TromboneChat

We had a PRO sit in with us last night--toured with Woody Herman for a couple of years. His horn looked well used and had a trumpet style water key. Got me intrigued--I confess, I'm a gearhead.

He was playing his Benge Freelance. Not sure how old it was but he thought it was around 50 years old. He certainly was able to take the lead on several of our pieces without the horn holding him back. It had a wonderful sound (he had?) and was able to lead the section. The Freelance is a 0.500 bore with a 7.75" bell--a sweet combination.

Two of our players (to include Vaughn) were on small bores and we had a 0.547 and a 0.563 bass.

What fun. Noticed a nice one on Reverb--how tempting.

We had a great time!

The Benge trombones date from the early 1980s. The Freelance (170) was a small bore (0.500" bore) that was intended to compete with the Conn 6H and Bach 12.

Glad you had a nice experience with the guest.

Amazing how circumstances, reactions and wording repeat themselves; quite the coinkydink

https://trombonechat.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=20689

I don't know what this "btravis77" has up his/her sleeve, but this is more than a little strange....

I thought that perhaps btravis77 was the reincarnation of DaveAshley! Strange post indeed.

I just had my first sighting this week of a Benge 170 in the wild. Held it, but didn't play it. Seems like a great 0.500" bore trombone. Didn't notice whether it was engraved "Freelance." The owner loves his (which is in excellent condition)! Unfortunately, I think they are very rare.

I do have a Benge 165F, which is a very fine 0.547" bore F-attachment horn (underrated, as they say). Its serial number is 8430xx; I have no idea when it was made (though certainly in the King factory) - perhaps ~1995-2002?

Posaunus wrote: ↑Sat Dec 04, 2021 3:42 pm I do have a Benge 165F, which is a very fine 0.547" bore F-attachment horn (underrated, as they say). Its serial number is 8430xx; I have no idea when it was made (though certainly in the King factory) - perhaps ~1995-2002?

I just picked up a 165F this past August.
Been playing it excluvisly since then.
Mine is 948XXX which I am guessing is late in production - maybe 2005-2008?

I really wish Conn-Selmer was better at cataloging their serial numbers for all the lines they sell including all the history of the companies they acquired over the years.
As big as they are, they should have someone their to research it – if not for us number nerds, then at least for history sake.

Posaunus wrote: ↑Sat Dec 04, 2021 3:42 pm I thought that perhaps btravis77 was the reincarnation of DaveAshley! Strange post indeed.

I just had my first sighting this week of a Benge 170 in the wild. Held it, but didn't play it. Seems like a great 0.500" bore trombone. Didn't notice whether it was engraved "Freelance." The owner loves his (which is in excellent condition)! Unfortunately, I think they are very rare.

I do have a Benge 165F, which is a very fine 0.547" bore F-attachment horn (underrated, as they say). Its serial number is 8430xx; I have no idea when it was made (though certainly in the King factory) - perhaps ~1995-2002?

They are indeed great horns, the heavier bell makes a great difference, for many years I played a great playing first gen 2B plus, then had the chance to buy a freelancer, had it on trial from a friend for a few months and indeed I kept the 170 and sold the 2B+

This particular horn always confused me.

IIRC, Benge was King’s answer to “just not seen as a classical instrument.” So why did they make a lead horn branded Benge when they’ve got the 2B and the 3B?!

Wasn’t Benge during UMI anyway? Wasn’t Conn/King a combined company by then?

~B

Benge was originally developed by King pre-UMI.
The 190 and the 290 were the two horns developed during that period and were originally intended to be updates of the 4B and the 8B. King owned the Benge trumpet brand and name and it was decided to brand those instruments Benge because orchestral players had a bad impression of King for orchestral playing. The 170 was developed a little later when they were owned by UMI. My guess is they didn’t want to change the existing 3B and 2B models and decided to brand it a Benge. Things changed after UMI bought King, so many of the plans for Benge didn’t go the way they were originally envisioned.