.

If Shires are made and assembled in MA, and the Q Series are made in MA and assembled in China, then I suspect that the Bravos are completely made and assembled in China. FWIW, there are other instruments in the Bravo line (flute, clarinet, trumpet, etc.) that draw on the name of the higher end company in the Eastman umbrella (Haynes Bravo, Shires Bravo, Bakun Bravo).

Sounds a lot like the "Eastman by Shires" ETB630G. I don't see any 600-series horns on the Eastman site any more; not sure when they were dropped. There was the ETB630G with a gold brass bell and a conventional rotor and the ETB634 with a yellow brass bell and a Thayer. There's still some around; Peninsula Music (brassgurus.com) has an ETB634 listed at $1,299.

Of course, that begs the question of how the Shires Bravo differs from the Eastman 800-series pro line or their 500-series advanced line. Hopefully that information will find its way out soon.

We have one in our store and I played it yesterday. It seems like a decent horn but I haven't put it on a tuner yet to check pitch tendencies. It blows nicely and the engraving is beautiful. Comes with a "Shires-like" case.
At that price point you know corners are cut somewhere...time will tell.

Lower labor costs alone could be what makes it less expensive, so it could very well be the same materials. I’m assuming these are being manufactured abroad?

matto wrote: ↑Fri Nov 02, 2018 9:12 am The Bravo I tried was a .547 bore with a traditional rotor, appeared to have a gold brass bell, slide with nickel oversleeves and crook. It's being marketed as an intermediate horn, and I thought it superior to the Yamaha YSL-448...

That's pretty good then. Less expensive too.