Monette Prana 3 Bb Trumpet

Made for me in 2006 by David Monette. I play it on an STC3 1-5M S3 mouthpiece. I also have a custom Monette lead trumpet mouthpiece for it.

Wedgwood Cornet

Made for me in 2003 by Denis Wedgwood. A truly magnificent cornet which I play every day.

Flip Oakes Wild Thing Flugel Horn

A nice instrument but it has the french taper mouthpiece reeiver which caused a few problems initially. I have now had a mouthpiece made for me by Monette that fits it.

Vincent Bach C Trumpet

Large bore (.462), 229 bell (larger than the standard 239), 25 reversed lead pipe (full length Bb lead pipe). Bought second hand from Dillon Music in the US. It came in a Bach double case and the total cost including import duties was less than half the cost of buying a new one over here.

Schilke E3L-4 Eb Trumpet

I use this trumpet for orchestral playing. It has a very large bell and the fourth valve allows the playing of Bb and C trumpet parts.

Schilke E3L-4 Eb Trumpet

Same instrument shown with the D bell in place. The D bell is much narrower and gives a very typical Schilke D trumpet sound. I had to send the whole instrument back to Schilke to have this made.

F Besson 2-60MP Mk2 Piccolo Trumpet.

Made by Kanstul and a very very good instrument. Larger bore than the selmer type instrument and very free blowing.

Rotary Valve Piccolo Trumpet

This is a cheap trumpet I picked up recently. Click Here for the full story.

Thomann Pocket Trumpet

This instrument has a full sized trumpet bell. It benefits from some additional weight on the bottom caps from washers and o-rings.

Forward Facing Eb Tenor Horn

LaFleur, Imported by Boosey and Hawkes. Plays quite well for a cheap instrument. Click Here to see.

Instruments I Have Owned and then Sold

Sterling Long Model Cornet

When Sterling stopped making their own instruments they sold some badged as Sterling which were actually made in Brazil by weril. This was my standby cornet mainly used for marching with the brass band.

Flip Oakes Wild Thing Bb Trumpet

Large bore (.470), very wide bell flare (to the point of needing to re-cork mutes). Very responsive. For additional photos Click Here. Further information available from the Flip Oakes web site.

Yamaha 6310z

Was used by my son.

King Silversonic Cornet

This instrument has a bell made from solid sterling silver. I bought it used and had it rebuilt. Click Here for some before (and after) pictures.

This instrument symbolises my trad jazz mid life crisis.

Beuscher True Tone

This is a 1930's instrument which was overhauled by Andy Callard. It is narrow bore with bottom sprung valves and is in very good condition.

Selmer Piccolo Trumpet (1990's model)

The F Besson does not play well in Bb so I had this narrow bore Selmer model for Bb. It also gave a much lighter sound but is very difficult to push air through compared to my other instruments.

Selmer Piccolo Trumpet (1990's model)

This is the same instrument with the 4th valve tuning slide removed and replaced with the optional slide which drops the instrument a semitone instead of a fourth when the fourth valve is depressed.

Taylor Chicago Custom

I found this instrument to be too heavy for regular use although the tone was very nice. It needed to be overblown to get an edge on it which presented a number of problems so I sold it and bought the Scherzer rotary. For more pictures click here.

Yamaha 6335HS (1991)

This was the first of the Yamaha Heavyweight models and a precursor to the Xeno range. It is basically a copy of the Schilke S32/S42 range. It is noticeably darker in tone than the Xeno 8335 which replaced it. Sold to help pay for my Monette.

Weril Pocket Trumpet

Plays in tune but valve action could be better. At the price it was a bargain and much better than the rubbish you find on Ebay. Sold 2006 when I was rationalising my instruments.

Scherzer Bb Trumpet

Bought in from a German dealer for about 40% less than the UK price. Buying from Germany means no import duty or VAT to pay later as the prices include VAT which you pay in Germany. Also, these are stock items in Germany. The UK dealer was quoting three months for delivery. I had mine within a week of ordering. Sold to help pay for my Monette.

Jupiter Flugel Horn

Plays very well, but mouthpiece choice is critical for upper register intonation. Sold when I got my Wild Thing flugel.

Natural Trumpet

This is actually an Eb cavalry trumpet with additional slides for D and C made by John Webb. It plays OK but it is unvented. Its workable on the Monette mouthpiece but I could do with a better instrument. Sold it recently with intention of getting a better one when funds permit.