How do you pick and buy a horn these days?

[bigbandbone]

This will really date me, but the last time I shopped for a new horn (1971) you could walk into just about any music store, play several makes and models, select the one you wanted, and put your money on the counter.

I'm actually in a pretty big market (Cleveland), but none of the stores near me have the horns I would like to try in stock.

I did buy a horn from a reputable online seller, but didn't like it and returned it. The seller was ok with the return but I was on the hook for return shipping. That gets expensive!

So how do You go about trying and eventually buying a horn these days? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

[castrubone]

Trade shows are the best. I've been to Rettig music in Cleveland. They have a nice selection usually of the most standard horns out there and some high end ones from Shires. You could also take a trip south to Buckeye brass.

Also, the Cleveland Trombone Seminar is happening soon. In the past they have lots of horns to try and buy from Rettig, Edwards and Shires. Go try horns and see a concert/masterclass!

[hyperbolica]

Trade shows are great for looking at gear, but the problem with them that you are limited to new horns. Baltimore Brass brings some used horns to ATW, but that's not the norm.

Trade shows are also notoriously cacophonous circuses with dozens of adolescents letting rip with whatever marching band tunes or excerpts they have learned, with each blasting louder than the next just to hear themselves. It's hard to get much nuanced information at a trade show. It may be good for an initial introduction, but not for a real "quality date". This is why I prefer to go to one of the big retail outlets.

If you are looking at used horns, you've got to go see DJKennedy, or Dillons, or Baltimore Brass, or Brass Ark, or Horn Guys, or a place like that. The alternatives is you buy a lot of used horns and resell the ones you don't want to keep. If you're looking for something specific and vintage, that's really the only method. It gets expensive shipping horns.

[Specialk3700]

Definitely trade shows. I would stop at itf if I were you

[mfellows821]

Bear in mind that tradeshows only give a glimpse of what the horn will ultimately feel and sound like. they tend to be noisy and your exposure time to the horn is short. I just bought a horn based on about 30 minutes over three days at a trade show and actually liked it better after a month at home. In the end, I am not going to play it as my main horn. I still like the one I have had for a while better. I will either sell the new one or keep it as a backup alternative. I am having the connection fittings changed to make both horns and slides interchangeable.

Buying and selling used horns is a good way to spend time with an instrument before deciding that it is THE ONE. The cost of shipping a used horn is way less than the price difference between used and new!

I would stick to the upper end brands and avoid Chinese made instruments

[harrisonreed]

The best way to do it is to go to a music shop if you know you want a Bach/Conn/Courtois/Yamaha, something that is readily available to try. Try any custom brand horns there as well.

If you find your horn, great. If you find you like a custom horn better, great. Maybe then, you can justify a trip to the custom maker for something special just for you.

[MahlerMusic]

I have said this before but it is all really a gamble as I ended up test a bunch of horns and after I picked the one, I ended up changing the leadpipe and using a different mouthpiece. Now who knows which horn would win if I started changing things with the other horns.

At the end of the day it is all about being happy and you can make almost anything work for you.

[baileyman]

If it looks good on eBay, but it. If it doesn’t play well, try again.

Sometimes I win with this.

[Doubler]

eBay. If it doesn't work out, I resell it.

[PaulT]

...

I did buy a horn from a reputable online seller, but didn't like it and returned it. The seller was ok with the return but I was on the hook for return shipping. That gets expensive!...

I think you have already found the best way. True, return shipping has a cost. But, having a horn in your hands for a month or so of home time playing has a value. Compared to this value, return shipping is a reasonable expense. (What would it cost to rent a horn for a month?)

Value?

A month of playing a horn in your own home and at any venue you may perform in allows you to know a horn more thoroughly and intimately that any other purchasing method can possibly match.

- Five or ten minutes blowing a horn at a busy noisy trade show with the sales dude rubbing one shoulder and the next guy in line on the other? The only way that works is if it really doesn't matter.
- Driving five or six hours in order to play a horn for fifteen minutes in some store's reverby little practice room that is about the size of your bathroom with a sales person hanging outside the door? Well, that's better than a noisy convention floor, but it doesn't match a month at your home.

Expense?

True, return shipping is an expense. But so is traveling to a trade show and/or a distant dealer. And along with the trip expense of time, gas, and possibly lodging comes an unhelpful pressure, acknowledged or not, to "get it done"... a pressure that can lead to a mistake.

My trombone buying experience is slight, five, but over the years I have bought 20 or so guitars by nearly every method conceivable (I think it's 23). And while winners and losers can, and do, come by any method, it's hard to beat having an instrument in your hands at home for a couple weeks.

[greenbean]

Buy used and re-sell what you don't like.

[Arrowhead]

Just do a search on "brass instruments near me" to find out what's for sale in the area. Take your mouthpiece and go see what they have (sometimes stores don't update their website, so you don't really know what's actually there until you go). Most stores have no absolutely no problem someone trying out a horn.

[Bach5G]

The LMS had an 88HTO on the wall for quite a while. I tried it several times over a couple of months. Because it had been in the store so long, I got them to knock a couple of hundred $ off the price.

[imsevimse]

I don't buy horns anymore because prices are now insane. The real reason for this is the big drop of the Swedish krona. Since I bought my first horn from ebay (almost exclusive from US) the krona has dropped 40% to the dollar. I began in 2013 and stopped in 2014 and was lucky to buy the horns I need. I stopped after the krona had dropped 10%. For those who still afford I do recommend ebay. Sellers described the horns honestly in most cases and if you put a lot of questions before you buy about dents, the slide and help with info how to pack and search info about the model on the serial number then with knowledge about trombones you will know what you are bidding on. Info like this definitely helps to set the maximum bid so not to be fooled.

I do recommend ebay if you want the old vintage forgotten brands. Then when you begin to get a reputation as a buyer and collector (who owns say more than 10 horns) and the words spread then you will be contacted by local players who want to sell their horns to you, also the ones who want to buy from you. When this happens you can get offerings for very exclusive horns but often to high prices.

At the moment the best market to buy a vintage horn here is in a boutique. Prices on vintage for us are now about the same on ebay and in a shop. The advantage with the shop is you can try before you buy. Today I'm satisfied after have visited and played all the horns and then I decide I do not need another.

/Tom