Larry Minick Never Disappoints

[slipmo]

I just got this super cool Larry Minick bass trombone here at the shop. Every time I come across one of his horns, there's always something super cool about it.

This one has a really neat J bend tuning slide, his open wrap made from a variety of parts and one of his one piece bronze bell flares.

I thought I'd show off some of these photos for everyone's enjoyment

seamed bronze brass J bend tuning slide, super cool


classic Minick open wrap dependent setup


Who else has some cool Minick stuff or stories you'd like to show off?

[Elow]

Nice looking horn

[ChetroKetl]

Hey Noah, my Minick TR180 shares the same open wrap bracing as your horn. Very cool! What’s the story on those braces??

Any ideas on how many Minick independent valve conversions might be out there? I’ve seen open wrapped dependent 180s in the wild but no other indies... yet!

This is like an archaeological find with tons of evidence of the work of Larry’s hands: the aforementioned variety of parts in the wraps, what looks like a custom leadpipe soldered in, faint solder spots where the dependent section used to attach to the bell, solder spots from the Glantz bar, what looks like a Conn lever post for the second valve...

Above of all, it plays like a dream. If anyone has some history on this horn, I’d love to hear it!

[mrdeacon]

Hey Noah! Another sweet find as always.

What's the bell flare size on this one? Does this one have that wide Fuchs style throat like my Minick? Sure looks damn near the same aside from mine having the groovy Minick counterweight and coming with a mostly Conn parts hand slide.

[slipmo]

Hey Noah! Another sweet find as always.

What's the bell flare size on this one? Does this one have that wide Fuchs style throat like my Minick? Sure looks damn near the same aside from mine having the groovy Minick counterweight and coming with a mostly Conn parts hand slide.

Very similar to yours! Made around the same time. Yes, wide throated bell, 9.5"

[droffilcal]

Hey Noah, my Minick TR180 shares the same open wrap bracing as your horn. Very cool! What’s the story on those braces??

Any ideas on how many Minick independent valve conversions might be out there? I’ve seen open wrapped dependent 180s in the wild but no other indies... yet!

This is like an archaeological find with tons of evidence of the work of Larry’s hands: the aforementioned variety of parts in the wraps, what looks like a custom leadpipe soldered in, faint solder spots where the dependent section used to attach to the bell, solder spots from the Glantz bar, what looks like a Conn lever post for the second valve...

Above of all, it plays like a dream. If anyone has some history on this horn, I’d love to hear it!

I think that may have been my 180. I bought it from Los Angeles brass tech legend Robb Stewart in the early 2000s; Robb got it from one of the older generation of LA studio guys (Donn Waldrop maybe?). My horn was signed by Minick somewhere on the linkage, I think, with his last name and 1973? Robb said that it must have been one of Minick's early independent conversions, "back when he cared what his work looked like". Either way, the conversion was done during the dawn of experimentation with dual independent valve configurations, so it's quite a historical instrument in some ways. Also, a great player!

[ChetroKetl]

I think that may have been my 180. I bought it from Los Angeles brass tech legend Robb Stewart in the early 2000s; Robb got it from one of the older generation of LA studio guys (Donn Waldrop maybe?). My horn was signed by Minick somewhere on the linkage, I think, with his last name and 1973? Robb said that it must have been one of Minick's early independent conversions, "back when he cared what his work looked like". Either way, the conversion was done during the dawn of experimentation with dual independent valve configurations, so it's quite a historical instrument in some ways. Also, a great player!

That's fantastic, thanks droffilcal for the background!! I've attached some close-up photos; an elaborate signature is there on the 2nd valve lever - I can't find 1973 anywhere on the horn but the signature is clear as day. There’s also a very clean mod to the 2nd valve spindle arm where the attachment ball was relocated. Neat details everywhere you look...

Very cool to learn that this conversion came from the early experimental days. This seems to have been a very well thought out and creative solution; in fact, my only gripe is that the positioning of the main bell brace + short length of the bell-side receiver makes for some awkward ergonomics for me. Nothing that a neotech grip couldn't fix, though!

[droffilcal]

That's definitely my old horn; I was certain that there is a "1973" or "10/73", something like that, somewhere on the linkage. My friends (Brad Close, Noah Gladstone) used to tease me about how many ferrules (16?) Minick used to reconfigure the valve section from dependent to independent.

Now that I looked at the pics more closely, I think maybe the engraved date might have been on the rod that connects the second valve to the finger lever. I seem to remember that the original was replaced. Dunno....

*Plug Alert*
BTW, if you want a matching single valve TR-185 from around the same era, I'm selling a great playing example in the Classifieds: https://trombonechat.com/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=17670

[chromebone]

Here’s my Minick 88h for your viewing enjoyment. This horn was originally built for Tyrone Breuninger, assistant principal for the Philadelphia Orchestra, around 1978. He played it extensively in the 1980’s until he put it up for sale in 1993, when I bought it from Dillon music where he had consigned it.
It has a one piece Minick beryllium bell, Minick open wrap with a bored out Conn rotor, a tuning bow brace and oversized braces that were originally filled with lead. I had the lead removed because it made the horn too heavy and deadened the response and projection.
The original slide is fairly worn out, it has yellow brass tubes; it really wasn’t playing that great any more, so. I bought an “M” series slide and had a wide Shires crook and Shires leadpipe threads added to it. I still have the original slide. The rotor has a string linkage; it was like that when I bought the horn, I don’t know if Minick supplied it that way or Tyrone had it changed later. It doesn't look like Minick's work, nor a stock Conn lever, so I'm leaning towards a later change.

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[chromebone]

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It also has a Thayer section which I had built by Terry Pierce which fits right on to the original Minick fittings.

I don’t play this horn as much as I used to,. It has a very individual sound; the Beryllium has a very dense, complex character, very unique; it’s a little hard to get it to blend in a section; it’s like a Conn that took a heavy dose of Bach steroids. It’ll put up with Bachs or Conns well enough, but it really sticks out next to an Edwards or Shires.

[WGWTR180]

That's definitely my old horn; I was certain that there is a "1973" or "10/73", something like that, somewhere on the linkage. My friends (Brad Close, Noah Gladstone) used to tease me about how many ferrules (16?) Minick used to reconfigure the valve section from dependent to independent.

Now that I looked at the pics more closely, I think maybe the engraved date might have been on the rod that connects the second valve to the finger lever. I seem to remember that the original was replaced. Dunno....

*Plug Alert*
BTW, if you want a matching single valve TR-185 from around the same era, I'm selling a great playing example in the Classifieds: https://trombonechat.com/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=17670

That 180 looks great. Even though Larry used a lot of ferrules that make your open wrap section I'm so glad it wasn't "en Vogue" to offset the inline valves like so many modern horn designers have done. I wish Larry was around to do some custom work on my 180s.