[Trombone-l] extreeme high pitched vintage German trombone

[Bill Dinwiddie]

(Sorry, I don't know who to address this to because your posting does not 
contain your name.)

I went to Germany in the early '70s and had the opportunity to play several 
Alexander trombones at the factory in Mainz. I was given to understand that 
this company made really first class brass instruments. I was astounded to 
find that every trombone I played that day was one of the worst instruments 
I have ever played. The overtone series on every horn was so out of whack 
that I began to get aggravated. These are the demo horns that the Alexander 
company wants these American visitors to play so that they will be better 
able to appreciate fine German craftsmanship? They were all crap! Of course, 
they looked very pretty. I expressed my opinion to the officials of the 
company and the look of shock on their faces was evident. They must have 
thought I was insane. Apparently, they never had a German professional 
trombonist test their instruments, or they would have never let these horns 
be played by anyone. I'm sorry to hear that you purchased the instrument in 
question. It doesn't surprise me to hear that the entire horn plays a half 
step too high. The horns I played back then were totally unusable. I would 
never consider buying an Alexander instrument as a result of that 
experience.

The horn may sound nice, but I believe that you should go out and buy some 
lamp cord and a nice energy efficient light bulb. Sorry. Maybe you can sell 
it on E-Bay.

Bill Dinwiddie
billdin at comcast.net



----- Original Message ----- 
From: <dahmnoyes at tampabay.rr.com>
To: <trombone-l at server5.samford.edu>
Sent: Monday, September 10, 2007 10:56 AM
Subject: [Trombone-l] extreeme high pitched vintage German trombone


>I recently purchased a G. Alexander (Mainz) trombone made supposedly in the 
>70's.  There is no tuning slide in either the bell section nor on the main 
>slide.  Although this horn has one of the prettiest sounds that I've every 
>experienced, it is extremely high pitched--so much so that the positions 
>need to be played down one full position to get them in tune.  This leaves 
>you with no 7th position, those notes almost being able to be played again 
>in 1st.  My question to the list community is this: how can I salvage this 
>horn?  I'm thinking of having a tuning slide built into the bell section, 
>like most every other trombone has--but I'm afraid of messing with the 
>taper that's helping to produce this sweet sound.  I'd really like to have 
>someone customize a slide for this horn with a built in tuning slide...but 
>I'm ignorant as to who could do such a thing for a decent price.  Any 
>thoughts?
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