The used trombone market

[tbdana]

So, what's the market like for high end horns?

Seems to me that people generally don't sell great horns. They sell their second or third best horns. I'm sure midrange horns are everywhere, but how hard or easy is it to find a great used professional trombone?

I ask this even though I have part of the answer. I have two used horns that are fantastic. I bought both of them from people who were retired and no longer play. But how many of those are there, really? And especially if you're shopping specifically for one brand and model, how tough is it to find a truly great horn?

[EriKon]

Wild guess from my side without thinking too much but considering my daily browsing through different sites:
50% student model / china horns; 50% pro line instruments and out of those: 25% are in bad condition or just not good and 25% are good to really good.

Edit:
40% pro line and 20 on each side. Because it need 10% for vintage stuff that is formed like a trombone but probably won't play a note anymore.

[Bach5G]

From my regular perusal of local FB Marketplace, 75% of used trombones are Yam 354’s. Hardly any pro straight horns and a couple of 88Hs that have been there for months.

[mrdeacon]

Most of my high end horns I’ve bought and sold through The Brass Ark.

It’s tough to sell high end horns and Noah offers a great platform to buy and sell horns through. I also think his consignment fees are very reasonable.

[BigBadandBass]

I would consider my horn a professional horn and bought it piece meal from the used market (here and facebook). You definitely can sell them online, seems to me places like brassark, landress, dillon’s and others are the main places good horns go. There is also probably a commentary here on the horns readily available that people play, most people i know outside of school/professional work play just average stuff since that’s what they can afford or easily get. One of the schools i’m teaching at was looking at ordering a lot of stencil horns from china before the tariffs because it was either one good horn or 3-4 okay horns for the same price.

[Finetales]

Seems to me that people generally don't sell great horns.

Huh? I see great horns get sold all the time. Here, on Facebook, at the BrassArk and other shops, and so on. I've played many of the horns Aidan has sold and many of them have been exceptional instruments that I'd be happy to own. (I've bought two! And also strongly forbade Aidan from selling another one until I can afford to buy it... )

I've bought all but one of my instruments (I may have passed a hundred total at this point) used and I would put many of them up against anything out there.

People don't only sell bad instruments, or even instruments that are "worse" than their main horn. Your face, playing, sound concept change over time and sometimes a horn (or mouthpiece) that was a perfect match stops being so. Not to mention that finding a "better" horn doesn't mean the horn you replaced was bad. You could love a horn for years, but if you find something better for you, why wouldn't you switch?

And every player is different, a horn that one person finds "worse" might be "better" to someone else.

Obviously not every used pro horn that gets sold is great, but plenty are.

[nateaff]

I think the uses market for high end horns it GREAT for the buyer if you're willing to focus on what I would call "Defunct Oddballs".

"Defunct Oddballs" would be instruments that don't exist anymore but were top of the line in their day: Holtons, Olds, Reynolds, 70s-80s Yamahas etc.

Old stalwarts like Conns, Bachs, Kings can be found for a great value compared to new, but enough of them exist that the price is just the price, you'll hardly ever find one in good shape for a steal

Defunct Oddballs can be found regularly for sub-$500. Ive been lucky enough in the past few years to get a King 3BF, Yamaha 645 and Holton Galaxy for a combined price of about $1500 including the repair work that they all needed, and all three are terrific playing horns.

[marccromme]

Yes, good Oddballs make the day.

Following the used market closely and being fast has secured me 5 very nice high end trombones over the last 10 years.

YSL 682B Bousfield
Schmelzer medium bore sterling bell
Karl Mönnich Romantic german tenor
Conn 112H bass independent with Hagmanns
Holton Bach bass independent with Thayers

In addition

YEB 8?? compensated Euph with extra heavy bell and trigger
Hirsbrunner upright 3v compensated Bariton
Meinl Weston 5v Piston Eb tuba
B&S 5v 4/4 C tuba

All except the C tuba in good, used shape for 25 to 55 percent of similar quality new instruments. C tuba very cheap, and waiting for restoration.

So, yes, there is a market for well playing, but maybe scroffy looking low brass instuments. At least here in Copenhagen. .. you just have to be fast. ..

[LeTromboniste]

Yeah no, lots of great horns available used. People change, their needs change. People stop playing. Students buy fancy expensive things without knowing what they actually need and end up selling them. Also, so many trombonists are gear junkies that just keep buying and selling instruments in their quest for the holy grail. Most of these instrument changes are lateral moves in terms of quality and the market.

[gbedinger]

High end horns are not that difficult to find, you just need to be patient.

[slidesix]

The Brass Exchange and BrassArk are two good places for used horns. I bought one nice used one from the Brass Exchange. If you include open-box manfacturer horns, the Mighty Quinn is good, too. I bought my Bach from him/them.

Someone like Aiden seems to be doing well with FB Marketplace and the likes in the L.A. area. So maybe an area like L.A. gets more selection with more people and more musicians? I dunno.

Lots of things for sale on Reverb though only bought accessories and books from there, never an instrument.

I know for gear, I'm probably only going to ever have time to play and time to maintain maybe 2-4 horns. Beyond that I'd probably sell the extras, not because they are bad but more because they'd wouldn't be used, take up space, and take up time that would be better spent on my main 1-2 rotation or my main horn.

[Burgerbob]

I sell the horns I don't want... but I also only buy horns that I think are neat. I don't end up with many "bad" instruments, if any.

[blast]

I've sold many great horns over the years, as my needs have changed. Conns,Holtons, Bachs etc. Mostly to advanced students and pros. These people know what they want and when they are being offered it.

