Stupid question

[Chatname]

I’ve been a professional trombone player for 30 years, so this question is a bit embarrassing to ask.., Anyway: which slides and bell sections from different makers are compatible, meaning fitting together?
E.g. my M&Ws fit with my Bach slides, however not with my Shires slide’s tenons.
How about Conns, Raths, Edwards and so on? Which instruments fit together?

[pedrombon]

https://trombonechat.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=6972

[Chatname]

Thank you! That was interesting!

[Chatname]

Still curious though; which large bore tenor trombones from the reputable brands fit together, without any tech work done?

[Burgerbob]

There's roughly two main types... Bach style and Conn style (Rath is its own thing). Shires is a tiny bit of an outlier, they will sometimes fit Bach style stuff but not always.

The brands using Conn style are Conn, Getzen, and perhaps some Greenhoes (but I think all modern ones are Bach style).

Everyone else uses Bach style of varying compatibility. I've had Shires slides that fit Bachs with no issues, but I had to change the tenon on my current Shires dual bore (to an Edwards part) to fit my Bach bass.

[Chatname]

That’s interesting. When I started you were either a Bach or a Conn player. So it’s still polarized, like in politics? You can match one set of instruments with Conns and another set with Bach’s?

[Chatname]

So Edwards is compatible with Bach? And Rath with nothing? M&W should be compatible with Edwards??

[tbonesullivan]

That’s interesting. When I started you were either a Bach or a Conn player. So it’s still polarized, like in politics? You can match one set of instruments with Conns and another set with Bach’s?

Kind of? It's not as polarized as it used to be. The lines have been blurred, so to speak. Also the type of tenon hardware used doesn't have much bearing on whether it's a Bach or Conn style horn. Getzen / Edwards are the same company, but they chose Bach type tenons for Edwards, and Conn type for Getzen, probably so you can't just swap bells and slides around between the two.

So Edwards is compatible with Bach? And Rath with nothing? M&W should be compatible with Edwards??

I know some people who were using Edwards / Bach bass trombones for a while. The problem however is that Bach Slides are LONG. Long outer slides and long overall. Other companies also will have more or less length in the bell / slide sections, so getting an instrument that plays in tune sometimes can be hard, when you're mixing brands.

[BGuttman]

So Edwards is compatible with Bach? And Rath with nothing? M&W should be compatible with Edwards??

Rath uses no taper and has a thumb screw to connect the part.

Note that the King 606 and one of the Conn Directors (22H?) are the same horn, but the King has the bell nut on the slide and the Conn has the bell nut on the bell.