[JMcV]

I'd second mrdeacon's endorsement of Brass Ark. Noah Gladstone does a great job of curating a high-quality collection of pro-level horns. He tries them all out personally to ensure their quality. I've had a great experience selling a few horns through him. The consignment rates are reasonable, and worth it if you hate dealing with a lot of the inquiries that come from many online marketplaces.

[sirisobhakya]

Seems to me that people generally don't sell great horns. They sell their second or third best horns.

Why would they sell their greatest horn (apart from giving up playing entirely or upgrade)?

Even in my country Thailand, where band community is so small with only no more than 4-5 professional orchestras countrywide and median salary base-cost of living ratio is just enough to buy standard horns like Yamaha or Bach after 2-3 years or more of saving up, good used horns do appear from time to time, mostly because the owners want to upgrade. I also sold my previous “greatest horn” to upgrade, and have bought a quite-good Yamaha YSL-653 too (for just 180 USD!).

Now extrapolate that back to countries with so large and diverse band/orchestra community like the US. I honestly don’t think you can’t find a single great horn.

[tbdana]

Seems to me that people generally don't sell great horns. They sell their second or third best horns.

Why would they sell their greatest horn (apart from giving up playing entirely or upgrade)?

They wouldn't. That's what I said!

I'm confused.

[MrKirk]

Ive purchased 4 trombones in the last 6 months. All of them were either used demos or open box condition wise. None of them were bad players but it was a matter of figuring out what setup I wanted and what I gel'd with.

That being said, used market is great but can take time to find what you want. Buying used I would always try before you buy, open box or demo from a reputable store is not that big of a gamble because they have return policies or trial policies.

[Briande]

Why would they sell their greatest horn (apart from giving up playing entirely or upgrade)?

They wouldn't. That's what I said!

I'm confused.

Greatest horn for you might not be the greatest horn for me. So my second best horn might be perfect for you. I’ve sold a King 2B and 3B on this site that were great horns! I just preferred my Conns.

[MrHCinDE]

In my case a lot of used buying/selling activity was when I changed from mainly Conn to be more interested in Bach. I put quite a bit of cash into getting my Bach setup how I wanted it and couldn‘t afford to keep the Conns whilst also buying and upgrading the Bach. The 8h and 88h I sold, along with an SL2525, were very good players and for many years I considered them great horns but after 20y of Conn, my sound concept changed and now I prefer Bach.

Similar story was a Yamaha 671 alto I sold to fund a Conn 36h. The Yamaha was arguably even a better player compared to the Eb side of the Conn but I decided I needed the valve. I expect the purchaser of that Yamaha could use it professionally without any second thought, it was also a lot cheaper than a new Yamaha 871 alto and personally I thought it outplayed the 871 as well.

Another example is a 3b silversonic I sold, I just didn‘t get on with it and now have a brass one instead but some of the noises I heard other people get out of my silversonic were awesome. For the right person that would have been a great horn for a fraction of the price of a new 3b silversonic.

I agree with the other post about the value in the likes of Reynolds, Olds and Holton, some absolute gems out there.

[elmsandr]

Why would they sell their greatest horn (apart from giving up playing entirely or upgrade)?

They wouldn't. That's what I said!

I'm confused.

Wait… didn’t you just buy an absolutely amazing looking bass?

One that is not exactly available new anymore?

I’ll say it is easier to facilitate a sale on a great used horn today than it has been. But also harder to find some of the deals than I did 25 years ago. No more $600 Bach 45s or $1200 MtVernon 42s.

Cheers,
Andy

[tbdana]

Wait… didn’t you just buy an absolutely amazing looking bass?

One that is not exactly available new anymore?

I’ll say it is easier to facilitate a sale on a great used horn today than it has been. But also harder to find some of the deals than I did 25 years ago. No more $600 Bach 45s or $1200 MtVernon 42s.

Cheers,
Andy

I did! I bought a Greenhoe Bach 50. As I posted above, I have two fantastic used horns, but I bought them both from people who don't play anymore and had them sitting around.

[LeTromboniste]

Wait… didn’t you just buy an absolutely amazing looking bass?

One that is not exactly available new anymore?

I’ll say it is easier to facilitate a sale on a great used horn today than it has been. But also harder to find some of the deals than I did 25 years ago. No more $600 Bach 45s or $1200 MtVernon 42s.

Cheers,
Andy

I did! I bought a Greenhoe Bach 50. As I posted above, I have two fantastic used horns, but I bought them both from people who don't play anymore and had them sitting around.

I think that's (a big part of) your answer. People who stop playing altogether or downsize their stables are one of the big sources of good used instruments I sold my two modern horns in the last 3 years after they sat unused for years, one of which was a very 42 with several aftermarket customizations that everyone who ever tried thought was first-rate. Add to that that most professionals don't stick to only one instrument their whole career as their needs or tastes (or general trends) change, and that's a lot of very good instruments that change hands.

[davdud101]

From my regular perusal of local FB Marketplace, 75% of used trombones are Yam 354’s.

- which I will mention is perhaps THE GREATEST student straight horn ever made. Heck, I buy these locally for $40-100 all the time, clean and repair, and resell - seems like there's a market for these especially on the west coast.


Hard to find good used pro horns. A lady near me on FB Marketpalce posted a Conn 4H for "$2,999" - I informed her that you could find brand new pro horns for that price, and that those were selling for maybe $800-1k from what I was seeing. She dropped the price to $1,999, and then it says she removed it. Not sure if she ever sold.

In another instance, I saw what looked like a silver Tempo with a trigger posted for a whopping $50 - I jumped on it minutes after it was posted but I think I was too late.